Analysis

ANALYSIS: UK police leaders and inspectorates have frequently highlighted the importance of neighbourhood policing, and community engagement is a crucial element to that approach; University of Northampton Associate Professor Dr Tim Curtis, Executive Director of Intensive Engagement, discusses his latest research which surveyed the neighbourhood policing skills of 150 police officers and PCSOs, and how effectively those skills are applied to a real-world policing scenario.

INNOVATION: Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, moves beyond science fiction to consider how technology will shape policing over the coming decades; in the last of a three-part series exploring the report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland looks at the findings around more advanced technologies – specifically, how neural interfaces might change how policing works in the future.

FEATURE: The latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey shows that while public perceptions of policing overall remain strongly positive, high-profile controversies and ‘gross failings’ in police behaviour in other countries – coupled with a fall in support for the ‘public sector brand generally’ – has prompted a dip in public trust and confidence in NZ Police, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Security Act 2023 came into effect last month, strengthening the country’s protection against threats from foreign interests and actors, building on existing laws, and creating a range of new criminal offences; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the new legislation, and the vital role that police will have to play.

OPINION: Metropolitan Police Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer Darren Scates recently completed his two-year tenure as Chair of the UK’s National Police Technology Council; in this article he looks back at the significant and rapid changes during that period, and looks ahead at the opportunities for innovation facing policing, both in the short and longer term.

FEATURE: A new study by researchers from the University of Portsmouth suggests that despite increases in the number of women being promoted to senior posts in policing, structural and cultural barriers mean that in many instances female officers continue to be ‘overlooked and undermined’ in relation to career progression, unless they ‘exhibit qualities which accord with the hegemonic masculine norms of policing’, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Various sectors of criminal justice systems around the world are increasing their use of artificial intelligence (AI), but AI has played a key part in offender assessment decisions in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and other countries for more than 20 years, with little or no transparency or independent inspection of the algorithms involved, as University of Surrey Professor Melissa Hamilton and Professor Pamela Ugwudike of the University of Southampton explain.

INNOVATION: Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, moves beyond science fiction to consider how technology will shape policing over the coming decades; in the second in a three-part series exploring the report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland digs deeper into ‘sensing technology’, highlighted as one of the key developments for law enforcement of the future.

FEATURE: A recent report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into the effectiveness of UK police firearms deployment has highlighted shortcomings in the training and selection of firearms commanders, a lack of shared learning and force collaboration, and the need for greater chief officer involvement in communication processes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With peer-officer support programmes in the UK increasingly highlighted as positive practice, Policing Insight’s Darren Moor, a former police officer and trauma management divisional co-ordinator, shares his experiences of trauma risk management (TRiM), the challenges of successfully implementing the approach, and the benefits it can deliver for individual officers and the wider force.

FEATURE: This month saw the publication of the most recent version of CONTEST, the UK’s strategy for countering terrorism; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the initial development of the strategy in the wake of 9/11, how the plan has been updated and adapted in the intervening years, and the key message from this latest iteration.

OPINION: Three years after the death of George Floyd, the latest report by the US Justice Department in to policing in Minneapolis features a raft of worrying findings, including discrimination against Black people and Native Americans, and routine use of excessive force; but Arizona State University Associate Professor Rashad Shabazz believes the report also demonstrates that rather than being an aberration, such misconduct is part of how policing was historically intended to be in the US.

INNOVATION: In a new three-part series exploring how technology will shape policing over the coming decades, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports on Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, which tries to move beyond science fiction and look towards what policing might really become.

ANALYSIS: The requirement for a degree qualification as part of the professionalisation of UK policing is opposed by the Home Secretary and several chief constables, who argue that academic work is too far removed from operational policing; a study by the University of Portsmouth with student officers has found that problem-based learning has the potential to make academic policing more relevant to student police officers by linking theory with practice, as Lecturer in Policing David Knowles explains.

FEATURE: With mental health policing under increased focus for forces across the UK, Thames Valley Police has established dedicated mental health officer posts to improve data gathering and monitoring, share best practice, and help to embed the Right Care, Right Person approach; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Insp Penny Jones about the aims of the initiative.

ANALYSIS: A series of high-profile instances of police misconduct in recent years (including in the US, the UK, Germany and most recently France) are believed to have damaged trust in policing – but to what extent? Post-doctoral researcher Christof Nägel and Associate Professor Amy Nivette used the latest research techniques to examine how police misconduct impacted public trust, and whether the effect was the same across different communities.

OPINION: In a follow-up to an earlier 2019 study highlighting disproportionate police stops of Black, Indigenous and Arab people in Montreal, a report published in June suggests a new non-discriminatory policy has had little impact; Concordia University Associate Professor Ted Rutland believes the city is abdicating its role of overseeing the police on behalf of the population.

ANALYSIS: As the Police Federation of England and Wales prepares to ballot its members on whether it should pursue industrial rights, Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone looks back at the history of police strikes and working to rule in the UK, the failure of successive governments to honour the independent pay award process, and why the current debate about whether police should take industrial action should be taken seriously by the Government.

FEATURE: Last year saw the publication in the UK of the national Police Race Action Plan, published jointly by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing, to address racial inequality and injustice in policing; Criminology Lecturer Finley MacDonald explores the plan itself, the challenges arising from the efforts to tackle disproportionality and inequality, and what more needs to be done.

ANALYSIS: Police forces in England and Wales have yet to find a way of resolving low rape charging rates and poor victim experiences, but creating specialist rape investigation units is frequently proposed as part of the solution; Det Ch Supt Phil Sparrow of South Wales Police, and Operation Soteria joint academic lead Professor Katrin Hohl, explore how the Soteria approach to specialism has helped the force climb to the top of rape charging rate table, and discuss why distinguishing between ‘dedicated’ and ‘specialist’ units matters.

ANALYSIS: Research from University of Warwick’s Centre for Operational Police Research (COPR) assesses the benefits and challenges of arts and culture as a means of better police engagement and relationship-building with seldom-heard communities who historically, have had little reason to trust the police, as Dr Rachel Lewis and Professor Jacqueline Hodgson explain.

ANALYSIS: Delays in the police disciplinary process can risk undermining the legitimacy of policing as an institution, and erode public trust; Matthew Wood, a police constable with Toronto Police Service and part-time professor at the Seneca College School of Public Safety, looks at the importance of timeliness in addressing misconduct – highlighted in specific Canadian cases – and what can be done to improve the process.

FEATURE: Whenever a death or serious injury occurs following police contact in the UK, a post-incident management (PIM) process is instigated, but not all officers are aware of or understand what this entails; former Kent Police Sergeant Darren Moor, a PIM Manager during his own career, looks at the history of the approach, how PIM operates, and what officers need to know to be comfortable taking part in the process.

ANALYSIS: Former detective Carol Ann Kinley-Smith’s menopause journey began while she was still in the job, and she decided to focus on the experiences of policewomen working through their menopause for her Master’s dissertation; in this article she discusses the findings of her research, the challenges women can face in relation to support and understanding, and what steps the service could take to ensure older female officers remain a valued and effective part of the workforce.