Features

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: This is a world-first collaboration presenting the best available evidence that supports excellence in fighting crime, building trust and leadership to police across the globe. The programme features a range of operationally focussed and police-led strategies to tackle complex crime and policing challenges.

ANALYSIS: The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programme developed in the US was originally a post-arrest initiative, but has evolved to incorporate referrals from “any concerned individual”; with more than 60 schemes now operating or under development in the US, as well as a South African programme and interest from the UK, the LEAD approach is gaining traction and delivering results, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr-Munro reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: This year, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Homicide Working Group will be returning to The Queens Hotel, Leeds to host the 2022 National Conference for Senior Investigating Officers running from 31st October to 2nd November. In a world emerging from the Covid pandemic and returning to a new normality, and with early signs of homicide returning to pre-pandemic levels, the focus is on learning from shared investigative experience whilst adopting a reduction and homicide suppression mindset.

ANALYSIS: While there is much talk about ethics in policing, to date it would appear there has been less consideration of how to apply ethical decision-making to practical policing problems; Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Paine and Dr Hannah Maslen of Thames Valley Police outline a new approach by the force which aims to do just that.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes staff, students and researchers at both the University of Salford and Cardiff University who now have FREE access with the start of new organisation wide subscriptions. They join a community from many other UK and international institutions, police forces and other criminal justice organisations with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

OPINION: The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) launched its Trouble with the Law campaign last year, pushing for police and crime commissioner (PCC) candidates, if elected, to directly involve care-experienced children in their police and crime plans; Tobiloba Osogbiye (NYAS Public Affairs and Engagement Officer) and Jennifer Downie (NYAS Policy and Research Assistant) believe PCCs’ efforts are playing a role in reducing the criminalisation rates of care-experienced children – but more could be done.

ANALYSIS: The United Nations has recently held its first meetings to develop plans and parameters for a new ‘global instrument’ to tackle cybercrime; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a closer look at the details behind the proposal, and some of the challenges the UN will face in establishing an effective body to target the activities of cyber criminals on the global stage.

OPINION: In what are widely recognised as difficult times for policing, new technology could help to transform service delivery and performance, but is still often regarded as a problem rather than an opportunity; Martin Taylor of cloud communications specialists Content Guru believes the successful implementation of that technology – particularly in relation to omnichannel public contact – could achieve real transformative benefits for both police and the public.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has sadly died today. Our publisher Bernard Rix expresses condolences on behalf of the the team at Policing Insight and PolicingTV.

OPINION: A year on from taking up her appointment as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead in tackling violence against women and girls, Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth reflects on UK policing’s efforts and achievements over the past 12 months, and the plans for continued progress going forwards.

INTERVIEW: A report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) has revealed significant growth in gun homicides and a proliferation of firearms, part-funded by Covid support fraud; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to MCCA Executive Director Laura Cooper about the findings of the report, the threats posed by ghost guns and irresponsible owners, and why police arresting their way out of the crisis is unsustainable.

ANALYSIS: As many as one in three people in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have experienced image-based abuse, yet fewer than half of those who witness it have intervened; research by Dr Asher Flynn of Monash University, Elena Cama of the University of New South Wales, and Dr Adrian Scott of Goldsmiths, University of London explores why people do or don’t intervene in such instances, and the vital role that bystander intervention programs could play in responding to image-based abuse.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The 2021/22 PEEL assessments of police forces in England & Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have highlighted some exceptional performances but also areas to improve in contact management and providing a service to the victims of crime. Steve Norris explains how the Salesforce solution can equip forces with appropriate technology to improve communication with victims of crime and meet their needs.

FEATURE: New Government provisions to safeguard funding for EU-supported research projects include a guarantee scheme to allow UK organisations to apply for this year’s Horizon Europe Security for Civil Society programme – which could be good news for policing agencies with project proposals to tackle drug trafficking, as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO) is launching the International Intelligence Conference 2022 (II2022). AIPIO President Dr Phil Kowalick introduces the conference and invites members and other delegates to take part 23rd to 26th of October 2022 in person and online.

FEATURE: The latest HM Inspectorate review of call handling at Police Scotland – a function that’s been the subject of five reports since the tragic deaths of two members of the public in 2015 – has highlighted impressive progress in the service’s contact model, but has called for better links with other public sector agencies to ease the response burden on policing, as Policing Insight’s Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Currently a high number of business crimes go unreported due to the protracted nature of reporting and sharing securely the related (often CCTV) evidence. The NICE Investigate solution addresses this issue by allowing businesses to, voluntarily, pre-register their cameras, via the ‘Business Portal’, to their local police force – to find out how, join our webinar Tuesday, 20th September at 14:00 BST / 9:00am EDT

OPINION: The challenges of digital forensic examinations, and the backlog caused by a combination of limited capacity and capability in policing, and the exponential rise in devices requiring examination, have long been a concern for forces, the inspectorate and other stakeholders; Paul Kennedy, of the Accelerating Growth in Policing programme, and Richard Cockerill, Digital Forensics specialist for CACI, believe closer partnership between policing and the private sector could be the key to meeting those challenges.

ANALYSIS: Data-driven performance management, local political accountability to PCCs, and the wild west of social media-driven accountability are just some of the factors that have had a disorientating effect on decision-making for UK frontline police officers; Ian Palmer, Academic Lead for Policing in the University of Central Lancashire’s School of Justice, believes the introduction of Schwartz Rounds and reflective practice could significantly improve officers’ decision-making processes.

FEATURE: A series of workshops for UK and international delegates on key policing issues has developed recommendations to tackle some of today’s toughest policing challenges; ahead of next week’s London Policing College International Conference, where the proposals will be further debated and refined, College Managing Director and former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Rod Jarman outlines the workshop outcomes, the recommendations to date, and the potential benefits for 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 Mark Shaw, Director of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), about the continuing growth of criminal use of the internet, the success of GITOC, and why a global vision is crucial in the fight against organised crime.

ANALYSIS: When human remains were found in two suitcases bought in a storage auction in New Zealand it made headline news around the world, but dead bodies are discovered in bags and suitcases with surprising regularity; Dr Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University, explains the key role insects can play in determining the details of such deaths, and outlines a ground-breaking experiment underway in Western Australia which will help to solve such crimes.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff at Hampshire Constabulary, who now have FREE access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many other UK and international police forces with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

OPINION: In the US, like other countries, identity theft is a burgeoning crime, but the nature of the offence and the difficulty in dealing with criminal activity that may traverse different national and international jurisdictions can mean that responses are inconsistent, and victims feel unsupported; David Smith, an independent consultant for the SmartCard Institute, looks at some of the steps policing and lawmakers can take to improve that response.