Developing a conceptual model for police custody in the UK

The reduction of police officers in UK forces in recent years has reduced the number of staff in police custody, hence it is imperative that staff, and other resources, are utilized appropriately to optimize the custody process. This work aims to develop a simulation model that looks at resource utilisation in police custody. Resource availability can be modelled and tested using discrete event simulation. Developing an accurate conceptual model is a key stage to link the real-world problem and the simulation model. There is minimal literature presenting an accurate police custody conceptual model and hence, that is the focus of this paper. The key sources of information for constructing this model, previous literature, custody record analysis and a custody suite visit are discussed. A final conceptual model is presented with a discussion of how this will be converted into a simulation

Developing a discrete event simulation model using multiple data sources

This paper will discuss the development process of discrete event simulation models with regards to using data from multiple sources, that may be gathered both quantitatively and qualitatively, before being incorporated into a single simulation model. The aim of this paper is to more formalise the less discussed qualitative practices in simulation modelling. There will be a brief overview of where this has been touched upon previously in literature, before moving on to the most commonly occurring research methods and types of data gathered; and how these can be incorporated into a model. This paper will go on to consider potential benefits and drawbacks to this approach before presenting an application of how this thinking was applied to a research project