For any organisation to be a professional body it must become a learning organisation. Learning in many organisations is usually carried out by examination after a performance breakdown or disaster. The driver for the examination is therefore failure - or perceived failure - on the investigative team or organisational shortcomings after a particular operation. This blame culture often includes ‘blamestorming’, a term used to describe sitting around in a group discussing why a deadline was missed or a project failed and who is responsible.

This approach often misses the point spectacularly! Much of the learning in any organisation, and particularly in the police service, is derived from success.

The National Debriefing Centre will celebrate success and promote learning from success as well as examining failure or less successful operations.

A great model for this learning can be found in the aviation industry. The Aviation Safety Network’s system works on two levels. First, there is a non-attributable reporting system for pilots and other aviation professionals which enables the safe and blameless reporting of any occurrences that endanger air safety and, perhaps more significantly, any incident that has the potential to endanger air safety.

The second important aspect of the system is that it provides a database of essential knowledge, a collection of data from air accident investigations including, where possible, actual recordings from the black boxes, news and other footage that provide a rich context and enhanced meaning to all professionals who access it.

Such a concept applied to law-enforcement and other services involved in critical incidents could provide professionals with a rich resource of knowledge.

The National Debriefing Centre will link analyses of actual and potential critical incidents with academic research so academic research programmes can benefit from emerging and timely findings from the operational ‘front line’. By influencing PhD studentships, the new National Debriefing Centre will ensure that the academic research is credible, focused and relevant to operational investigators and professionals from aligned institutions.