Rebecca has a background in policing research and criminology, with a special research interest in victim-precipitated homicide, crisis negotiation, counter-terrorism, and right-wing extremism. Her doctoral thesis used coronial data to examine how offender motivations impacted outcomes of policing interventions during a siege. She is currently working at Griffith Criminology Institute, contributing to research on right-wing mass killing events and a project on gender equity in policing. Rebecca was previously a Senior Analyst in the QPS Intelligence, Counter-Terrorism, and Major Events Command. She gained valuable experience working in a heightened threat environment and acquired specialist counter-terrorism qualifications in the United Kingdom.
Presentation
“You’re Gonna Have to Shoot Me, Mate”: A Collective Case Study Analysis Examining Victim-Precipitated Homicide and Policing Sieges
Ms Rebecca Keane1
1Queensland University Of Technology, Brisbane, Australia, 2Griffith Criminology Institute, Brisbane, Australia
This research considered the nexus of Victim-Precipitated Homicide (VPH) and high-risk situations, identifying how a siege may be used to induce a fatal confrontation with police. Utilising a forensic collective case study approach (n=26), with files sourced from the Queensland State Coroner’s office, a comprehensive background on each subject was built from family and witness statements, medical records, police records, body-worn camera footage, and negotiator transcripts.
Thematic analysis revealed that the timing of the intention to VPH had a significant impact on the outcome of the siege, with all subjects who held pre-existing intentions to VPH being fatally shot by police. Insights from transcripts, suicide notes, and visual recordings provided a unique understanding of the subject in their final moments, including specific words, phrases, body language, and physiological changes that preceded their violent confrontations with police. With the benefit of hindsight, this research collated pre-arrival risk indicators that indicate potential VPH situations and provided ‘red flags’ signalling heightened risk.
Backed with empirical evidence, this research advocates for early warning systems and strategic-level training for general duties officers who are first on the scene to such events. Recommendations emphasise officer safety, with several deaths within the study unfortunately being general duties police officers (10%), in addition to hostages (6%) and subjects (84%). Ultimately, this study recognises the wide-ranging impacts VPH has on all involved and supports an evidence-based approach to policing sieges.