Shame Competence in Policing  

Developing, implementing, and evaluating the first-ever shame-specific training for police
Status: Training delivery and evaluation underway 
Funder: Devon & Cornwall Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (2022-2024) and the University of Exeter Open Innovation Platform Collaboration Funding (2022).
Police officers encounter highly complex, charged emotions on a daily basis, often under volatile, dangerous, and unpredictable circumstances. While trainings often teach skills like trauma awareness, emotional regulation, and empathy, rarely--if ever--do they specifically target the emotion of shame. 

Luna Dolezal has been collaborating with the Devon and Cornwall Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner since May 2021 to develop and incorporate shame-sensitive practice into their vulnerability strategy, especially around trauma-informed approaches within policing and public health approaches to policing. Working with the Programme Director for Serious Violence Prevention and the Strategic Safeguarding Improvement Hub Lead, she helped the department conceptualize the relevance of shame and shame competence for serious violence prevention. The preventative approach of “breaking the cycle of violence”, which integrates a trauma-informed approach, emerged as particularly important. 

Linking to the work of the Serious Violence Programme, Dr. Dolezal developed an evidence-based information package “Shame and Violence: Considering Shame and Shame-Sensitive Practice in Policing” (download here). This has been disseminated through the Police Knowledge Hub (which reaches 43 forces) and has received enthusiastic positive feedback from individuals in several areas of policing.

The aims of the “Shame Competence in Policing” project are to:

1. Produce and pilot an innovative and evidence-based ‘shame competence’ training package that will be used to develop individual and organisational shame competence in the Devon and Cornwall Police, along with other agencies and organisations, including practitioners in the Serious Violence Prevention Programme.
2. Empirically test the effectiveness of teaching ‘shame competence’ through piloting and evaluating the training package with the Devon & Cornwall Police and the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network (TIPN).
3. Advance knowledge and improve practice in human and health services with respect to the understanding of shame and its impacts and effects.


Two training packages were developed in 2022 – “Shame Competence for Police” and “Shame Competence for Trauma-Informed Practitioners” – and piloted with the Devon & Cornwall Police an TIPN in November 2022. Sian Moody from Impact Matters evaluated both trainings, and data was used to guide the revisions of the training packages. Since March 2023, trainings have been delivered by Luna Dolezal and Haley Peckham to Devon & Cornwall Police and their partners.

If you are interested in learning more about this project, contact the project PI Luna Dolezal (L.R.Dolezal@exeter.ac.uk).

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