Changing Faces, Facing Changes: Forensic Science in Search of New Horizons

The focus of this thesis is a study of change in a public sector environment and the effect it has on that environment. It is a combination of an empirical study of the author’s former employer, specifically the Police Scientific Support Department, and a critical analysis of the technique used to carry out the study and its application, Soft Systems Analysis. The thesis is multi‐layered through the additional use of a diary, which gives a more personal view of what the author experienced during the project, along with a third more clinical and critical review of the project and its outcomes through Actor‐Network Theory. This allows the author to portray a number of different perspectives on the same reality. The author’s position within the force as project manager, allowed comprehensive access in which to carry out detailed action research through at‐home ethnography, unstructured interviews and documentary data collection. A police force’s forensic strategy and the way it conducts its business in order to provide a comprehensive service, offer value for money and work within a limited budget, is a complex process which is affected by many factors. Some of these include political issues over government finance, organisational issues surrounding staff levels and their deployment, as well as technical issues over available techniques, their success rates and how to make the most efficient and effective use of them. The case study covers a period during which the construction of a new Scientific Support single site is being carried out. Many departments are being moved to the new site, away from their city centre base, to provide a more comprehensive and extended service.