Topic
Cognitive difference among officers and the people the police meet.
4 articles · All topics →
"Do you understand?" — asked after the caution, at booking-in, before a plea — sounds like fairness but often works as a ritual rather than a test: it invites a yes that keeps the system moving while quietly failing the people who most need clarity. Why we should stop asking and start explaining.
The suspects who most need legal advice in police custody are the least likely to ask for it — and that undermines one of PACE 1984's core protections.
Burnout raises the risk of excessive force and corrodes public trust. What the evidence says about exhausted officers, and what forces can do about it.
British policing invests heavily in recruitment and training, then systematically loses officers whose cognitive profiles — ADHD, autism, dyslexia — do not fit institutional assumptions about what "good" looks like. Why cognitive diversity is a strategic capability senior leaders cannot afford to manage out.
