FEATURE: Ongoing research by Anglia Ruskin University’s International Policing and Public Protection Research Institute (IPPPRI) has highlighted the gap in support for families of suspects of online child sexual abuse, and vital role played by Indirect Victim Support Officers both in providing guidance and assistance for those families, and relieving the burden on officers investigating the case, as IPPPRI Associate Professor Dr Theresa Redmond explains.

INNOVATION: Social media contacts with police forces soared during the disorder in England and Northern Ireland in the summer of 2024; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass looks at the role digi desks played during the crisis, and examines how useful they are for day-to-day operations.

OPINION: A series of recent high-profile stabbing incidents in Australia has prompted increased concerns from communities and calls for politicians to act against knife crime; but Macquarie University lecturers Dr Vince Hurley and Dr Alex Simpson argue that, despite public fears, when it comes to knife crime Australia compares favourably with countries such as the UK and Canada.

ANALYSIS: In the second of two articles on the community intelligence-led policing methodology (CILPM), Steve Dodd, a former South Wales Police detective and College of Policing subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation, looks at how CILPM can help to tackle some of the existing key policing challenges, and why the current focus on community and neighbourhood policing make it the ideal time to adopt the new methodology.

FEATURE: A new report from Europol sets out how artificial intelligence (AI) could “significantly transform policing”, with tools such as generative AI offering a “treasure trove of possibilities” for law enforcement; but the report also highlights the profound risks around AI systems embedding “longstanding societal biases”, and the important restrictions coming into force via the landmark EU AI Act passed earlier this year, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports. 

ANALYSIS: The latest police workforce data for England and Wales shows the roller coaster ride for resources during the 2010 to 2024 Conservative-led governments, with numbers dropping sharply followed by a rapid but partial rise with the Uplift after 2019; in this first in a series of three articles, Ian Wiggett looks at the changes in workforce numbers over the past 14 years.

FEATURE: Despite a growing move to delay post-incident officer interviews for at least 48 hours after an event, new research presented at last month’s Global Evidence-Based Policing Conference shows the better recall and increased accuracy of more immediate interviews; Griffith University Associate Professor Justin Ready, who led the research, also highlighted the benefits and challenges of incorporating body-word video footage into interviews, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: A ruling by the British Columbia Supreme Court has cleared the way for Surrey Police Service to take over from the RCMP as the force of jurisdiction from next month; Royal Roads University Associate Lecturer Dr Bryce Casavant believes the Federal Government support for the move to municipal policing in Surrey could see other communities around Canada follow suit.

ANALYSIS: With a renewed government focus on neighbourhood and community policing in the UK, Steve Dodd, a former South Wales Police detective and College of Policing subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation, sets out the potential of community intelligence-led policing methodology in improving intelligence gathering and rebuilding public trust and confidence, in the first of a two-part series.

FEATURE: While the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) sits outside the qualifications framework established by the College of Policing for England and Wales, the force has built on its long-standing partnership with Ulster University to create the Probationary Officer Development Programme; PSNI Sergeant Michelle Martin and Ulster University’s Dr John Bell explain the thinking behind the programme, its structure, and the successful outcomes for the first cohorts of student officers.

ANALYSIS: A new study by the N8 Policing Research Partnership has found a lack of effective evaluation of police activity to tackle drugs markets, leading to responses built on an evidence base that is “distressingly weak”, a “whack-a-mole” approach to police operations, and forces resorting to short termism, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The work of the West Midlands Police Data Ethics Committee has been recognised as pioneering in England and Wales, but until now the impact of its activities had not been fully assessed; Northumbria University Professor Marion Oswald, Senior Research Associate at the Alan Turing Institute and Chair of the Committee, outlines the findings of a new report which evaluates that activity, and suggests steps to improve outcomes both for the West Midlands Police and other forces looking to follow suit.

FEATURE: Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned that “unprecedented strain” on policing is leaving it “dangerously stretched”, and that systems for holding officers to account don’t always meet the “common-sense test”; delivering the Police Foundation’s 2024 John Harris Memorial Lecture, he also claimed that the Met’s budget is “heading off a cliff”, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: Multi-agency scrutiny panels which examine domestic abuse cases that have been deemed ‘no further action’ in Avon and Somerset have helped to identify mistakes, highlight learning opportunities for police and partner agencies, and increase transparency for victim/survivors, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Closer collaboration with social agencies on homelessness, a mindset shift within policing to overcome barriers to change, and the continuing expansion of co-response models were among the key messages from police chiefs, public safety experts and community advocates at the recent Safety of Our Cities conference in Ontario, Canada, as Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood reports.

FEATURE: While ‘precision policing’ has become an essential element of the turnaround plans for the Met as well as a focus for other forces, Policing Insight’s Rory Geoghegan, a former officer and founder of The Public Safety Foundation, examines how precision approaches – against a backdrop of falling stop and search rates and an emphasis on ‘positive outcomes’ – could see this policing tool become ineffective as a general crime deterrent.

ANALYSIS: In this first in a series of five articles looking at the big debates in police use of facial recognition (FR) – extracted from this year’s ‘Facing the future: The rise of facial recognition in policing’ report – Policing Insight spoke to senior officers and police leaders to understand exactly how FR is a useful tool in policing’s arsenal, and why it is often described as making a significant difference to public safety.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass examines the proliferation of law enforcement across the UK, Australia, the US and Canada preparing to send UAVs out to view incidents before personnel can reach them on the ground, and examines the advantages and criticisms of the approach.

OPINION: Although Australia is taking a prominent role in protecting those under the age of 16 from the dangers of social media, the debate around the criminal age of responsibility has seen some states push for those 10 and over to be punished for their crimes; Australian Strategic Policy Institute Fellow Anna Alexander argues this inconsistency around age and vulnerability highlights contradictions in the country’s policies, and that a whole-of-government approach is essential to protect at-risk youth.

ANALYSIS: The increase in drug-related extreme violence and the scale of drug seizures across Europe suggest Mexican and South American cartels already view the EU as the ideal location for expansion; former DEA Special Agent Michael Brown, Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, believes steps can be taken by European governments and law enforcement to thwart that expansion – but will require political will, increased co-operation, and better use of technology.

FEATURE: A new personal safety training programme which focuses on scenario-based learning and decision-making to reduce police injuries and the use of force has been developed in a ‘pracademic’ partnership between the College of Policing and Loughborough University; the package is now being rolled out to officers across England and Wales after a successful pilot with Avon and Somerset Police, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons report

FEATURE: With the rapid increase in the number of teenage terror suspects detained in the UK, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the work of the EU’s INDEED project, which uses evidence-based approaches to evaluate initiatives to prevent and counter violent extremism, including a new definition of evidence-based policing that incorporates community values and perspectives into decision-making processes.

FEATURE: With a new diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) strategy – developed by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing – on the horizon for forces in England and Wales, Derbyshire Chief Constable Rachel Swann, the NPCC lead on DEI, recently told senior officers that it’s time to stop seeing DEI as an extra and to realise that it’s key to restoring public trust and confidence, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr Munro reports.

OPINION: The recently announced Neighbourhood Policing Pathway and the Government’s commitment to 13,000 new neighbourhood ‘officers’ for England and Wales is both light on detail and a reworking of an old approach – one which could be much more effectively replaced by learning lessons from the successful community responder models in place in the United States, argues Senior Policing Lecturer and former chief superintendent Owen West.