Interview

INTERVIEW: Having recently taken up his new role as CEO of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), Carl McLennan spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the importance of sharing and collaboration at regional, national and international levels, the threats and opportunities presented by new technology, and the need to ensure that the frontline are fully engaged with new developments and innovative thinking.

INTERVIEW: Police forces across England and Wales need central support to embed “a more consistent, nationally-led approach” to investigator wellbeing rather than the current ad-hoc activities and initiatives at a local level, as Sarah-Jayne Bray, Programme Manager for the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators portfolio, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: New research reveals that wellbeing support for secondary investigators and analysts (SIAs) such as crime and intelligence analysts and digital forensic officers is often below the levels offered to front-line colleagues, despite their often lengthy immersion in highly distressing material; report author Dr Fazeelat Duran of the University of Birmingham is urging police leaders to recognise the risks and exposure, and has also suggested simple strategies to help SIAs, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: Crime scene investigators (CSIs) are exposed to traumatic scenes more frequently than most other policing roles, yet are often overlooked when it comes to debriefing and wellbeing intervention, according to Anglia Ruskin University’s Rebecca Jones and Varvara Belova, whose research – shared as part of last month’s Investigator Wellbeing Week of Action – highlights the urgent need for improved support around CSI mental health, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: A new film produced to help police and other professionals recognise cuckooing and understand the perspectives of ‘alpha victims’ – young victims who go on to become offenders themselves – is due to be trialled by police forces shortly, as the latest addition to a wider toolkit to help practitioners identify and act on the risks and vulnerabilities around the issue, as Dr Laura Bainbridge, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice at the University of Leeds, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Following the Government’s announcement last month that the role of police and crime commissioner will be abolished in 2028, Emily Spurrell, Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about why she believes the Home Office is wrong to overhaul police governance in England and Wales, why it will not save the money cited, and how it could damage other areas of policing.

INNOVATION: Earlier this year Police Now launched a new specialist economic crime programme, recruiting 12 graduates to join City of London Police and become detectives within two years; Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke with City of London Deputy Commissioner Nik Adams, Police Now CEO Kurtis Christoforides, and three graduates on the programme to learn more.

INTERVIEW: Since Krissy Barrett’s appointment last month as Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), she has been setting out some of the challenges facing the organisation in the current policing landscape; she recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about her aims for leading the force to meet the evolving threats, the AFP’s unique technical and collaborative capabilities, and her ambition to ensure the AFP is “the best police agency in the world to work in”.

INTERVIEW: Developed by an academic team at the University of Sheffield, the Sexual Trafficking Identification Matrix (STIM) assesses adverts on adult service websites and analyses factors such as the photographs, language and details used to help law enforcement identify victims and perpetrators of human trafficking or sexual exploitation, as Dr Xavier L’Hoiry explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: With retail crime reaching “unprecedented levels”, Superintendent Lisa Maslen, the lead of the National Business Crime Centre, is looking to build a repository of best practice and urging forces to “borrow with pride” in an effort to tackle offending that is “organised, prolific and impactive on us all”, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Essex Chief Constable BJ Harrington, one of the longer-serving chief constables in England and Wales, spoke recently to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about avoiding “distractions” in delivering policing to the public, facing down criticism in relation to controversial issues such as the Epping asylum protests, and why local control and connections are still more effective in service delivery than “big is beautiful” centralisation.

INTERVIEW: This week’s National Audit Office (NAO) report into police productivity in England and Wales highlights a range of barriers to forces improving productivity, the dangers of the current fragmented policing structure, and the risks of a short-term funding approach to long-term service delivery; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to NAO Report Director Oliver Lodge about the implications of the findings, and what forces and the Home Office can do to improve productivity and efficiency.

INTERVIEW: The Hellenic Police is a partner in the NOTIONES project, a European network bringing police agencies together to improve the capacity and capability of intelligence functions; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Anthoula Bania and Christos Floros, Lieutenant Colonels in the Hellenic Police, about their work with the NOTIONES network, and the benefits of participating in European security research and innovation projects.

INTERVIEW: Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson has been credited with turning round the performance of the force since he took over the top job in 2021, as well as being vocal about the importance of getting the basics right in policing; he spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the need to focus on professionalism and impartiality, developing a proactive mindset among officers, GMP’s approach to neighbourhood policing, and the challenges and benefits of a National Centre of Policing.

INNOVATION: Following the recent launch of a new framework and principles for the “ethical and responsible” use of artificial intelligence (AI) across police forces by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to ANZPAA Policy & Research Officer Anastasia Pierakos about the aims of the guidance, the need to ensure the police use of AI is not “siloed” within specialist teams, and the importance of addressing issues such as transparency, accountability and oversight.

INTERVIEW: Vehicle manufacturers and security companies are being urged to join police and other agencies in a new public-private partnership to tackle organised vehicle crime, which researchers believe costs the UK economy more than £1.75 billion a year, as Mark Kameen, a former senior police officer and now project lead for the National Vehicle Crime Reduction Partnership, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: After leading Merseyside Police for just over four years, Serena Kennedy recently stepped down from her role as the Chief Constable of the fifth largest force in England and Wales; speaking with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland shortly before her departure, she reflected on the changing nature of police leadership, debates about national reform, and shared her perspective on what the planned new National Centre of Policing (NCoP) should look like.

INTERVIEW: Merging four separate police functions under one banner, the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Public Protection is part of a UK Government drive to start “treating the epidemic of violence against women and children with the seriousness it deserves”; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to the Centre’s Deputy Director, Assistant Chief Constable Claire Bell, about how it is working so far and what the future holds.

INTERVIEW: The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently published new guidance for police forces and other uniformed services on collecting and analysing equality data; EHRC Wales Committee Interim Chair Martyn Jones spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the drivers behind the new guidance, how good data could lead to necessary cultural change, and why police forces need to be aware of their statutory duties around collating and utilising equality data.

INTERVIEW: SFJ Awards, an independent regulated awarding organisation born out of Skills for Justice and part of The Workforce Development Trust group, is one of the UK’s leading awarding bodies in police, public and private training provision for counter-terrorism; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Kit Salt, SJF Awards Director of Partnerships and Innovation, about the qualifications offered including the new protective security advisers certificate, developed with the Home Office.

INTERVIEW: With law enforcement increasingly looking to artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency and enhance outcomes, forensic psychologist Dr Brandon May, Assistant Professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, fears that policing is becoming over-reliant on AI – particularly generative AI in areas such as investigative interviewing, which he argues require skills such as intuition, emotional intelligence or judgement that AI doesn’t have, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: This month’s Building Bridges Evidence-Based Policing Conference in Ontario saw the launch of 30Forward, Canada’s first national initiative dedicated to increasing the representation and improving the experiences of women in policing; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Barrie Police Service’s Inspector Val Gates, Co-creator and Co-lead for 30Forward, about the aim of the initiative, it’s collaboration with the 30x30 initiative in the US, and the importance of a cultural shift in policing.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Black Police Association (NBPA) is working with academics to design a way to rate forces on issues including trust and representation; the NBPA announced the move at its annual conference this month, where police leaders discussed issues including the exposure of racism at Charing Cross Police Station by the BBC, the Police Race Action Plan, and calls to abolish non-crime hate incidents, as Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: With the huge potential of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) beginning to be leveraged in policing, former long-serving police officer John Kilburn, now with data and AI specialists SAS, spoke to Policing Insight about some of the potential benefits of the new technology for both the policing and the public, the importance of transparent and explainable applications of AI, and how incremental approaches to developing systems within forces can lead to long-term gains.