Tracing trauma in policing: mapping service user experiences of police contact

Introduction: Police contact is encapsulated by citizen vulnerability, with individuals bringing existing adversities to these interactions. Experience during these interactions is critical to shaping their overall experience of the justice system. For an effective delivery of trauma-informed services, a clear understanding of public experience is crucial.

Objective: This study bridges real-world public feedback with trauma-informed theory, offering a useful foundation for understanding trauma-informed policing through the lens of user experience.

Method: Using qualitative content analysis, responses from the Police Scotland User Experience Survey collected between October 2025 and January 2026 were analysed to explore how service users described their contact with police. The study identified positive and negative experiences and then mapped cross-cutting themes onto the trauma-informed principles identified in the Scottish Government’s Trauma-Informed Practice Toolkit.

Results: Easy access and timely responses, effective and helpful interventions, and officers demonstrating good communication, empathy, and reassurance emerged as themes associated with positive experiences. Delays, a lack of perceived support, poor transparency, limited perceived collaboration, weak follow-up, and inappropriate officer conduct were associated with negative experiences. The trauma-informed mapping provided an interpretive framework for exploring how these themes align with the established principles of Safety, Trustworthiness, Collaboration, Choice, and Empowerment.

Conclusions: Taken together, the results indicate that officer training and policy measures targeting the areas identified in the analysis may support a more trauma-sensitive policing approach.