Background: The evidence demonstrates the need to study diversion from policy custody. For clarity, police custody diversion is a process where offenders are diverted away from being charged or prosecuted and receive support to diminish the risk of recidivism.
Method: The original plan was to conduct a process evaluation of the implementation of Checkpoint Cymru using a mixed methods design. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was not possible to achieve the original aims and objectives. A new plan was implemented, and the researcher evaluated the implementation process through the experience of those facilitating, managing, and advising Checkpoint Cymru.
Results: The results from the research project indicated Checkpoint Cymru had a positive impact on recidivism and life change from a professional view. However, this was overshadowed by the navigator’s frustrations and several organizational issues posing risk to employee wellbeing, the long-term success of the scheme and requiring attention. The wider findings relate most to the impacts of organizational conflict, the importance of effective communication and several take-home lessons for future research.
Conclusion: This thesis offers an honest and rare insight to the complexities of conducting research between two major organizations during a global pandemic. It demonstrates how things can go wrong when a partnership is fractured with minimal desire to acknowledge and deal with identified barriers.
Limitations: Methodological limitations inhibited the project achieving its initial aims and objectives. However, this was not detrimental to the project. In fact, this gave the researcher more scope to explore professional experience, producing important findings which otherwise may have remained undisclosed.