Stephen Lawrence workshop report
This report will critically overview and analyse the initial police response of the 1993 Stephen Lawrence murder investigation, covering all aspects of an investigation and how it’s meant to be pursued. It will highlight key steps that were not meet by the initial response in the Lawrence investigation including the ‘five building blocks’, the ‘Golden hour(s)’, appointment of an Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) and then these key principles will be critically compared to that of the Lawrence investigation and using relevant academic sources. The MacPherson Report (1999) will be looked at in relation to these key principles as this report was the main inquest into the failings of the police in the Stephen Lawrence Murder investigation. Also whether the incident was meant to be classed as a critical incident or not will be discussed as this can affect the initial response of the police and their investigation.
Five Building Blocks
The first officers that attend the scene of a crime can have a monumental impact on the investigation especially when dealing with the forensics side of things as was found in the Stephen Lawrence investigation (Solomos, J. (1999)), the first officer’s contamination through transfer of materials and destruction of vital evidence, some of these were evident in the case of Stephen Lawrence. On the other hand there may be several demands competing for attention such as violent confrontations, public disorder, injuries, distressed victims or witnesses (Beaufort-Moore, D. (2009)) However, the first officers on scene of Lawrence had the ‘five building blocks’ for any investigation to consider (O’Bryne, M. (2000)), first of which is to preserve life which should have been apparent in the Lawrence case as Stephen Lawrence lay victim so a stabbing but more importantly when police arrived on scene he was still alive, therefore the initial response of the police was unforgiving as they could have saved Stephen Lawrence’s life on first contact
Five Building Blocks
The first officers that attend the scene of a crime can have a monumental impact on the investigation especially when dealing with the forensics side of things as was found in the Stephen Lawrence investigation (Solomos, J. (1999)), the first officer’s contamination through transfer of materials and destruction of vital evidence, some of these were evident in the case of Stephen Lawrence. On the other hand there may be several demands competing for attention such as violent confrontations, public disorder, injuries, distressed victims or witnesses (Beaufort-Moore, D. (2009)) However, the first officers on scene of Lawrence had the ‘five building blocks’ for any investigation to consider (O’Bryne, M. (2000)), first of which is to preserve life which should have been apparent in the Lawrence case as Stephen Lawrence lay victim so a stabbing but more importantly when police arrived on scene he was still alive, therefore the initial response of the police was unforgiving as they could have saved Stephen Lawrence’s life on first contact
References: – ACPO (2006) Murder Investigation Manual Alison, L. and Crego, J. (Eds) (2007). Policing critical incidents leadership and critical incident management. Willan; Cullompton Anthias, F Beaufort-Moore, D. (2009) Crime Scene Management and Evidence Recovery. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 2 (p26- 37) Cook, T Cottle, S. (ed.) (2000), Ethnic Minorities and the Media, Buckingham: Open University Press Grieve, J Innes, M. (2003) Investigating murder. Oxford: Oxford University Press MacPherson, W Mullins, Alison & Crego (2008). Towards a taxonomy of police decision-making in murder inquiries, p136 – 138 Neal, S (2003) O’Bryne, M. (2000), ‘Can Macpherson succeed where Scarman failed’, in A. Marlow and B. Loveday (eds.), After Macpherson: policing after the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Lyme Regis: Russell House Publishing. Solomos, J. (1999), ‘Social Research and the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry’, Sociological Research Online, 4,1.