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“Breaking down the barriers”: evaluating practitioners' training and practice with neurodivergent people in police custody

Ralph Bagnall et al.

Policing2026https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-09-2025-0180article
AJG 2
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Purpose Neurodivergent (ND) people are reportedly overrepresented in the Criminal Justice System, but police often lack resources such as relevant knowledge and training to work with them. Furthermore, little is known about police custody practitioners' views of factors which impact their working practice with ND detained persons. Design/methodology/approach Police custody practitioners attended a one-day neurodiversity training session and provided self-report ratings and free-text responses immediately before and after (n = 99) and again six months later (n = 19). Quantitative and qualitative analysis assessed the impact of training and practitioner perceptions of custody-related demands with ND detained persons. Findings Over half of practitioners had no prior personal experience of neurodiversity, yet the majority encountered ND suspects on a daily or weekly basis. Self-reported neurodiversity knowledge and confidence working with ND detainees increased significantly post-training. A significant positive relationship was found between neurodiversity knowledge and confidence working with ND detainees. Thematic analysis of qualitative survey responses produced three overarching themes: (1) ND detainees have diverse needs; (2) Recognising and responding to ND detainees' needs is challenging; (3) Internal and external resources are required to work with ND detainees. Originality/value This study emphasises the importance of practitioners' internal (e.g. knowledge, skills, confidence) and external (e.g. training, environmental, systemic) resources for the demands of working with ND individuals in police custody.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-09-2025-0180

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@article{ralph2026,
  title        = {{“Breaking down the barriers”: evaluating practitioners' training and practice with neurodivergent people in police custody}},
  author       = {Ralph Bagnall et al.},
  journal      = {Policing},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/pijpsm-09-2025-0180},
}

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“Breaking down the barriers”: evaluating practitioners' training and practice with neurodivergent people in police custody

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.