Impact of the current pandemic on intelligence and analytical professionals working in police and law enforcement organisations

Objective: During the present pandemic, emerging literature argues that front-line officers’ mental health is at greater risk whilst performing their duties. However, little is known of the impact on the work of professionals in analytical/intelligence roles in police, law enforcement and justice organisations. Therefore, this study explored the impact of the current pandemic on the experiences of analysts working in these roles. Method: Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with these analysts and template analysis was used to analyse the transcriptions. Results: Nine themes were identified namely ‘A new safe work place’, ‘Opportunity to catch-up’, ‘Communication delays’, ‘Discomfort with commuting’, ‘Facilitating offending’, ‘Isolation’, ‘Loss of social support’, ‘Insufficient technical resources’, and ‘Work-life imbalance’. Conclusion: Analysts when home-working with traumatic material were facing challenges, such as limited human interaction and no immediate support from employers, which were causing psychological distress during these unprecedented times. While the nature of their work puts some constraints on what can be done to support these analysts, some suggestions are made, which employers could action.