Latest News, Analysis and Opinion

OPINION: Several recent shootings in Canada have been labelled as extremist violence, but the reality may be more complex, says University of Winnipeg Adjunct Professor Kawser Ahmed, who warns that the country’s ongoing urban violence problem is increasingly about a brokered violence market in which young people can be recruited, paid, coerced or gamified into attacks whose purpose is supplied by someone unknown to them.

FEATURE: With cyber attacks continuing to grow in number and evolve in approach, and the UK’s National Cyber Force acting as the country’s own offensive cyber arm, a new collection of articles published by the UK Cyber Effects Network and the Royal United Services Institute provides unique insights into how and why UK cyber agencies are fighting back, and how police cybercrime investigations and preventative resilience efforts remain a critical component of UK cyber defences, reports Policing insight’s Andrew Staniforth.

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.

FEATURE: The record-breaking success of Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa (the force’s long-term initiative tackling county lines drug dealing) reflects a multi-channel approach encompassing traditional and online investigations, social media monitoring, criminal behaviour orders, and prevention partnerships with local sports community youth organisations – an array of tactics that are also having an impact on other areas of crime, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Policing is coming under growing pressure to adopt the latest AI technologies in order to meet the ever-increasing demand; Anglia Ruskin University Senior Research Fellow Richard Harding warns that there are plenty of examples from history that highlight the need to empower police policy makers and practitioners to question the magical offerings of suppliers and to point out the ‘naked emperors’ managing projects, in order to protect themselves, their colleagues, their organisations, and the public they serve.

FEATURE: New research into domestic abuse (DA) victimisation in the police workforce highlights that officers and staff who are victim-survivors of DA receive a worse service than members of the public – particularly in cases of police-perpetrated domestic abuse – because of ideas around officer resilience, an “institutional reluctance” to acknowledge victims’ circumstances, and forces’ reputational defensiveness, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Martyn’s Law, which forces venues, operators and policymakers to take public protection more seriously, came into effect last year, with new guidance introduced by the UK Government in April; but Gareth Brearley of AI company Augur argues that while additional CCTV, risk assessments, and the right paperwork may enable organisations to comply with the legislation, it is operational readiness, situational awareness and understanding information at scale that are truly needed to keep people safe.

INTERVIEW: A new research project will explore the extent and impact of loneliness – recognised by both the World Health Organisation and UK Government as the next big public health challenge – among police investigators, whose role often means they are unable to discuss their work with family or colleagues, exposes them to trauma, and can leave them feeling isolated, as Project Supervisor Dr Marie-Louise Sharp explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The recently published Police Leadership Commission’s Professionalism and Performance report offers a blunt verdict that leadership development is inconsistent, talent is wasted, and something structural must change, says Dr Aksar Bashir, Manager of West Midlands Police Force Contact Training Academy, who argues that while the report is a significant examination of police leadership in England and Wales, it offers mainly structural and managerial solutions to what are cultural and relational problems.

FEATURE: A study published by a team from Finland’s Tampere University into the effect of the country’s law change lowering the threshold for reporting suspected child abuse suggests that while the number of reports have increased significantly, investigations have taken longer and there has been no corresponding rise in the number of prosecutions, highlighting tensions between ambitious legislative responses and limited institutional resources, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Recent examples of racist conduct among officers in Montréal are a symptom of a much larger problem of racism within Canadian policing, says University of Manitoba Assistant Professor Dr Tandeep Sidhu, who argues that attempts to address the problem and reform policing – such as introducing body-worn cameras and collecting race-based data – have so far largely failed.

INNOVATION: With the ever-increasing opportunities for the adoption and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in law enforcement, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at one of the outcomes of Project STARLIGHT, the European research initiative which brought together 50 partners (including law enforcement agencies, researchers, industry and practitioners) under a co-ordinated and strategic effort to bring AI into operational practices.

INTERVIEW: In this second part of his interview with Policing Insight, Stephen Russell, former Director of Data, Strategy & Technology at Warwickshire Police, shares his thoughts on the technology potential within the Government’s police reform proposals for England and Wales, why improved data and interoperability are just as important as AI, and some of the aims and ambitions for policing over the next five years.

OPINION: The ambitious proposals for structural change set out in the Government’s police reform white paper will see transformation on a huge scale, affecting 43 forces across England and Wales as well as the NCA, ROCUs, CT policing, and multiple national units; Martin Leven, who as CIO of the Scottish Police Services Authority led the tech strategy for the merger of eight forces to create Police Scotland, highlights some of the key lessons from that process, and the steps that can be taken to avoid the main pitfalls.

FEATURE: In the latest in The Police Student series focusing on Community and Neighbourhood Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores the challenges and various perspectives around policing’s role in building and developing the concept of ‘social capital’.

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.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to figures including the City of London Police Deputy Commissioner Nik Adams, and College of Policing Crime & Criminal Justice Delivery Lead T/Detective Chief Superintendent Jamie Daniels, about whether teaching local officers and staff how to spot fraud and protect victims can make a real difference in the face of huge demand and AI-powered scams.

INNOVATION: In the second of three articles exploring data-driven policing and AI, Wilfrid Laurier University Assistant Professor Dr Oliver R Stoetzer and Professor James Robertson explore the need to address the skills gap around the growing use of AI and digital technology in policing, and the emergence of the ‘phygital officer’ – a law enforcement professional successfully able to integrate physical investigative skills with digital, cyber, and AI literacy – and the competency framework needed to develop those officers.

FEATURE: New research carried out among more than 1,500 mid-level police leaders and frontline officers in Australia suggests that while many of the leadership cohort have experienced the same level of traumatic experiences and operational burnout as the officers they are managing, they are also dealing with greater levels of organisational stress and demand without the support programmes that are now in place for their frontline colleagues, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: New research by Monash University into the routine arming of officers highlights that the view that “more guns on belts inevitably lead to more people being shot” is not borne out by the evidence – with officer-involved shootings actually falling in some instances – provided that the move to the mandatory carrying of firearms is accompanied by a suitable transition period, the right training, and effective de-escalation protocols, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons

OPINION: Adopting a ‘backcasting’ approach to the challenge of tackling the illicit financial flows driving organised crime, De Montford University Visiting Fellow Dr Chris Allen envisages Project Artemis, a partnership model that would see private-sector specialist financial investigators deployed as ‘financial bounty hunters’ to target the funds and assets of organised criminal businesses.

OPINION: The traditional method of disrupting organised crime groups – target the leadership and the organisation collapses – is not the most effective, says organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson, who explores how social network analysis combined with tools including the NCA menu of tactics and the NPCC Serious and Organised Crime Local Policing Framework can deliver more successful outcomes, illustrated by Greater Manchester Police’s targeting of the Adam organised crime group.

FEATURE: A new paper from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, which draws on themes highlighted during a series of recent roundtables on police use of new and emerging technologies, warns that law enforcement needs to recognise digital transformation as a “necessity” that will also require a culture shift away from risk aversion, the safeguarding of human rights, and a focus on improving data if forces are to maximise the technology potential, reports Policing Insight’s Keith Potter.

OPINION: London’s response to group-based child sexual exploitation should focus on improving evidence, identification, and protection for all victims rather than fixating on offender ethnicity, argues University of Bristol Professor of Criminology Aisha K. Gill, Head of the Centre for Gender and Violence Research and Co-Editor of the Journal of Gender Based Violence.