Improving rape and serious sex offences investigations

Purpose This special collection is devoted to some of the academic work underpinning Pillars 1 and 2 of Operation Soteria Bluestone (OSB). OSB was an academic police collaboration whose aim was to construct a co-produced evidence-based framework to improve the investigation of rape and serious sex offences (RASSO). This paper provides a timeline for the phases of OSB collaboration, running from the pilot project through to the start of national implementation in England and Wales. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-method approach was used. Data included: qualitative interviews with more than 100 police officers and prosecutors; the creation of a quantitative data set, an anonymised, four-year sample of all sex offences (n = 366,346) recorded by five forces between January 2018 and December 2021; and two types of case reviews (312 in total) including qualitative and quantitative data. Findings This study reports research findings from phases of the project running from January 2021 to September 2023 involving five police forces. Originality/value Recommendations arising from this work regarding what investigative best practices in RASSO should look like are outlined and a visual summary is provided. This study concludes with observations about the way forward.