About Dr Emma Spooner
I am a former police officer having completed my service with Wiltshire Police and the National Crime Agency. I spent the majority of my career as a detective and specialised in child abuse, homicide, and rape investigations as well as investigative interviewing.
I support the delivery of courses aimed specifically at investigators at the University.
Teaching and supervision
I am the Programme Leader for BA (Hons) Applied Investigation.
I teach the work-based project module around research methods and supervise students across a wide range of investigative areas during their dissertations. I also teach the extending professional competence module that encourages investigators to understand themselves better in the workplace. This encourages students to explore how they think, why they think the way they do, and how it impacts behaviours and decision-making in the workplace.
Interests
- Investigative interviewing
- Professional identity
- Decision making
- Culture
- Investigative mindset
Research
I completed my Professional Doctorate in 2020 focusing specifically on suspect investigative interviewing, exploring standards of investigative interviewing, how investigators learn in the workplace, and how deviance from rules and guidance can become normalised within the workplace.
The thesis explored the way that investigative interviewers construct their knowledge in the workplace and the way that it impacts their interviews and their adherence to, or deviance from, best practice guidance. This is specifically looking at the way that interviewers learn their ‘trade’ and the influencing factors that prevail upon them when implementing their knowledge base into a practical situation.
I also have a keen interest in professional identity, decision-making, leadership, investigative mindset, and culture within policing.