Specknets: A Case Study for Artificial Immune Systems

This paper explores how online risks and harms to police professionals are managed by drawing from 50 interviews with managers from 4 UK police forces. We adopt an organisational justice lens (Colquitt, 2001) to consider fairness in the context of managing online harms internally. Building on Bradford and Quinton (2014), we examine fairness in relation to procedures, organisational openness and transparency, consistency of decision making, respectfulness of personal interactions and two-way communication. We argue there is an uneven approach among line managers, with strategies shaped by responses to different landscapes of risk (Wong et al., forthcoming). We explore generational differences including younger officers’ expectations of leading a full digital life and managing tensions between their right to a private life while mitigating risks of online harms professionally. Public-facing police professionals face particular role-related harms and require organisations to protect and support them more systematically. Challenges emerge in relation to minority officers who experience online harms related to protected characteristics and do not receive an adequate organisational response, often highlighting the importance of support from staff associations. We argue that whilst procedural aspects are relatively clear to managers, support is fragmented and therefore distributive justice is less demonstrable.