Opinion

OPINION: The Police Race Action Plan for England and Wales was published this week. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi explains what needs to happen to ensure the plan brings about meaningful and sustainable change.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Demands have grown but tackling them is so complex that it is undermining common-sense policing, West Midlands Chief Constable Sir David Thompson QPM tells Policing Insight and PolicingTV Publisher Bernard Rix who met Sir David for a walk-and-talk as part of his Policing Friendship Tour across the British Isles and around the world, meeting people across the spectrum of policing.

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 Jennifer Yates, Lead Intelligence Analyst at the Intellectual Property Office, about the links between intellectual property crime and organised crime groups, the Pandemic Wall of Risk, and the importance of collaboration and information sharing.

INTERVIEW: People with a disability form the single largest minority group in the US, and their interactions with law enforcement can often have damaging yet avoidable outcomes; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Dr Stephanie Zoltowski – and some of those she has trained – about the importance of improving police and first responders’ knowledge and understanding of disability and neurodiversity.

FEATURE: Dr John Coyne, head of ASPI’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre and strategic policing and law enforcement program, outlines the role of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in an ever-changing geo-political environment.

OPINION: The latest Internet Watch Foundation report highlighted an exponential rise in online child sexual abuse; former Chief Constable and NPCC child protection lead Simon Bailey, now Chair of the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region, believes that tech companies hold the key to improving protection for children, but are leaving them at risk as they focus on chasing profits.

OPINION: The EU’s recently agreed Digital Services Act and the UK Government’s Online Safety Bill are the latest attempts to target illegal online content, particularly on social media platforms; but Dr Greig Paul of the University of Strathclyde believes that the struggles to balance moderation with free speech, and the sheer scale of social media, means that such efforts are unlikely to succeed.

INTERVIEW: Former College of Policing CEO Mike Cunningham QPM started his policing career at Lancashire Constabulary in 1987, becoming Assistant Chief Constable in 2005, before joining the not-for-profit Skills for Justice in 2021 to support the professional development of officers and staff in policing; Policing Insight caught up with him to hear about his latest work, including the Inspire Justice Awards, which will launch next month.

FEATURE: With funding increases partially ringfenced for recruitment, more budgetary pressure is on the horizon for UK policing; Neil Amos and Richard Davis of PA Consulting spoke to a panel of police and crime commissioners and former and serving police leaders to discuss what could be done to build better partnerships with the private sector, and drive efficiencies and improved services.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s Police Digital Summit, and a year after his interview for CoPaCC’s Future Police Contact Management report, PSNI ACC Alan Todd, the NPCC lead for contact management, spoke to Policing Insight about the digital contact developments over the past 12 months, the challenges still ahead, and next month’s launch of a new British Sign Language video relay service for emergency calls.

OPINION: With two high-profile recent reports identifying the capacity, capability and organisational issues facing policing, it’s evident that more effective collaborations with industry partners will be essential to meet the challenges of digital transformation, as former chief police officer Paul Kennedy and Adrian Leer, Managing Director of Triad Group Plc, explain.

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 financial crime consultant Richard Gould about enabling financial investigators to “cause mayhem in the criminal community”, the ongoing challenge of trade-based money laundering, and why the decision to discontinue some the UK’s international law enforcement projects was so misguided.

INTERVIEW: As LAPD’s Director of Police Training and Education, Dr Luann Pannell is using her insight as a psychologist to reshape the Department’s training approach and ensure resilience and good mental health receive as much focus as procedures and practical skills, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend.

FEATURE: Greater use of data analytics in policing could offer significant opportunities to reduce crime, but the increased adoption of such technology is not without challenges; John Salt, CEO and co-founder of data recruitment specialists Only Data Jobs, explores some of the potential benefits of the new technology, as well as examples where law enforcement is already reaping the benefits.

OPINION: With the latest survey of police superintendents in England and Wales as well as Northern Ireland revealing record levels of low morale – and fewer than four in 10 officers prepared to recommend joining the police service to others – Police Superintendents’ Association President Paul Fotheringham has called for a “determination to value and care for our people” that matches efforts to repair policing’s relationship with the public.

INSIGHT: After more than a decade in the Metropolitan Police Service, DC Lee Ellis was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS); but having accepted and adapted to her disability, she is now embarking on the Police Now Frontline Leadership programme, as she explains in this article written to highlight MS Awareness Week.

OPINION: With police resources regularly overstretched, many officers voice concerns that they don’t have enough time to spend with victims to deliver a better service and improve satisfaction rates; but Police Foundation Associate Malcolm Hibberd argues that what officers can say in 30 seconds or less has a major impact on a crime victim’s experience of policing.

OPINION: With the information war increasingly taking place on digital platforms, and cheaper technology making covert surveillance more available, some argue that the importance of human intelligence (HUMINT) sources in law enforcement appears to be diminishing; but Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth believes HUMINT still has an essential role to play in meeting strategic intelligence requirements.

OPINION: Recent reforms to the police complaints and discipline system in England and Wales have emphasised lesson-learning rather than discipline; University of Bristol Law Lecturer Dr Claire Torrible argues that as a result of the changes, police professional standards departments now have greater autonomy but less accountability.

FEATURE: The UK’s police uplift recruitment programme and the police education qualification framework are creating a younger, less experienced but better educated service; Lancashire police officer Fran Wright, currently seconded to the Open University as a lecturer, looks at what this workforce shift means for the role of tutor constables, and how it is likely to change the nature and demographic of the tutors.

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 criminologist and author Professor Dick Hobbs about the impossibility of eradicating organised crime, the importance of localised knowledge in understanding criminal activity, and whether the term ‘organised crime’ really has any value.

OPINION: UK policing budgets remain under pressure, and spend on IT often takes the hit; but Simon Hall, CEO of police digital mobility platform PoliceBox, believes that approaching expenditure on Software-as-a-Service and cloud platforms as an operational rather than capital cost could overcome the budget barriers while also improving forces’ technological capabilities.

OPINION: South Africa’s Defence Minister recently lamented the low levels of public trust in policing; research by Dr Benjamin Roberts and Dr Steven Gordon of the Human Sciences Research Council found that while a lack of confidence in policing is nothing new, levels dipped in 2021, and suggest steps such as increasing policing accountability, reducing the militaristic police ethos and promoting competent and ethical leadership will need to be taken to restore that confidence.

OPINION: Forensic science is often overlooked as a niche part of policing, but after six months as the new National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Forensic Lead, Chief Constable Nick Dean argues that forensics is vital for enabling crime investigation and prevention, and sets out a raft of changes which could help policing restore public trust.