Analysis

ANALYSIS: The recent rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer has prompted a greater focus on police who use their position to commit sexual offences, an area that has been the subject of research by a team at Bournemouth University for a number of years; in this article Lecturer Fay Sweeting, Dr Terri Cole and Professor Peter Hills highlight some key measures that can be taken to address the abuse of position.

ANALYSIS: Policing globally has been at the forefront of encouraging and in many cases enforcing compliance with pandemic lockdowns and legislation – a role which has often brought officers into direct confrontation with COVID-19 conspiracy theorists; Policing and Emergency Management Lecturer Dr Nick Evans of the University of Tasmania looks at the challenges presented by conspiracy theories, and what (if anything) policing could and should do to counteract them.

ANALYSIS: Police, politicians and the public have become accustomed to hearing and using the phrase ‘the war on drugs’, but it’s a battle based largely on punitive measures which is far from being won; Dr Matthew Bacon of the University of Sheffield interviewed a number of serving officers for his latest research on drugs policing, and found that for many, their experience in the job has changed their attitude towards criminalising drug users.

ANALYSIS: Recent upward trends in the size of the police workforce are welcome, but bring potential issues to be addressed down the line; in the latest in his series examining workforce changes, Ian Wiggett flags up how new training needs will emerge, why development opportunities are unlikely to keep pace with demand and ambitions – and that it really is true, officers are, indeed, getting younger.

Insight: Multiple and conflicting factors shaped the ways police officers thought about their work during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. UK researchers concluded that organisational climate was at the heart of these processes and officers may be more likely to maintain appropriate standards of policing and feel less stress if they are well supported by employers. Dr Arabella Kyprianides reports on the research conducted with Professor Ben Bradford, Professor Clifford Stott and Dr Leanne Savigar-Shaw.

FEATURE: While much of the concerns regarding the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan have focused on human rights, the safety of citizens and threat from extremist militias and terrorist organisations, research has shown that the Taliban – now the Government of Afghanistan – have long been involved in organised criminality; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the ramifications for the UK and the rest of the world.

ANALYSIS: The Covid pandemic and multiple lockdowns have not prompted a “significant increase” in domestic homicide deaths, according to a new police and government report published last month; but the research does raise several areas of concern, including domestic abuse risks associated with lifting lockdowns, and the “entrenched and enduring” nature of the problem, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports.

ANALYSIS: The frequency and scale of cyberattacks is increasing globally, often based around the exploitation of security vulnerabilities, and many governments now collaborate closely with cybersecurity experts to highlight those weaknesses; but Yuan Stevens and Stephanie Tran of the Leadership Lab at Ryerson University believe the Canadian Government is lagging behind others in working with experts, potentially leaving individuals and organisations at risk as a result

ANALYSIS: Recent media headlines suggesting young recruits may not be ready for the challenges of modern UK policing have also prompted questions over the average age of those joining the service; now new research by University of Sunderland Lecturer Adrian Smiles and Police Federation of England and Wales Professional Development Lead David Bamber has confirmed that new recruits have generally got younger over the past three years – and forces need to be aware of the issues that may raise.

ANALYSIS: The UK Government’s ‘Uplift’ initiative to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales is well underway, but the challenge of balancing new recruits with those leaving posts means not all forces are expanding at the same rate; in the latest in a series of articles on the police workforce, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the key issues of service leavers and joiners, the pandemic effect and the need for more accurate data.

FEATURE: The latest Member Survey of the New Zealand Police Association has confirmed that frontline support for the general arming of officers is at its highest level in a decade, with almost three quarters of officers backing the right to carry firearms routinely on duty; the increase in support comes against a backdrop of increased violence, prompting heartfelt concerns over safety and security from officers themselves.

ANALYSIS: Several Conservative PCCs have spoken out in recent weeks about the importance of ensuring police forces record sex-based data, not just self-identified gender. However, Police Scotland refused in a recent survey, insisting "we do not need to know". Kath Murray, Lucy Hunter Blackburn and Lisa Mackenzie of the MurrayBlackburnMackenzie Policy Analysis Collective argue this approach marginalises and endangers women, and risks the force being unable to meet its own legal obligations.

ANALYSIS: With the world watching, the US, UK and allies involved in nation-building efforts in Afghanistan completed a hasty and messy withdrawal as the Taliban returned to power; Policing Insight contributor Gareth Bryon looks at the lessons to be learned from failed attempts to create a community-based Afghan civil police force focused on crime and disorder, and whether there is any hope for the recent genuine reform introduced by President Ashraf Ghani.

ANALYSIS: Policing in England and Wales is now over half way through the UK Government’s ‘Uplift’ initiative, designed to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by April 2023, but while the programme is already delivering significant workforce growth, not all forces or roles are experiencing the same expansion; in this second in a series of articles on the police workforce, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at changes in the numbers of police community support officers and police staff, and what that means for the total workforce picture.

ANALYSIS: Almost two years after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to recruit an 'Uplift' of 20,000 additional police officers, latest workforce figures show that the officer headcount has increased significantly; but in this first in a series of articles looking at the changing police workforce, Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett explains why a return to 2010 staffing levels will need to be more than just a numbers game, and how Government attempts to 'level up' could still leave a landscape of inequality.

ANALYSIS: COVID-19 has seen fraudsters taking advantage of the pandemic economy, and Africa has not escaped the attentions of those intent on fraud; Research Associate Nataliya Mykhalchenko and Lecturer Jörg Wiegratz, both of the University of Leeds, set out some of the key findings from their latest research into the responses to fraud, and the major characteristics of anti-fraud measures, across 11 African countries.

ANALYSIS: The recent upsurge in gang membership and conflict in New Zealand has prompted a fresh focus on their criminal activity; but ahead of this week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Dr Jarrod Gilbert of the University of Canterbury warns that equating patched gangs with organised crime ignores the evidence, and will result in law enforcement and socio-economic approaches to gang issues that are unlikely to be effective.

ANALYSIS: Crime prevention programmes in many countries often adopt a blanket approach to communities, with little regard to race or culture; ahead of next week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, researchers Dr Kabir Dasgupta, Dr André Diegmann, Professor Tom Kirchmaier and Dr Alexander Plum discuss their latest study which highlights the role of ethnicity in the criminal behaviour of young fathers, and suggests that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy response to crime reduction is likely to fail.

FEATURE: The volume and accessibility of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has increased considerably in recent years, prompting concerns from police, legislators and the public; ahead of next week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Dr Rick Brown, Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, outlines some of the key research and initiatives already underway to reduce CSAM in the future.

ANALYSIS: A network of programmes seek to provide pathways out of criminal behaviour for at-risk youth in New York City; Greg Berman, former Director of New York’s Center for Court Innovation, looks at both the challenges and the potential of the Cure Violence approach, and underlines the importance of empirical research in establishing if, why and how the various programmes achieve their aims.

FEATURE: From fake big-name brands to illegal livestock sources and sub-standard products that are a danger to public health, the illicit food and alcohol industry is big business that attracts organised crime; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the latest efforts from Europol and Interpol to tackle the problem, as well as the UK’s response.

Insight: An offender desistance programme centred on taking a public health approach to policing suggests that it can reduce the risk of offending by 30% over a significant follow-up period which could have far-reaching benefits for how policing resources are used. Working with offenders rather than simply processing them was a key driver for the project, as Detective Superintendent Kevin Weir and Durham PCC's Policy and Commissioning Officer Stephanie Kilili report.

FEATURE: The forest wildfires which have swept large parts of Turkey, killing at least eight people and decimating wildlife, made the news headlines around the world: but there are fears that a return to pyro-terrorism rather than climate change could be the main factor behind these latest blazes, as PhD student Eray Arda Akartuna of UCL’s Dawes Centre for Future Crime reports.

ANALYSIS: The transition of forensic science provision in England and Wales from the public to private sector has led to fears over the ability of commercial markets to influence forensic analysis and interpretation; in the second of two articles, Dr Karen Richmond of the University of Copenhagen highlights further concerns around the separation of tasks and the use of Streamlined Forensic Reports, as well as a potential path to progress for the forensic sector through the growth of digital.