Latest News, Analysis and Opinion

OPINION: Safer Schools Officers (SSOs) are now a common feature of policing in England and Wales, supporting efforts for early intervention, multi-agency working and child-centred practice; but Dr Sean Bell and Jay Karecha of Liverpool John Moores University highlight that with the evaluation of the effectiveness of SSOs fragmented, and the role itself poorly defined, there is a clear need for a stronger and more consistent evidence base, and more honesty about what is known and what is assumed.

OPINION: Police regularly encounter victims of domestic violence who repeatedly defend, excuse, and return to their abusive partners, a situation that officers can struggle to understand; now new research by the University of Cambridge identifies the perpetrator mechanism behind such behaviour, and gives it a name – weaponised attachment – while a free professional toolkit can help officers better understand behaviours in coercive control investigations, as University of Cambridge Doctoral Researcher Mags Lesiak explains.

FEATURE: An evaluation of the first two years of the pilot of Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) across four forces in England highlights an increase in the number of people reoffending – attributed largely to an increased focus on enforcement against high-risk individuals by police – but a limited impact so far on deterring serious violence, and suggests the lack of a rehabilitation element to SVROs needs to be addressed, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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INNOVATION: In the first of three articles exploring data-driven policing and artificial intelligence (AI), Wilfrid Laurier University Assistant Professor Dr Oliver R. Stoetzer highlights the importance of investing in both technological capability and personnel, the need for greater digital literacy across the workforce, and why the real challenge of technological development for law enforcement may be less about whether it will influence policing and more about how deliberately and effectively services prepare for that reality.

OPINION: The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 – the joint lowest in Europe – despite legal protections for children focused on age limits of 16 and 18 for such things as buying vapes and alcohol, and potentially using social media; Dr Anne-Marie Day and Dr Elizabeth A. Faulkner of Manchester Metropolitan University argue that raising the age of responsibility to 12 – and ultimately 14 – will bring better outcomes for children themselves, victims, and society more widely.

FEATURE: While Operation Global Chain, the major international operation focused on human trafficking, resulted earlier this month in significant successes, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the ongoing challenges facing law enforcement across Europe in tackling a crime which is now reaching record levels in the UK.

INTERVIEW: Police forces need to ensure that evidence-based policing approaches – including independent academic evaluation and a clear decision framework – are applied to new technology projects, says Hertfordshire Constabulary ACC Dr Nick Caveney, Policing Chair of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research & Learning, to enable forces to “stop early, learn transparently, and reinvest wisely” when innovation is not delivering the desired results, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime (OC), Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Philip Matthews, a former senior law enforcement officer with more than 38 years’ experience of tackling drug trafficking, counter-corruption and anti-money laundering, about the missed opportunities to target OC and drug trafficking groups, the likelihood of more OC violence on UK streets, and the need to “control the ground” in drug enforcement operations.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Network location intelligence alone can make real-time tracking of devices difficult for law enforcement and emergency services, especially in remote areas with limited or no coverage. SS8 is addressing this challenge by integrating its location solution with IMSI catchers and other tools to deliver real-time tactical intelligence to agents in the field.

OPINION: A growing legal blind spot in sexual offences law is creating a ‘hierarchy of justice’, where victims of image-based abuse are only protected if their experience fits narrow, outdated definitions of what counts as ‘intimate’, warns Dr Alishya Dhir, co-lead of the Law and Policy Stream at the Open University’s Centre for Protecting Women Online.

FEATURE: Europol’s latest Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment (IOCTA) highlights the rapidly expanding cybercrime threat, and underlines the need for law enforcement agencies to harness technology, push for tighter regulations and work more closely with the private sector in order to deal with that threat, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The fictional assignments and adventures of James Bond sparked a lifelong interest in the workings of the real-life security and intelligence services for strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda; but a closer look at what it would mean to be ‘007’ today highlights that a changing threat landscape, the advances of technology, and the importance of accountability make for a very different role and world than has ever been occupied by Ian Fleming’s hero.

FEATURE: An Adult Sex Work Referrals Hub created as part of Operation Pluto is partnering with the Changing Lives charity to source intelligence anonymously from sex workers that can enable police forces across England and Wales to identify and disrupt offenders, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The combination of the Government’s police reform proposals and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 mean that modernisation of policing in England and Wales is now essential and inevitable, says former South Wales Police detective and intelligence expert Steve Dodd, who argues that the changes should ensure neighbourhood policing becomes an integrated rather than isolated element of the uniform role, alongside the implementation of a community intelligence-led policing methodology.

FEATURE: The latest report from the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) on AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) highlights an “alarming” rate of growth in imagery that is leaving investigators facing a “needle-in-a-haystack challenge”; the IWF is urging governments, tech companies and institutions not to waste the opportunity to act now on AI CSAM imagery, and that ignoring the risks would be “failing children and ourselves”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Domestic violence is widely acknowledged to be under-reported, but research by Australian Catholic University PhD Researcher Farjana Mahbuba highlights a significant problem of deep reluctance to contact the police among migrant women in Australia, where language barriers, fear of police, threats from partners, and issues around shame and stigma leave many victims of domestic and family violence suffering in silence.

FEATURE: While politicians and the media have focused on the political rhetoric of ‘smashing the gangs’ and ‘stopping the boats’ to tackle the continuing problem of cross-Channel illegal immigration, a new round of EU grants – open to police, academics, charities and the private sector in the UK – are on offer for innovative solutions to dismantle and disrupt criminal networks, their ringleaders and enablers behind criminal activities including people and drug trafficking, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INTERVIEW: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Inspector Nicole Simpson has been named the International Association of Women Police’s Officer of the Year, after demonstrating “exemplary leadership and investigative skills” in a series of high profile cases; she spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need to “think outside the box” and leave rank “at the door” when it comes to investigations, and the importance of instilling pride and confidence in young-in-service officers.

FEATURE: A new report from the Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre highlights the strong alignment between officers and the public on aspirations for policing in England and Wales; but with operating constraints reducing neighbourhood policing to a “Cinderella service”, it argues for more open and honest communication with the public, as well as a stronger focus on fixing relationships within policing, if trust and legitimacy are to be maintained, reports Policing Insight’s Keith Potter.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

OPINION: With this week marking Men’s Health Week in the UK, and June dedicated as PTSD Awareness Month, Chartered Psychologist Dr Rachel Rogers explores some of the challenges and ongoing efforts to improve male police officers’ ability and willingness to access mental health support, and shares the personal experiences of three officers who were able to reach out to when their own mental health was suffering.

FEATURE: A report from the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency exploring the ‘megatrends’ facing policing over the next five years and beyond is warning that as demand for policing becomes increasingly fragmented and shaped by external forces, law enforcement agencies will need to limit the expansion of their roles for the benefit of both the public and the workforce, while also addressing skills gaps and improving community collaboration, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.