Latest News, Analysis and Opinion

ANALYSIS: Organised crime groups are defrauding consumers and retail businesses across the US of millions out of dollars through gift card fraud – a crime largely overlooked in many other countries, but which former Deputy Assistant Director for the US Department of Homeland Security Raul Aguilar believes will soon be affecting Australia, New Zealand and the UK, as he told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Operation Soteria has been described as a ‘game changer’ for the police investigation of rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO) in England and Wales, with the development of a new national operating model (NOM) for RASSO one of the key outcomes; in this article Professor Bernard Burnes, Dr Linda Cooper, and Dr Clare Rawdin – members of the change team for ‘Pillar 4’ (learning development and officer wellbeing) of Op Soteria – share some of the findings and insights from their work on the project.

ANALYSIS: A recent case at the Supreme Court in New Zealand saw the conviction of a man for aggravated burglary overturned because the photo used to identify him – taken by a police officer during a routine traffic stop – was improperly obtained; University of Auckland Senior Law Lecturer Dr Alexandra Allen-Franks explains the reasoning behind the judgment, and what it may mean for policing in the future.

FEATURE: A report commissioned by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and published earlier this month highlights an increasing number of potential modern slavery victims who are refusing to consent to a referral by first responders to the National Referral Mechanism; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at why more people are choosing alternative avenues for support, and what the report’s authors say should be done to address the problem.

ANALYSIS: Last week saw the publication of the landscape review on the police response to online and technology-enabled VAWG in England and Wales, undertaken by the Centre for Protecting Women Online; independent policing and technology expert Giles Herdale, one of the three co-authors of the review, explains the key questions the work addressed, its findings, and what they mean for policing and the Government’s commitment to halve violence against women and girls over the next 10 years.

ANALYSIS: A new report assessing the impact of drug-related serious and organised crime in the Netherlands has highlighted concerns around poly-drug production and trafficking by gangs, the growing collaboration between criminal networks, and the increase in production of new psychoactive substances destined both for Dutch users and those in the UK wider Europe, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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: In the latest in a regular series of articles and opinion pieces from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, Chair of the APCC, explores the continuing efforts to improve trust and confidence in policing and the culture within forces by tightening vetting and misconduct procedures.

FEATURE: A review of the use of body-worn video by New South Wales Police, carried out by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, is calling for the activation of cameras to be mandatory rather than discretionary as is currently the case in some situations, with the force also urged to ensure standard operating instructions are clear and consistent to provide more clarity both for officers and complainants, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New research commissioned by the UK Home Office into drug-related law enforcement activities suggests that far from reducing violence, many policing interventions can drive further violent crime, with more “passive” interventions such as greater police presence and building community trust likely to have more effective outcomes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Collaborative research by the University of Portsmouth and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) Portfolio has explored equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in SOC roles; the University’s Professor Sarah Charman, Dr Geoff Newiss, Dr Jemma Tyson and Dr Alejandra De La Fuente Vilar, and T/Det Chief Supt Paul Wells of the NPCC SOC portfolio, explain the findings and set out priorities to improve EDI.

Canadian Order of Merit: We are pleased to publish and recognise the recipients of the 2025 Canadian Order of Merit of the Police Forces. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service and contribution to their communities.

OPINION: With the use of predictive policing driven by artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly prevalent, University of Virginia Postdoctoral Researcher Maria Lungu argues that to address fears of overreach, bias, and a range of ethical concerns, government generally and law enforcement in particular should ensure that all data-driven tools are grounded in democratic values of due process, transparency and accountability.

FEATURE: This year’s Cityforum Transforming Police Public Contact event, supported by Policing Insight as media partner, saw experts from across the sector discuss key issues around contact management; in this article – a shortened version of the full report from the event – Dr Rick Muir, Policing Advisor to the Home Secretary, looks at some of the debates from the day, including the strategic challenges, potential quick wins, and how the discussion has broadened to consider ways police-public interaction can improve trust and confidence.

FEATURE: At a time when scrutiny of policing has never been greater, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the European PRECRISIS initiative to tackle insider threats, and how this impacts and influences the vetting and ongoing insider risk safeguarding of police officers and staff.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes staff from the Swiss Police Institute, who now have FREE subscriber access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of readers from many other UK and international academic, government, police, criminal justice and emergency services organisations with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

OPINION: With Canadian homicide rates increasing by 50% over the past 10 years, Carleton University PhD candidate Jeffrey Bradley and Professor Irvin Waller of the University of Ottawa argue that to reverse the trend, newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney will need to follow successful examples from the UK and US and invest significantly in crime prevention and youth outreach programmes.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Law enforcement is taking advantage of the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs.) When combined with intelligence data in the knowledge graphs, the police can query the data using natural language and get accurate, reliable answers due to the nature of graph technology.

INTERVIEW: Merseyside Police’s two-pronged approach of piloting serious violence reduction orders and increasing high-profile uniformed foot patrols as part of a hotspot project has led to a drop in overall crime, and a 50% cut in violent crime in some areas; the force’s Supt Phil Mullally spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about how the two initiatives work together, the opportunities to improve community relations, and why “excellence in the basics” is better than “reinventing the wheel”.

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 the training schedule for the new Neighbourhood Policing Pathway (NPP) beginning next month, and first measures under the new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee due to be in place across England and Wales in July, former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation, looks at the opportunities and challenges for the NPP, and the role of community intelligence-led policing methodology within it.

FEATURE: A new report on county lines, policing and vulnerability, published by the Vulnerability and Policing Futures Research Centre, has highlighted the “postcode lottery” of UK policing approaches and outcomes in relation to viewing young people and vulnerable adults as victims of criminal exploitation, and called for more training, a new national policing strategy on exploitation, and a rethink over the use of the term ‘county lines’, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: A review of public order policing in Ireland published by the Garda Síochána Policing Authority (now the Policing and Community Safety Authority) has highlighted a shortage of officers and training, outdated policies, the need for more support for the frontline from managers, and inconsistency and lack of understanding among senior operational ranks about the role of public order policing, as key concerns that need to be addressed, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With geopolitical changes potentially placing considerable financial pressures on the UN, its role in fighting international organised crime is also under threat; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the current challenges in countering organised crime globally, and what steps could be taken to address the issues.