Opinion

OPINION: Given the abundance of digital data now circulating in society, open-source intelligence (OSINT) offers unparalleled value to investigators, but the volume of material available can be daunting for those new to OSINT, and even leave experienced investigators overwhelmed; Brett Redman, Head of Intelligence at Blackdot Solutions, provides a practical introduction for investigators on applying OSINT with clarity and purpose.

OPINION: UK politicians from all parties have previously invoked crime as a threat, and their own brand of politics as the solution, warn criminology professors Emily Gray and Stephen Farrall – and distorting its nature can erode public trust in the institutions tasked with protecting the public, foster punitive and ineffective policy responses, and leave whole communities feeling targeted, criminalised or unsafe, based on selective and often sensational narratives.

FEATURE: With the policing landscape changing “faster than ever”, Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) Learning and Development lead David Bamber, and Dr Sean Bell, Lecturer in Policing Organisation and Practice at the Open University, explain why the two organisations are working together to introduce a “fully accredited, recognised and validated programme in professional practice” for PFEW reps to ensure they have the skills required to take on a role that is “becoming more challenging”.

OPINION: AI-enhanced surveillance tools are already transforming policing, says Milestone Systems Fellow Dr Barry Norton, and police forces that leverage intelligent video will be harder for criminals to outsmart, better informed, and faster to the scene – while those that fail to modernise risk falling behind not just in technology, but in public trust and effectiveness.

OPINION: Despite data showing an overall fall in most crime over the last 30 years, the public perception in Britain is one of an increasingly lawless country; the public’s concerns matter, and Patrick Olajide, a Senior Researcher in Crime, Justice and Security at the National Centre for Social Research, believes that how the press report on crime is one factor worsening those fears, by painting an incomplete, distorted and – at worst – dishonest picture of crime and justice in the UK, which has a damaging impact both on communities and those working within the criminal justice system.

OPINION: After significant optimism about the reform of policing in South Africa following the first democratic elections in 1994, the country’s police service has becoming increasingly politicised and under the control of ANC insiders, argues the University of Pretoria’s Dr Ivor Chipkin, with devastating results both for public trust and crime rates.

OPINION: Police forces and departments across the United States and around the world are facing staffing challenges as well as a “rapidly shifting ecosystem of expectations, resources, and alternatives”, warns public safety consultant Tim Kucerovy; he argues that applying Porter’s Five Forces – a recognized tool for understanding the dynamics shaping an industry – to diagnose the external pressures facing law enforcement can help agencies to meet and overcome those challenges.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Avon and Somerset PCC Clare Moody, the APCC’s joint lead on victims and violence against women and girls (VAWG), sets out some of the latest developments in the continuing efforts to significantly reduce VAWG, support victims, and find solutions to a society-wide problem – while reiterating calls for stable, long-term funding to get the job done.

ANALYSIS: Retention in policing organisations is a challenge for agencies in many countries, and is often closely associated with employees’ intrinsic motivation and need fulfilment, which in turn are influenced by leaders; Naomi Davis-Crane, a Senior Lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University specialising in police leadership, puts forward an alternative model – the SERVANT approach – which employs a values-based approach to address some of the existing challenges.

OPINION: Australia is losing the fight to disrupt illicit drug supply chains – not for lack of effort, but because it needs additional weapons and new approaches – warns Dr John Coyne, Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, who calls for a shift towards measuring law enforcement successes against disruption, deterrence and network degradation, rather than arrests, seizures and prosecutions.

INNOVATION: To address key areas of crime and vulnerability, UK constabularies can use visual analysis software to pull together data from myriad sources for the prevention of harm, the detection of crime, and the identification of risk; Seth Cooke, a former Avon and Somerset Police intelligence analyst and now i2 Group technical and tradecraft specialist, explains how this technology powerfully supports approaches to knife crime, antisocial behaviour, and violence against women and girls.

OPINION: With the UK spotlight on tackling violence against women and girls and a strong focus on domestic violence and abuse, Noor Da Silva, a Sexual and Domestic Abuse Service Manager in the UK’s East Midlands and one of the country’s 15 specialist Harmful Cultural Practice IDVAs, argues that it’s also time to address the gaps in current domestic abuse risk assessment tools which disproportionately endanger minoritised women.

OPINION: The wellbeing of police officers and staff has become increasingly important for policing organisations; but Graham Goulden, a former officer with a 30-year career and now a strong advocate for safe and supportive workplaces, believes the policing approach to wellbeing needs a major rethink, with leaders, supervisors, and officers and staff all having vital roles to play in building a truly supportive workplace culture.

LONG READ: The riots that affected many English cities last summer following the Southport murders highlighted the increasing difficulty for policing globally in responding to social media disinformation; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend, a communications specialist, looks at the challenges that have faced police in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US in the response to digital communications, as well as efforts to use online platforms to better engage communities and build trust.

OPINION: Twenty years ago this week, UK policing faced one of its largest planned operational challenges – the G8 summit in Scotland – as well the 7/7 suicide bombings in London; in this second article, Policing Insight contributor Graham Wettone – then an experienced sergeant on the Metropolitan Police Public Order Intelligence Unit – describes the training and deployment of intelligence and evidence gathering teams during the summit, and the devastating impact of the London attacks.

OPINION: Twenty years ago this week, UK policing faced one of its largest planned operational challenges – the G8 summit in Scotland – as well the 7/7 suicide bombings in London, the most devastating terrorist attack since the Lockerbie bombing; two of Policing Insight’s regular contributors, Martin Gallagher and Graham Wettone, were involved in the response to these events, and in this first of two articles, Martin shares his memories and experiences of policing the G8.

OPINION: New research suggests that Australians living in rural areas are more likely to support tougher penalties for crime than those in the cities; Caitlan Davey, Dr Kyle Mulrooney and Dr Sue Watt explain the reasons behind this divide, the implications for policing and the criminal justice system, and what can be done to address it.

OPINION: Baroness Casey’s recent report into grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation (CSE) in England and Wales made 12 recommendations, including a new national inquiry into child sexual exploitation; but Aisha K Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol, warns that, with none of the previous independent inquiry’s 20 recommendations fully implemented, identifying and rectifying the failures of police and local authorities remains crucial to securing justice for the victims of CSE.

OPINION: The proposed Strong Borders Act, a bill currently before the Canadian Parliament, includes measures that will enable police to obtain information about an individual’s online activity by obtaining a warrant on a lower standard of reasonable suspicion of a crime, instead of probable cause; Thompson Rivers University Professor of Law Robert Diab argues that the new powers will turn tech companies such as Google, Apple, Shaw and Telus into agents of the state.

OPINION: US President Donald Trump has declared himself as “the most police president in the history of America”; but Liverpool John Moores University Policing Lecturer James Williams argues that the administration’s latest legislative measures and approaches to immigration look set to undermine efforts to build trust with many communities across the US, and ultimately make the job of a US police tougher than ever.

OPINION: While the recent Government Spending Review left many chief constables, forces and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales saying the increase in police spending wasn’t enough, University of Leeds Professor of Crime Science Graham Farrell argues that more money and more officers doesn’t always lead to a fall in crime, with crime prevention and reducing crime opportunities by working with businesses, suppliers and manufacturers often a more effective approach.

ANALYSIS: A recent court ruling on the routine use of in-custody strip searches of four teenage girls in youth detention found that the warrantless, standardless routine strip search of teenage prisoners is unreasonable, as is any law that authorizes it; Monika Lemke, PhD Candidate at Canada’s York University, believes the ruling importantly recognizes the goal of minimizing the use of strip searches in every context they are employed, and could have wider implications for Canadian policing generally.

OPINION: The recent publication of the UK’s new National Policing Digital Strategy 2025-2030 is a welcome development, argues Sharad Rathi, Global Operations Director of HCLTech, but policing will need more than the promise of new institutions if it is to deliver on the strategy’s ambitions – particularly in the current financial climate.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.