Latest News, Analysis and Opinion

OPINION: Following the publication of the report and recommendations of the Police Leadership Commission this week, Supt Nick Smart, President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, highlights the continuing need for a definition of the policing mission in England and Wales, as well as some of the measures required to address the gaps in officer development, the move towards a learning culture, the importance of ensuring reforms are mandated, and the ongoing challenges around inadequate funding.

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: Many police leaders are keen to improve diversity and representation within their workforce, but such ambitions should not undermine the credibility of appointments nor lead to a false choice between diversity and standards, argues Dr Robin Shusko, Chief of Campus Police at Frederick Community College in Maryland, who draws on her own experiences as well as efforts in Australia and the UK to define steps leaders can take to ensure they select from the widest pool of applicants, and make choices that withstand scrutiny.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Graham Honey, a former HMCE and HMRC officer who specialised in investigating organised crime, drug trafficking, and money laundering, about the many high-profile operations he was involved in, why so many structural changes in the fight against organised crime have been ineffective, and the main organised crime challenges of the future.

ANALYSIS: New South Wales (NSW) Police is facing a $1.75 billion psychological injury bill and a co-responder mental health programme known as PACER that operates in only 12 of 57 area commands almost a decade after its first pilot within the force; strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda compares the police approach in NSW with co-responder models in other Australian states and asks what it would take to scale a programme that works.

FEATURE: Research from the University of Cambridge Institute of Criminology highlights the importance of understanding where young people sit within “networks” of offenders and victims, as some “super-connected” teenagers have a significant impact on patterns of violence; the study suggests approaches to tackling offending based on network connections and characteristics rather than individual circumstances and character traits could lead to more effective outcomes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The introduction of the Policing Education Qualifications Framework was the first major change to police training in England and Wales for many years, but the emphasis remained largely on developing officers once they had already joined the service, and while trying to juggle the burdens of being a fully sworn officer; Tom Andrews, Senior Lecturer in Policing at the University of Derby, argues it’s time for policing to adopt the ‘pre-join’ qualifications focus of other professions, and revolutionise training for the service.

FEATURE: Police forces across Australia and New Zealand are being urged to share data, innovations and best practice in the fight against child sexual abuse, to improve outcomes for victims, prioritise prevention and increase support for the workforce, as part of a new strategy unveiled by the Australia New Zealand Police Advisory Agency, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Investigative interviewing is a cornerstone of obtaining information in criminal cases, and police forces are being encouraged to make greater use of AI in that process; but Dr Brandon May, Assistant Professor of Forensic Psychology at Florida Institute of Technology, and University of Portsmouth Professor Becky Milne, warn that while there are aspects of investigative interviewing where AI could be helpful, its use needs to be consistent with the scientific standards that ensure evidence is robust.

INNOVATION: The increased potential for the misuse of drone to threaten public safety has long been recognised; the range of measures introduced by the United States – both in terms of counter-drone technology, training, and new legislation – to protect fans and teams at this year’s World Cup offer lessons for nations around the world, and will be further developed to amplify protective measures for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: The Right Care, Right Person policy to reduce police involvement with those suffering from mental health issues was introduced with promises to save officers’ time; but coroners continue to raise concerns about its impact on the vulnerable, writes Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass.

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.

INTERVIEW: Sex work liaison officers (SWLOs) exist in fewer than one in four forces in England and Wales, but a new study evaluating approaches to violence against sex workers in Gwent highlights the “transformative” nature of the role; University of the West of England Assistant Professor Duncan McPhee, who led the team carrying out the research, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about how SWLOs can restore the “trust deficit” between police and sex workers, and why the role should be formalised across forces.

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 of the Open University 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.

FEATURE: A recently published Performance Improvement Review of New Zealand Police warns that an integrity reset is “urgently needed” within the service and is a “mission-critical challenge”, while concerns over “tribalism” – particularly at senior levels – as well as skills and training gaps, “underpowered and undervalued” corporate foundations, and the increasingly complex digital and transnational crime threats are all highlighted in the review, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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: A new resource package for forces in England and Wales is designed to improve the response to cases of witchcraft, spirit possession and ritualistic abuse (WSPRA) includes an operational briefing, case studies and academic research, along with calls for police and other statutory agencies to shed their “institutionalised disbelief” of WSPRA reports in an effort to improve awareness and recognition of an offence that is barely reflected in recorded crime figures, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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.