The Research Assistant role is open to undergraduate psychology/criminology/sociology students who are completing a four year 'sandwich' degree with a 12 month placement in their third year.

Your course must include a research methods module and you should have a good understanding of qualitative and quantitative research.

The placement is not suitable for graduates or postgraduate students.

To find out more please email us.

There are Research Assistants working in both SCAS, the BIA section and the Missing Persons Bureau. Work undertaken by each Research Assistant differs accordingly. 

All roles predominantly involve research and project work within an operational analytical unit.  Research Assistants will also be required to complete admin tasks such as updating the journal index with research articles or writing the monthly newsletter designed to improve communication within the units.

The placement is an excellent opportunity for any student who is interested in the role of behavioural science in police investigations.

Please use this link to view a Student Placement Report written by a previous Research Assistant.

As a research assistant, you will be exposed to the sensitive work that is undertaken in the unit and you should bear this in mind when applying for a placement. You may be required to read victim statements or case papers and you will almost certainly be required to use the SCAS database which is very detailed in terms of offence behaviour.

The placement is for students on a thick sandwich degree programme.

You will need to be available for a full 12 months as the placement is undertaken in the third year at university; commencing in the summer after finishing your second year.

The recruitment process is competency based and involves an application form and interview.

The required skills and competencies are outlined in the job description sent out with application packs.

A placement open day will be held prior to the closing date for applications where prospective applicants will have the opportunity to learn more about the roles and the departments offering placements.

Many students with an interest in forensic psychology apply for placements. However this placement relates to a very specific area of forensic psychology - its application in an investigative context.

The placement does not offer any opportunities to work with offenders as prison placements would.

The placements are based at Bramshill, near Hook, Hampshire.

The Serious Crime Analysis Section, Missing Persons Bureau and Behavioural Investigative Advice (BIA) units are unique and, therefore, there is no opportunity for the placements to be completed at other NPIA sites.

The site is very remote and public transport links are not good, therefore a car is essential.

Yes, at circa £15,000 per annum.

Yes. If you are offered the job, you will have to be security cleared. This is due to the sensitive nature of the work carried out and is a requirement for everyone working in the unit.

Unfortunately, the only placements we currently offer are to undergraduate students.

At the moment, we are not in a position to offer any similar placement opportunities to postgraduates.

It is not possible to offer shorter work experience opportunities as it is necessary to obtain security clearance to work for any length of time in the department.

The role of an Assistant Crime Analyst (ACA) is to liaise with Contact Officers in each Force to ensure that we collect case papers for all offences that fall within our criteria. Detailed offence information on each case is then entered by ACAs onto a national database.

The role of an Analyst is to conduct searches across the database using combinations of behavioural, geographic and descriptive features to identify any potentially similar offences to an index case.

Please follow the link to Careers with SCAS for more information.

The pay range for the Assistant Crime Analyst role is currently £15,832 - £19,790 and £24,760 - £30,950 for the Crime Analyst role.

Analysts at SCAS work on low volume interpersonal crime with a serious sexual element.

In-force analysts are more intelligence focussed and tend to work on higher volume crime such as car theft and burglary.

However, specific types of in-force analyst, such as the Major Incident Analyst, do work on similar offences to those covered by SCAS.

The main difference is that SCAS have a national remit to analyse serious sexual offences, whereas in-force analysts work specifically on offences occurring within their force area. Each force is different but all now employ civilian analysts, usually on an area or borough level, or in a central unit often called the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB).

Civilian analyst roles also exist within other organisations such as the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA).

The work of the analysts at SCAS is largely office-based and liaison with the investigation is carried out over the phone.

However scene visits are sometimes necessary in order to visit the incident room for a more in-depth meeting with the investigator. Senior analysts usually take responsibility for higher priority and larger investigations and so this kind of opportunity is more frequent in their role and for the more experienced analysts.

However, it is not that this is a more 'active' role, as the analysts role in the investigation always remains the same; to conduct analysis and to put forward similar cases in an analytical report.

The role of the Behavioural Investigative Advisor (BIA) involves providing advice, consultation on behavioural matters in serious crime, upon requests for assistance from police forces and other agencies.

A BIA undertakes behavioural analysis and provides investigative suggestions on current cases and cold case reviews, depending on the individual needs of the Senior Investigating Officers (SIOs). In addition, they conduct analytical and comparative studies of cases to supplement those done by the Crime Analysts.

Currently there are only five full-time BIAs in the UK. It is a very competitive field with no defined career path at this time.

If you are interested in becoming a BIA, you should have a good class degree in the field of behavioural science and it is advisable to undertake a relevant postgraduate qualification.

Research experience and a minimum of three years experience in a relevant field e.g. an Analyst role within SCAS or with a police force, is expected so that you have as much knowledge of the police and major crime investigation as possible. There are also a number of part time BIAs who have trained and currently work in other areas including academia, the prison service, special hospitals etc who also offer advice to police on some investigations.

Crime analysis is a popular field for those with forensic psychology qualifications at an undergraduate or MSc level.

The majority of staff at SCAS have an undergraduate Social Science degree e.g. Psychology or Criminology, and some also have a Masters, e.g. Forensic or Investigative Psychology. 

However, this is not a prerequisite for the role of an Assistant Crime Analyst or Crime Analyst at SCAS and staff have varied backgrounds both within and outside of the policing and academic fields.

Unlike the prison service, currently there are no formal routes to chartership within NPIA.

There is only one chartered psychologist within our organisation as it is not practical to find the opportunities necessary to obtain experience across all requirements.  

Therefore this is not something that SCAS is considering at this time.

SCAS is a busy operational unit and the nature of the work undertaken here is of a highly sensitive nature. Therefore, we are unable to offer visits that are not directly related to our business, to non-police personnel or to those who are not security cleared.

The usual way to apply is in response to an advertisement for vacancies. These are usually placed in the Guardian and on the Blue Line website, so it may be worth keeping an eye on these to check if we are recruiting.

Ainsworth, P (2001) Offender Profiling and Crime Analysis.

Alison, A (2005) The Forensic Psychologist's Casebook: Psychological Profiling and Criminal Investigation.

SCAS is one of the operational units at the NPIA, which is based at Bramshill, near Hook, Hampshire.