Analysis

ANALYSIS: Three recent high-profile firearms cases involving the UK’s National Crime Agency have underlined the continuing fight against the flow of illegal guns into criminal hands; and as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports, tackling the trade and trafficking in illicit firearms is a challenge that will involve collaboration and co-operation across Europe.

FEATURE: A report by a cross-party committee of UK MPs into the police complaints system has called for a change in culture to improve co-operation with the Independent Office for Police Conduct, as well as an expanded role for police and crime commissioners, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: For millions of people across the globe, sport is life – and for many others corruption is also part and parcel of the daily routine; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the intersection between the two, and examines new research that shows how organised criminals have infiltrated sport at every level.

FEATURE: The growing demands placed on police officers are contributing to increasing levels of mental ill-health within the service, yet research has highlighted the continuing stigma around asking for support with mental health problems; British Transport Police Temporary Special Sergeant Shawny Dixon, who is currently studying for her MSc in Policing and Law Enforcement Leadership, looks at some of the existing research around the issue, and what the service could be doing to tackle the problem.

ANALYSIS: While climate change is generally seen as damaging for communities across the globe, transnational organised crime gangs are ready to take the opportunities offered by fragile states, scarce resources and regulated markets to further their profits while putting the pubic at risk, as Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute explains.

ANALYSIS: While recruitment and retention challenges have been the focus for many police forces around the world, the lack of female representation in US law enforcement has become a mounting concern; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to current and former officers as well as other criminal justice stakeholders working hard – and in many cases drawing on their own experiences – to address that gender imbalance.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in this series on continuing professional development (CPD), Dr Nicky Miller and Professor Jean Hartley of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) explore the integration of explicit and tacit knowledge into learning, and how taking the opportunities to blend both approaches can help to bridge the gap between knowing and doing in UK policing.

ANALYSIS: As investigations of poor behaviour by UK politicians and police highlight a perceived decline of standards in public life, efforts are underway across the EU to ensure that the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies within security and law enforcement is compatible with upholding the seven principles of public life, as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: Sir Michael Barber, Chair of the Strategic Review of Policing, has warned that the police’s ability to “do the basics” is being severely hampered by its role in responding to a range of “effectively social problems” such as mental health and missing persons – with confidence in police suffering as a result, as Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: The findings of a year-long review of the UK College of Policing have highlighted concerns over the quality of products, their usefulness, and the College’s remoteness to frontline officers; but its efforts to ‘reset’ the relationship with policing and launch a new four-year strategy have sparked a rebuke from the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: In his latest Annual Threat Assessment Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), has revealed that minors now account for half of ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism investigations, as the online radicalisation that went into overdrive during Covid lockdowns has created a new wave of more intense extremists ready to use violence.

ANALYSIS: As UK emergency services look to learn lessons from the Manchester Arena Inquiry to improve crisis response, a new European project involving partners from eight countries is using data sets from previous emergencies and disasters to identify strategies that can strengthen disaster resilience at a local, national and international level, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: New research has highlighted the increasing use of non-traditional ports for trafficking cocaine, as organised crime groups try to keep pace with growing demand for the drug; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a closer look at the research, and considers what the findings mean for law enforcement agencies involved in targeting the narcotics market.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in this series on continuing professional development (CPD), Dr Paul Walley and Associate Lecturer Laurie Knell of the Open University explore the benefits and opportunities of collaborative learning design between police and higher education, and how a co-creation approach has proved successful for the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

ANALYSIS: The surge in terrorist content online has presented law enforcement agencies and tech companies with significant challenges in tackling dangerous extremists; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at European efforts to target such activities and online material, including new draft legislation governing how the EU can work with third countries to exchange data.

ANALYSIS: The often traumatic nature of policing has long been regarded as having a major effect on police wellbeing, but research in recent years has also highlighted the impact of organisational factors; former police officer Mark Brain, now a PhD Researcher at Cardiff University, used narrative interviewing techniques to determine that lengthy professional standards department investigations are one of the leading causes of officer mental ill-health.

FEATURE: With a diverse range of experiences, skills and backgrounds, apprentices are embraced by many organisations (including emergency services) as an important part of the workforce of the future, but a new survey suggests policing lags behind; Kit Salt, Head of End-Point Assessment at SFJ Awards, looks at the key role apprentices are already playing in some forces, and how they could help to shape the policing workforce going forwards.

ANALYSIS: Recent UK media headlines have focused on the commitment by some forces to attend all residential burglaries, and its apparent success in cutting crimes and increasing detections; but as Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett reports, lessons learned 20 years ago would suggest that high-quality investigations, dedicated resources and sustained efforts are much more likely to secure results than simple scene attendance.

FEATURE: The surge in Canadian girls and young women becoming victims of technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV) – as well as the high-profile suicides of two young females bullied as a result of TFSV – have prompted calls for new laws to offer greater protection; Dr Anthony Fong, Global Journalism Fellow at the University of Toronto, explores the impact of the crime, and the legal options available.

ANALYSIS: Australia has a lengthy and costly 40-year history of providing assistance to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, but the offer recently accepted by the Islands’ Government of officers and equipment from China has raised some strategic concerns; Gordon Peake and Dr Graeme Smith of the Australian National University explore the Australian Federal Police’s capacity-building efforts to date, as well as China’s moves to extend their policing reach in the Pacific.

ANALYSIS: As tensions continue to rise on the Russia-Ukraine border, public sector organisations in the UK are being urged to strengthen their cyber security resilience amid concerns that the threat of armed conflict on the ground could prompt aggressive actions by Russia in cyber space, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explains.

ANALYSIS: The police recognition of and response to honour-based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, while well intentioned, regularly fails to provide adequate support for victims; Jennifer Holton, Citizens in Policing Manager for Wiltshire Police, draws on her own experience and research into the issues (including her Master’s thesis) to highlight key challenges and opportunities for change.

ANALYSIS: The high-profile media investigations into the Panama Papers, Pandora Papers and others brought the issues of illegal financial activity and money laundering to a wider global audience; now a new Europol report has offered a law enforcement perspective on the use of international finance systems for criminal gain, and Policing Insight’s Chris Allen reports.

LONG READ: The use of naloxone by officers to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses is being trialled by several UK forces, having saved hundreds of lives in the US and Canada, and debates are ongoing in Australia and New Zealand – but not everyone believes it’s the best way forward; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro takes an in-depth look at the impact the medication can have, how and where it is being used, and the barriers to a wider roll-out.