INTERVIEW: A cold case review team led by Leeds Trinity University’s Dr Kirsty Bennett is calling on forces to be more open to sharing information and working in collaboration to meet the increasing demand from grieving families looking for justice for their lost loved ones, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: A ‘ground-breaking’ toolkit pioneered by Sussex Police to provide health screening, dietary options and a raft of other adjustments in custody suites for female detainees found to be exhibiting peri-menopausal, menopausal or post-menopausal symptoms is set to be rolled out to forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: An autism passport scheme flags specific issues for individuals – both things that can help interaction, and things that can cause anxiety or stress – on the Guernsey Police records management system, raising real-time warnings and markers for control room operators and responding officers and improving outcomes for all involved, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new report by a cross-party committee of UK MPs has described the need for policing to “repair its culture” in the face of increasingly complex demands and failures that have damaged confidence in the service as a “turning point for the police”, amid warnings that “marginal changes” will not be enough to improve services and rebuild public trust, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: A long-term approach to using technology, data analysis and information sharing to deliver significant reductions in gun violence in New Jersey has been hailed as the “tipping point in a new era of law enforcement” and is already being adopted and adapted by police and authorities in others states across the US, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: A new study from Crest Advisory on the impact of devolving justice approaches to local areas has highlighted the positive outcomes of initiatives aimed at reducing reoffending and supporting specific vulnerable groups in four case study areas, with particular success for “whole-system approaches” delivered under police and crime commissioner and mayoral protocols, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: As with many other police forces, Queensland Police Service (QPS) is looking to improve the representation of female officers across the workforce; new research from QPS Detective Chief Inspector Mike Newman suggests that instilling more confidence in female officers, and addressing inherent biases in selection processes, will be crucial in ensuring female officers progress through the ranks at the same rate as their male counterparts, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: Project Pegasus, a new police team using organised crime gang intelligence and retail crime gang data, has been launched to target the “rampant rise” in shoplifting in the UK as part of the Government’s new Retail Crime Action Plan, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New international research on the approach by policing and industry to rural crime has highlighted the multi-million-dollar impact on farms and countryside communities often overlooked by law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dr Kyle Mulrooney of the University of New England and Inspector Oliver Fisher of Sussex Police about the steps that can be taken to improve prevention and response for farmers and rural communities.

FEATURE: The most recent member survey carried out by the New Zealand Police Association has highlighted a drop in morale, with officers voicing concerns over increased levels of crime and violence, the need for more mentoring and support, and a shortage of frontline resources despite the recruitment boost of 1,800 additional officers, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: A new report funded by the Scottish Institute for Policing Research has highlighted Police Scotland's ethical and effective use of ‘influence policing’, which uses ‘nudge campaigns’ as part of a strategic communications approach to changing offenders’ behaviour; but researchers have also voiced concerns over the harmful and unethical use of similar approaches by other UK bodies, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: As legislation that will create a new oversight body to replace the current Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) works its way through the Irish parliamentary process, the current GSOC Chairperson has warned that unless adequate resources and specialists are allocated to the new body it will be unable to effectively deliver its expanded role, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: As police forces in the UK collaborate with local authorities, government and community groups to promote National Hate Crime Awareness Week, new figures from the US and the UK highlight an increase in hate crime – particularly anti-Semitism – with incidents surging in the wake of the horrific attacks and continuing conflict between Israel and Gaza, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New research funded by the N8 Police Research Partnership into the experiences of both victim-survivors of coercive and controlling behaviour (CCB) and frontline officers involved in such cases has found that while policing’s understanding and awareness of the manipulative tactics employed by CCB perpetrators has improved, stereotypical images of victims can still mean such behaviour goes undetected, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Concerns over the wellbeing of investigators – particularly those involved in sexual offence cases – has been raised in a number of reports and reviews, but recent efforts to focus on those issues has helped to significantly reduce the number of unfilled detective vacancies; ahead of next month’s Investigator Wellbeing Week of Action, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to organiser Sarah-Jayne Bray about the aims of the event and the difference the renewed focus is making to officer and staff wellbeing.

INTERVIEW: As campaign group Stamp Out Spiking continues with calls for new legislation to tackle the offence as well as more support for support for victims, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to CEO Dawn Dines about their work with police and other organisations to improve training and awareness around the crime.

FEATURE: Facing recruitment and retention challenges, Queensland Police Service has launched a new Special Constable scheme to attract those who have recently retired or resigned back into the force; and as Acting Inspector Howard Kemp explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons, the scheme is also providing an incentive to older new recruits who know they won’t have to leave the Service completely at 60, but can return as a Special.

FEATURE: The suicides of four Tasmania Police officers have prompted a range of recommendations from a coroner who highlighted concerns around the force’s approach to fatigue management and post-traumatic stress; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the inquest findings into the tragic deaths of the four officers, and spoke to Tasmania Commissioner Donna Adams about the steps the force has already taken to address some of the issues.

ANALYSIS: A new report by the University of Nottingham Rights Lab has highlighted the link between climate change and human trafficking as families look to migrate from threatened environments or place children in forced marriages to alleviate debt; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the key points in the report, and spoke to Dame Sara Thornton, former UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner and now Professor of Practice in Modern Slavery Policy at the Rights Lab, about its findings.

ANALYSIS: Last month the cross-party UK Home Affairs Committee published its latest report on drugs, which included calls for a reform of legislation, greater cross-departmental collaboration in combating drugs, and more emphasis on protecting children and adopting a trauma-informed approach to the problem; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons explores some of the key recommendation from the Committee.

FEATURE: A habitual knife-carrier index pioneered by Sussex Police, which uses a multi-source database to identify at-risk young people and develops intervention and support to tackle reoffending and victimisation, is securing significant reductions and is now being considered by a number of other forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: A new partnership between Merseyside Police and Childline is providing children in custody with an anonymous call to counsellors in an attempt to provide support without direct law enforcement intervention and break the potential cycle of offending, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Despite repeated recommendations for forces in England and Wales to record ethnicity data of the people they deal with, two new reports from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services have highlighted continuing failures to gather data on ethnicity and gender that “presents a real risk to plans for improving the service provided by police”, and could lead to regulations being imposed by the Home Secretary, as Policing Insight's Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Researchers from the University of Birmingham have identified key warning signs that indicate which survivors of domestic abuse may be most at risk of attempting suicide, and believe that sharing the assessment tool with police and healthcare professionals could help to keep more abuse survivors alive, as Sarah Gibbons reports.