Opinion

ANALYSIS: Police officers in many jurisdictions are trained to be in a “state of heightened alert” when on patrol, both to detect and prevent crime, and for self-preservation; but Prof Jesse Cheng of DePaul University College of Law in Chicago argues that such an approach can lead officers into “addictive hypervigilance” behaviours which significantly increase the unwarranted use of force.

OPINION: The debate around gender identity principles and their impact on police guidance and processes is proving challenging for UK public sector organisations including policing; but Dr Kath Murray, policing researcher and part of the MurrayBlackburnMackenzie policy analysis collective, believes Police Scotland’s approach to the gender identity debate – driven in part by a risk-averse culture reflecting its difficult start and recent controversies – will prove particularly problematic for the force and the community.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Body cameras have been used in UK policing for nearly two decades, having developed from a small 2005 trial in Devon and Cornwall into a standard tool for officers in the UK and across the world; Stuart Boutell, Director of Evidence Product Management at Motorola Solutions, spoke to Policing Insight about why body cameras are increasingly important and what their new V500 camera can do to help frontline officers, as James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: The UK’s complicated policing landscape of 45 territorial forces alongside specialist services and other national law enforcement agencies has often been regarded as one of the challenges to improving police efficiency and effectiveness; resilience expert Robert Hall, former Head of Analysis at the National Criminal Intelligence Service, argues that now is the time to revisit the potential of a centralised UK police force.

OPINION: The ‘New Met for London’ plan is an ambitious turnaround framework for the UK’s largest force, in the wake of a series of critical reports and concerns around performance and public confidence; but former police officer Oliver Laurence, now a consultant and host of the Protect and Serve podcast, fears that poor communications – both internal and external – could derail the plan before it has chance to make real progress.

OPINION: Law enforcement is increasingly looking to new technology – particularly surveillance cameras, artificial intelligence and facial recognition – in the fight against crime; but Dr Joanna Pozzulo, Chancellor’s Professor at Canada’s Carleton University, argues that legislation must keep up to protect people’s rights and privacy, along with greater public transparency and more research into the impact of technology on the criminal justice system.

OPINION: The recent acid attack on a mother and her children in London was horrific, but sadly such events are not isolated incidents, with attacks on the rise in the UK and around the world; one of the problems, argues University of Bristol Professor of Criminology Aisha K Gill, is that the gendered, targeted nature of this violence is often not fully recognised by the criminal justice system.

ANALYSIS: Last year the UK Government reformed the National Referral Mechanism – the framework for identifying potential victims of modern slavery – in an effort to speed up decision making and police action against those accused of exploitation; but Research Assistant Ying Zhang and Professor Chee Yew Wong of the University of Leeds argue that the reforms have actually made the situation considerably worse for potential victims.

OPINION: Last month’s Annual Youth Justice Statistics for 2022-23 showed fewer children sentenced or cautioned, improvements in disproportionality, and the lowest number of children in custody, but more children being stopped and searched and arrested, including those entering the criminal justice system for the first time; Keith Fraser, Youth Justice Board Chair and Board Champion for Over-Represented Children believes that while there are “rays of optimism” in the figures, much more need to be done to embed change.

FEATURE: Speaking at a recent Police Foundation event, Mark Evans – Executive Lead for Future Policing at New Zealand Police – explained how forces can build effective partnerships and take steps to improve trust and confidence, the benefits of listening to ‘angry friends’, and what senior officers must do to change the organisations they lead, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: Social media platforms are flooded with millions of posts every minute, and artificial intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in monitoring harmful content; Professor Stuart Macdonald, Postdoctoral Researcher Ashley Mattheis and Honorary Research Associate David Wells of Swansea University’s Cyber Threats Research Centre look at the potential and the pitfalls of using AI to identify terrorist content online.

FEATURE: Recent surveys of NHS staff have highlighted increased levels of violence and abuse towards those working in healthcare, prompting concerns over staff wellbeing as well as recruitment and retention issues; former Ottawa Police Service Chief Vernon White looks at the scale of the problem, it’s wider impact for emergency services, and what steps organisations should take to address the issue.

OPINION: A recent Policing Insight article highlighted significant differences in the response to domestic violence disclosure applications in England and Wales; but Allan Dorans MP, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson on policing at Westminster and a former Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, believes a similar disclosure scheme in Scotland has been much more successful, as have wider efforts to reduce violent crime north of the border.

FEATURE: Following a string of scandals and tough inspection reports, there have been near-constant demands for policing in England and Wales to reform; at the recent Canterbury Centre for Policing Research annual conference, three academics presented their blueprints for making change a reality – from new powers to intervene in failing forces, to adopting UN standards, and creating a new ‘police reserve’ – as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: This month saw the launch of a new UK Code of Ethics by the College of Policing; but former officer and now author and University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer Derek Flint believes the revised code is so lengthy and wide ranging that the core messages may well be lost, while also providing barristers or IOPC investigators with a means by which to trip up staff and officers who are trying their level best.

ANALYSIS: Research in Kenya and more widely across Africa has highlighted low public trust in police and a prevailing perception of corruption, and that lack of trust in Kenyan police has been expressed more keenly by those living in urban areas; Professors Kristine Höglund and Emma Elfversson of Uppsala University explore the reasons for the differences between urban and rural communities, the implications for police reform, and what can be done to address the issue.

OPINION: After several years of declining road deaths in pursuit of Vision Zero, road fatalities in Australia in 2023 reached levels not seen in nearly a decade; Senior Lecturer Dr Milad Haghani of UNSW Sydney believes that more focused and tailored safety campaigns together with closer monitoring of the community road safety climate can help to get Australia back on track.

OPINION: Retail staff have increasingly been subjected to violence and abuse, partly as a result of the growth in shoplifting, prompting calls from the industry and unions for a new offence of assaulting a shop worker; but Penelope Gibbs, Director of campaign group Transform Justice, warns that the a move would do nothing to reduce the number of attacks, suggesting that a better police response to such assaults and perpetrators dealt with out of court where possible would be much more effective.

ANALYSIS: Police in England and Wales have the power to warn someone when they know their partner poses a real risk of danger under what is known as Clare’s Law, but the level of disclosures varies hugely between forces; research by University of Essex Criminology and Ethics Lecturer Dr Katerina Hadjimatheou suggests that lack of resources, data sharing concerns and cultural resistance within policing all contribute to the problem.

OPINION: The fall in public trust and confidence has become an issue for policing in many jurisdictions, and recent research in Canada suggests the country’s law enforcement agencies have work to do; Vernon White, former Chief of Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, explore the findings from the most recent surveys, and the efforts being made by a number of forces to rebuild public trust.

OPINION: The popularity of various illicit drugs changes regularly, with substance preference of users often dictated by the choices of manufacturers, logistical challenges and geopolitical events; Associate Professor Ian Hamilton of the University of York, and Professor Harry Sumnall of Liverpool John Moores University, highlight four street drugs that could pose a significant UK health threat in 2024.

ANALYSIS: Shoplifting has become a focus for policing in the UK and around the world, amid claims that the retail sector is experiencing a theft epidemic fuelled by organised gangs, social media and a poor police response; Professor Graham Farrell of the University of Leeds and Professor Rachel Armitage of the University of Huddersfield explore the veracity of some of the key recent assertions made about shoplifting.

OPINION: Policing is understandably keen to embrace the latest technology in its efforts to protect the public and fight crime; but Dr David Lydon, a former police officer and now Senior Lecturer in Policing at Canterbury Christ Church University, believes that the move towards technocracy inevitably threatens the service’s ability to operate a consensual model in line with the principles and features of traditional community policing.

FEATURE: As we welcome in 2024, Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter looks back over what the past 12 months have meant for policing in the UK and internationally, how those issues have been covered by Policing Insight, and the continuing challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.