Features

FEATURE: A new report from Europol has highlighted some of the policing and legislation challenges posed by the emergence of the metaverse, and warned that failing to ‘stay abreast’ of the new technology will leave law enforcement playing catch-up in the same way it has been forced to do with digitally enabled crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With the growing threat from cybercrime, policing is looking to build ever stronger partnerships to mitigate risk and improve learning and understanding; Detective Superintendent Nick Bell, CEO of the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group (NCRCG) and National Policing Director for the Cyber Resilience Centres, reports on the work of the NCRCG and the key themes explored at its inaugural summit earlier this month.

ANALYSIS: In this second article in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at police staff and police community support officer numbers, and the overall resource picture; while the public and politicians focus on the amount of police officers, forces are complex organisations, and overall capacity and capability depends on the combined staffing picture.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the latest in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the new NAViGATORs initiative, a multi-agency collaboration across a consortium of EU member states to support and enhance law enforcement’s digital forensic investigations capability.

ANALYSIS: A series of inquiries have highlighted links between Australian casinos and money laundering, but despite the revelations there has so far been little individual accountability; journalist Georgina Kenyon believes the gaming empires are also guilty of providing opportunities for organised crime to wash the ‘dirty money’ derived from animal trafficking and other illicit wildlife activity, making Australia a favoured location for those looking to profit from environmental crimes.

ANALYSIS: It’s little surprise that the contentious nature of policing will in some cases give rise to complaints, but the way those complaints are handled and resolved has been an issue of concern for both the public and police officers in the UK; in this second of three articles reviewing the police complaints process, Professor Stephen Tong and Dr Rob Heaton explore the nature and psychology of disputes, how similar conflict is resolved in other sectors, and why the assessment of how a complaint should be handled is so crucial.

INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential gateway for drug traffickers between Europe and Morocco, with smugglers able to cross the 14km between Gibraltar and Africa by fast boat in just 15 minutes; narcotics and human trafficking are among the demanding and complex challenges faced every week by Royal Gibraltar Police’s Marine Unit, as Chief Inspector Sean Perera explained to Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar in this first of two articles.

OPINION: The recent publication of Baroness Casey’s interim report into the internal discipline system of the Met Police found not only an apparent failure to address misconduct by some officers, but little faith in the complaints procedure among the officers and staff of the UK’s largest force; Professor Colin Rogers of the University of South Wales believes that adopting an organisational justice approach could be key to meeting those challenges.

FEATURE: While the benefits and negative consequences of the police use of stop and search are frequently debated, the increased use of community scrutiny panels has been put forward as one measure to improve both monitoring and understanding of this policing tool; the panels were the focus of a recent @WeCops Twitter Chat, which has been summarised here by team member and West Mercia Sergeant Kerri Monaghan.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the latest in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the new Cyber Crime Driver project, a collaboration by European law enforcement agencies to understand the factors that determine cybercrime behaviours, especially in young people.

FEATURE: While the latest workplace survey of New Zealand Police’s officers and staff has found that most still feel the force is a great place to work, more than a third having experienced bullying or harassment in the past year – prompting Commissioner Andrew Coster to call for a ‘reset’ of the working environment after two years of unprecedented Covid challenges, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: In this new article in our continuing series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the varying effects the Uplift recruitment programme has had on police officer numbers across different forces, and how potential new challenges around funding could significantly impact on some forces’ ability to meet both workforce and performance targets.

OPINION: Recent protest activities in the UK – in particular those by the Just Stop Oil group – have prompted much debate about the effectiveness of the police response to such actions; Graham Wettone, who spent much of his policing career managing public order policing, highlights some key challenges in responding to the current protests, and why it may be time for a more robust approach to those groups unwilling to engage.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in a series of articles examining the intricacies of the cocaine industry, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a look at how the influx of billions of pounds in drug money is impacting the economy of Western African nations that are increasingly acting as transit countries.

OPINION: Despite pervasive ‘common sense intuitions’ to the contrary, a new report from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales states there is no evidence that harsher sentences deter crime; Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice, believes the findings of the report underline the need for a more effective sentencing regime that can help to reduce both crime and prison populations.

OPINION: Last month’s violent confrontations between groups of Hindu and Muslim men in Leicester seem to take many in the English city (including police) by surprise; however, Professor Chris Allen of the University of Leicester believes that rushing through a proposed review into the violence risks a failure to recognise that neither Muslim nor Hindu communities are one-dimensional or singular, and that not all the problems they experience are based in religion.

INTERVIEW: The culture of policing continues to be a matter of international discussion, and global law enforcement leaders gathered in Dublin over the summer to move the debate forward; An Garda Síochána Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the issues discussed in Dublin, and how they will feed into efforts to address cultural change, starting with a leaders workshop at this weekend’s International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.

ANALYSIS: It’s little surprise that the contentious nature of policing will in some cases give rise to complaints, but the way those complaints are handled and resolved has been an issue of concern for both the public and police officers in the UK; in this first of three articles reviewing the police complaints process, Dr Rob Heaton and Professor Stephen Tong identify why some policing activity will inevitably lead to complaints, and why attempts to reform the complaints system to date seem to have fallen short of expectations.

INNOVATION: Making better use of technology has been recognised as key to improving police performance for many years, but security concerns around the use of cloud computing have been a source of tension; Jon Graham, Business Development Manager at digital solutions specialist Triad, believes that by developing effective security-first cloud strategies, police forces could achieve significant benefits from a move to the ‘new emergent model’.

INTERVIEW: With the continuing global focus on improving public trust and confidence in policing, the issue of ethics in law enforcement has been central to many discussions; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Michael Josephson and Jim Dugan of the Josephson Institute of Ethics about their work with policing, the changing perceptions of ethical behaviour, and the challenges created by an exodus of senior leaders.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the second in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the European Network of Cybersecurity Centres and Competence Hub for Innovation and Operations (ECHO), and its efforts to strengthen the EU’s cyber defences.

FEATURE: With the dramatic increase in reports of sexual violence linked to dating apps and online violent pornography in recent years, ANZPAA facilitated a project which brought together police, government and industry to share experiences about online-initiated sexual violence, as Chloe Boyd, ANZPAA’s Senior Policy and Research Officer reports.

ANALYSIS: With many police forces around the world facing workforce challenges such as recruitment, retention and attrition, demonstrating the nature of the problem to policymakers and budgets holders is not always straightforward; Policing Insight’s Michael Hardiman, a former economist with Victoria Police in Australia, looks at analytical tools such as Pen’s Parade and Bollinger Bands that can help workforce planning and support resourcing bids.

FEATURE: Continuing the latest series of The Police Student, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly takes a closer look at the key issues around the police use of force, including the challenges around the ways the use of force is measured (and any data interpreted), the guidelines on when and how officers can use force, and why wider work on public confidence is crucial to ensuring the use of force doesn’t damage police legitimacy.