Opinion

OPINION: As police forces across the UK begin to implement the Right Care, Right Person approach to those in mental health crisis, former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that it’s time policing re-examined other ‘partnerships’ with agencies that are clearly not working, and which see police treated as ‘third-class citizens’ in unequal relationships.

OPINION: Last week it was confirmed that most police forces across the UK have now adopted the Right Care, Right Person approach to those in mental health crisis; but given its unique policing environment, the British Transport Police will be implementing an alternative initiative, as Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi explains.

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.

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.

OPINION: Footage of the recent arrest of a mother in front of her young son for suspected fare evasion has once again ignited a debate about appropriate policing responses; Dr Meron Wondemaghen, a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Hull, believes this and other cases have highlighted the issues of what constitutes social harm, what is a proportionate response, and why a ‘do no harm’ principle should precede any law and order aims.

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.

OPINION: When former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher attended a reunion dinner with the officers from the first shift he had led as a sergeant, it was an opportunity to look back at some of the experience and guidance he had passed on to those younger in service, and also to consider what principles, fundamentals and approaches were integral to being a successful skipper.

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.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Walter Kemp, Senior Fellow at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC), about the illicit economies that profit from war and instability, the creation of a global strategy to fight organised crime, and why concerted global action is needed now.

INNOVATION: Effective communications systems are crucial in ensuring timely and reliable service delivery for the police and others in the public sector; Richard Evans, Chief Technology Officer at Cinos, believes modern unified communications solutions such as cloud-based voice platforms can offer secure and efficient communications across multiple devices, as well as enhancing agency collaboration and co-ordination, improving contact with the public, and strengthening resilience.

OPINION: PTSD can have a devastating impact on police officers’ wellbeing, and lead to problematic behaviours including risk-taking and poor decision-making; former paramedic and New Zealand Police officer Allister Rose, Managing Director of the Hatikvah Blue Hope Foundation, believes NZ Police should learn from the experiences of policing in other countries including the UK, and take steps to prioritise the mental health of its officers through early identification, intervention and support.

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.

OPINION: The Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) was set up in 2021 to investigate workplace violence and related misconduct in the RCMP, following a landmark lawsuit that led to a payout of more than $125 million; but University Canada West Associate Professor Dr Jason Walker believes the ICHR is failing in that mission – and that action is needed urgently to rectify the shortcomings, both for the sake of the organisation and the communities it serves.

OPINION: Recruitment and retention continue to be challenging for policing in the UK and internationally, including for London’s Metropolitan Police Service; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, argue that addressing low morale is essential to overcome those challenges – both for the performance of the force, and for the communities that it polices.

INNOVATION: While technology advances have driven efficiencies in many areas of policing, frontline officers often still find themselves manually inputting licence plates, driving licence numbers, and a range of other identification checks; Oliver Ledgard of Zebra Technologies believes the public safety sector is missing an opportunity to further increase efficiency and connectivity through the use of modern optical character recognition (OCR) technology.

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.

OPINION: The public contact report that arose from Cityforum’s round table on the subject earlier this year highlighted the importance of collaboration between policing and private industry on introducing of new technology into the sector; Martin Taylor of cloud communications specialists Content Guru believes such partnerships are crucial if policing is to maximise the benefits of tech advances in an area that’s a top priority for the public.

OPINION: Durham Chief Constable Jo Farrell was recently announced as the successor to Sir Iain Livingstone, Chief Constable of Police Scotland, who retires next month; former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher, now an Associate of the London Policing College, looks at the challenges that will await CC Farrell when she takes up her new post.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to David Graves, Managing Director of DG Anti-Fraud Consultants, about the role private investigators can play in targeting crime, the need for policing to go ‘back to basics’, and why organised crime can be viewed as a virus.

OPINION: As the police service in the UK waits for the recommendations of the Police Remuneration Review Body regarding the pay settlement for 2023-24, British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi sets out why it’s crucial that the underpayment of police must stop – and that government support is essential if a ‘positive’ settlement is confirmed.

OPINION: This year’s NPCC National Intelligence Conference focused on the themes of prevention and early intervention; Matt Horne, Head of Policing & Government for Clue Software and former Deputy Director of Investigations at the National Crime Agency, who was among those attending the event, explores the key issues that arose from the Conference, and shares his own experiences and insight into the current intelligence challenges and opportunities.

OPINION: The illegal organ trade sporadically hits the national and international headlines, with suggestions that the activity largely takes place underground, carried out by organised criminals; but Assistant Professor and organ trade researcher Frederike Ambagtsheer argues that the reality is far removed from that, involving close collaborations between professionals and the criminals, and requires a broad range of responses.

ANALYSIS: Despite significant advances in addressing the mental health and psychological wellbeing of UK police officers, little progress has been made in considering the issues around police officer suicide; David Marshall, a serving officer with more than 30 years’ experience and part-time policing lecturer and PhD researcher, reveals the findings from the first research to qualitatively explore the factors implicated in the suicidal behaviours of police officers. WARNING: Includes references to suicide and self-harm.