Opinion

OPINION: The cumulative trauma suffered by police and other first responders regularly exposed to serious injury, death and immediate threat can cause high levels of PTSD as well as depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal thoughts; but as psychiatrist Professor Arash Javanbakht explains, help is out there – and first responders and their families deserve to be happy.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of society, and all facets of policing; in the second in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Polly Harrar, Joint Chair of the Met’s Harmful Practices Working Group and Founder of national BAME specialist charity The Sharan Project, shares her experiences of the policing response to harmful practices in the COVID-19 era.

OPINION: With the UK Government’s three-year Comprehensive Spending Review due to be announced in the next few weeks, UNISON National Officer Ben Priestley warns that an inadequate settlement could see police staffing levels fall – and the prospect of many of the additional officers promised by the Prime Minister restricted to station duties to plug the gaps.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of society, and in turn, all facets of policing. In the first in a series of articles linked to this month's Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, former officer and current police trainer Martin Edwards shares his experiences of delivering police education in the COVID-19 era.

OPINION: This month the UK Home Secretary has instructed the HMICFRS to carry out a thematic inspection of public order policing; crowd policing expert and former police Chief Superintendent Owen West looks at current guidance on the issue, and why the political context of this decision raises concerns over the curtailing of democratic rights.

OPINION: Police in many countries have been given extraordinary powers to enforce lockdowns and tackle COVID-19; but as Dr John Coyne, Head of Strategic Policing and Law Enforcement Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) points out, applying those powers could seriously erode the public’s trust in policing.

OPINION: Politicians and campaign groups in Australia are calling for coercive control to be criminalised as part of legislation to tackle domestic violence; but without wider consultation and consideration, the move could be counter-productive, as Professors Kate Fitz-Gibbon and Silke Meyer of Monash University, and Prof Sandra Walklate of the University of Liverpool, explain.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, chief technical officer at 7Technologies, examines the potential uses of new technology in border control and missing person identification, and how intelligent technologies could help to combat modern slavery.

OPINION: Diversity has long been a crucial concern in policing, but the wider criminal justice system has also come under scrutiny on the issue; Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice, believes plans to raise the retirement age for judges and magistrates could seriously damage the diversity of the judiciary and magistracy.

INTERVIEW: Dubai Police recently became the first force to win seven IACP awards in one year, recognised for its work in areas ranging from forensics and research to victims’ services and highway safety. Policing Insight spoke to Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, about the force’s success, its efforts to tackle challenges such as COVID-19 and transnational crime, and how high-tech and happiness are crucial elements of the force's long-term strategy.

OPINION: Congregations and places of worship from a number of religions are increasingly being targeted across Europe by a range of individuals and groups including far-right activists, extreme anarchists and libertarians; Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth looks at the scale of the problem, and the European Commission response.

INTERVIEW: The COVID-19 pandemic should act as a catalyst for policing transformation, says Andrew Newsham, PwC National Lead for Policing – but greater collaboration, enhanced sharing of good practice and a clear, unified message on funding will be crucial to enable the service to meet the post-lockdown policing challenges.

OPINION: While there are undoubtedly resource and technology costs attached to the police use of social media, the contribution it can make to the delivery of policing in both physical and digital spaces needs to be understood and acknowledged, says Dr Liam Ralph, Research Fellow at Northumbria University.

OPINION: Monash University Emeritus Professor Jude McCulloch believes that a bill being considered by Australia's Victorian Parliament as part of legislation to tackle COVID-19 would provide police and other ‘authorised officers’ with unprecedented, extraordinary powers, and rely too heavily on a punitive approach to controlling the coronavirus, with limited checks and balances.

OPINION: In the third in a series of three articles on law enforcement and digital technology, Ian Stevenson, Chair of the Online Safety Technology Industry Association (OSTIA) and CEO and co-founder of Cyan Forensics, considers some of the key questions and challenges around innovation and technology in policing.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, chief technical officer at Seven Technologies Group, explains how facial recognition could help to reduce bias and protect innocent members of the public, while ensuring the guilty are brought to justice.

OPINION: Young people stopped by police while carrying drugs for personal use often swallow the substance to avoid additional charges, with potentially life-threatening consequences. Assistant Professor and Pediatric Emergency Physician Dr Kirstin Weerdenburg, and Kristyn Anderson, a Clinical Social Worker and PhD student, both of Dalhousie University, believe police discretion and decriminalisation are the way forward.

OPINION: With myriad books on management, leadership and personal skills, its unsurprising that no single philosophy offers the 'silver bullet' solution; but Chief Inspector Steve Lenney believes police leadership could benefit greatly from the jigsaw puzzle approach.

OPINION: The widespread availability of E-scooters on the roads of British towns and cities is causing increasing controversy and producing polarised reactions. Charlie Norman of DriveTech examines the issues for policing that E-scooters present.

OPINION: It's time for a proactive approach to frontline health, welfare, skills and career support, believes Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse – and investing in action rather than awareness and discussion will bring huge rewards.

FEATURE: The shocking events of 9/11 in the USA brought the role of Special Branch and ports police – a crucial part of the UK counter-terror apparatus – into much sharper focus, and fed into an inspection process which would lead to major changes in their role and status, as Policing Insight contributor Andy Staniforth explains.

OPINION: Technological innovation is crucial in enabling digital forensics teams to tackle the growth in devices and data; but the success of innovators relies on police engagement, explains Ian Stevenson, Chair of the Online Safety Technology Industry Association (OSTIA) and CEO of Cyan Forensics.

OPINION: Superintendent Simon Nelson, President of the Disabled Police Association, looks at the impact language and categorisation can have on individuals in diverse 'minority' groups, including those with a disability.

SUPERINTENDENTS' CONFERENCE: NPCC Workforce Representation Lead Phil Cain warns that the service must stop 'reacting defensively' to concerns of racism in policing, and become more educated and aware of the issues around diversity and inclusion.