Opinion

OPINION: 'You may be terrified of social media. Unfortunately, you have every reason to be. It's a dangerous place where things get taken out of context and rumours fly': Yael Bar-tur, New York Police Department's former Director of Social Media, explores the risks and opportunities for policing's digital communications.

OPINION: The COVID-19 pandemic and and Black Lives Matter protests have seen policing face new and unique challenges over recent months; but as crowd control specialist Owen West points out, attempting to ban legitimate demonstrations and reclassifying protest groups as serious crime organisations or domestic extremists is both dangerous and futile.

OPINION: Knife crime hit a record high in England and Wales before the COVID-19 lockdown, leading to calls for tougher sentencing; but Sean Creaney, Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University, and Jo Deakin, Senior Lecturer at the University of Manchester, argue that engaging young people in their rehabilitation process is a more effective way of reducing reoffending.

OPINION: Nathan Bird, UK Policing lead for social media company Hootsuite, believes the changes that policing will need to make as a result of the European Electronic Communications Code – known as ‘Next Generation 999’ – should be seen as a real opportunity to revitalise police engagement and public contact in a digital society.

OPINION: In the lead up to World Suicide Prevention Day, former police leader turned development coach Gareth Davies highlights the problematic policing culture that contributes to deaths among serving and former officers, and how leadership, learning and emotional development could deliver positive change.

OPINION: The challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic have stretched emergency services around the globe in strikingly similar ways; Oscar Bachs, from Barcelona technology company Unblur, describes how innovations such as AI and situational awareness software could be used to enhance the safety and effectiveness of blue light workers.

OPINION: Ian Stevenson, Chair of the Online Safety Technology Industry Association (OSTIA) and CEO of Cyan Forensics, outlines the ever-increasing challenge facing police digital forensic teams targeting issues such as online child sexual abuse, and highlights the opportunities for transformational change by utilising new technology to tackle such crimes.

OPINION: Last week saw the inaugural police-focused Changing Times, Changing Practice event, a one-day webinar hosted by Skills for Justice to share good practice and learning, and explore how organisation development and change can help to create a diverse, trusted and modern police force. Event facilitator Toby Lindsay looks at some of the key issues discussed on the day, and the next steps.

OPINION: As policing by consent and the basis of police interaction with the public are widely debated, Dr Brian Moss of the University of Southampton argues that a hardening of police tactics – such as increased used of CEDs and predictive policing – have been met largely with silence by the UK police inspectorates.

OPINION: A report by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) backed the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use; Professor Bill Bogart explores whether the country is ready and willing to take that step.

FEATURE: COVID-19 has represented a major challenge to the emergency services, but has also led to an acceleration in collaborative working; now a new survey aims to capture and share successful collaborations, as a foundation for future workforce transformation

Opinion: In 2019, Dubai Police became the world's first law enforcement agency to achieve the British Standard Certification for delivering effective governance of organizational performance. Force consultant Jorge Román, and Dubai Police Major, Dr Hamdan Al Samt, explore what the standard means for both the force and the community.

INTERVIEW: Peter Prater, Chair of the International Critical Control Rooms Alliance (ICCRA), chaired the inaugural global Control Room Summit in Amsterdam earlier this year. In this interview for Policing Insight, he discusses the changes he has seen in 35 years in control rooms, the potential to learn from other sectors, and the technologies he thinks will shape the future.

OPINION: At the inaugural Round Table Event of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO) in June, the organisation’s President, Dr Phil Kowalick, outlined plans for transforming the intelligence workforce. His presentation is published here in full, ahead of AIPIO’s National Forum on Wednesday (19 August).

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: With children in England expected to fully return to school in September, Dr Mandy Shaw from Leeds Beckett University considers how bullying has continued during the lockdown phase of the pandemic, and how the risk of this can be managed within the school environment.

OPINION: In what is believed to be a first for the United Arab Emirates, a new multi-agency child protection centre for victims of physical and sexual abuse has opened in Sharjah. Deloitte Middle East’s Public Safety lead, Andrew Morley, explains the context to this move, and what ‘Kanaf’ will hope to achieve.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, Chief Technical Officer at Seven Technologies Group, explains how new technology and the improved use of data could help police to prevent and reduce knife crime.

OPINION: The recent stop of London MP Dawn Butler under the Road Traffic Act (RTA), and the media storm which ensued, once again brought the issue of police legitimacy into the headlines; Montell Neufville believes amending the RTA could improve interactions with the public.

OPINION: The nature of policing is complex and fast moving, as highlighted in the recent Police Foundation Strategic Review. Ahead of their forthcoming one-day online event on changing practice, Skills for Justice Consultant Toby Lindsay highlights the need for effective leaders to master adaptive challenges.

OPINION: New Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter on the success of the website to date, the challenges moving forward, and the importance of creating 'engaging, thought provoking and informative' content

OPINION: Community scrutiny panels (CSPs) can help to ensure the use of stop and search is fair and proportionate, says Nina Champion, Director of Criminal Justice Alliance – but only if they are representative of their communities, allowed to operate independently, and given the necessary funding, training and access to data.

OPINION: The push for greater efficiency and effectiveness has seen UK police forces increasingly collaborating on areas such as procurement, finance and HR with neighbouring colleagues and public sector partners. John O'Halloran of the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) highlights some of the key considerations to ensure back-office unification brings significant benefits rather than additional problems.

OPINION: PCCs (and PFCCs) have a statutory duty to consult the public before drawing up plans and setting out priorities. But in an era of social distancing, greater public scrutiny and an increasing appetite for legal challenge, successfully fulfilling that statutory public consultation duty is more complex than ever, as Anna Collins of the Consultation Institute explains.

OPINION: Recent reports from HMICFRS and PACTS have highlighted the important role of roads policing in tackling crime and public safety. But Charlie Norman, managing director of road safety organisation DriveTech, believes that with competing demands for limited resources, partnerships will be the key to meeting often complex challenges.