Features

FEATURE: A new report from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research into policing after lockdown and how to rebuild relationships with the “Covid generation” has urged police to introduce “poverty awareness training” for officers to provide a better understanding of inequality’s impact on youth-police relations, and develop stronger partnership and collaborative approaches, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Family violence protection orders can provide a vital safety net for victim-survivors in Australia, preventing further violence from occurring; but University of Melbourne Professor Heather Douglas and PhD Candidate Allanah Colley warn that the differing laws across Australian states can lead to a courts ‘quagmire’, and there is much more work to be done around police enforcement of breaches, culturally-responsive approaches, and support for victim-survivors.

INNOVATION: The latest report from the European Network Against Crime and Terrorism reveals that the UK continues to play a leading role in European Union security research, highlighting the potential for police leaders to work with other partners and stakeholders to access some of the €40 million funding to develop real-world initiatives in the fight against crime and terrorism, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Retail crime in the UK is rising fast, but efforts to tackle it are being held back by a lack of trust. Many retailers no longer believe reporting incidents leads to action, weakening the system. Rebuilding trust through better communication between retailers and policing is essential to improve reporting, strengthen intelligence and deliver better outcomes.

INNOVATION: A new frontline file management system rolled out by New Zealand Police is proving to be a “game changer” for the workforce, says Superintendent Blair Macdonald, cutting the backlog for case processing from two weeks to just four hours, and helping to increase public trust and confidence in the service, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Following the launch in England and Wales last year of the first phase of the neighbourhood policing programme training modules, a new tranche of training is now providing officers with the skills and knowledge to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC) in local communities; Chief Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, Head of Uniformed Policing at the College of Policing, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the local impact of SOC, and how the investment in officers will benefit communities.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Matthew Barber, APCC Joint Lead on Serious Violence and PCC for the Thames Valley, highlights the continuing efforts of police and PCCs to tackle knife crime and the importance of partnerships and early intervention to change the culture of knife carrying, and urges the Government to ensure the momentum and progress made to date is not lost with the abolition of PCCs and ongoing police reform.

FEATURE: The latest European Overview of the 2025 Global Organized Crime Index, published by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, recognises Europe’s increasing resilience against organised crime, but highlights the expansion and diversification of organised crime groups (OCGs) as among the key threats, particularly the potential recruitment of young and vulnerable people, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest report on the Police Covenant – the commitment introduced by the Government to ensure that current and former police officers, staff, and their families in England and Wales are supported and treated with fairness and respect – has highlighted significant developments including around health and wellbeing and suicide prevention, but has called for more to be done to ensure the police workforce is aware of the support available, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Independent researcher and governance adviser Vsevolod Shabad believes the language and internal communications architecture of British policing means that officers who highlight and escalate serious risk don’t always get the necessary response, and lack protection for their actions; with other high-risk professions having identified and addressed the same challenges, he looks at what policing can do restore the right for officers to speak clearly.

OPINION: The recently published Government White Paper on police reform once again highlights the importance of the ‘Peelian Principles’ for modern UK policing, while the same Principles have been regularly referenced over the years by inspectorates, inquiries and reviews; but University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews argues that not only are the Principles unlikely to have been written by Peel and don’t bear up to scrutiny, but there are better models for underpinning the British policing model.

FEATURE: A recent survey by the Australian Institute of Criminology suggests that, as with more traditional forms of crime, members of the public overestimate the likelihood that they will be a victim of AI‑enabled crime; but while frequent users of AI-enabled technology must be encouraged to employ more protective behaviours, those reluctant to use it should be supported to do so safely and confidently, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: 3D-printed ‘ghost guns’ have become increasingly in demand by criminal groups, partly because of the belief that such weapons are untraceable; but new research by Dr Georgina Sauzier and PhD candidate Michale Vic Adamos of Western Australia’s Curtin University suggests that chemical analysis of the filaments used to print the guns could help forensic investigators and police to link a seized gun and seized filament, or guns seized from different cases.

FEATURE: With both Europol and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime highlighting the threats posed by Eastern European and Balkans organised crime groups (OCGs) expanding further across the continent, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the efforts of the EU (through CEPOL), Europol, and international collaborations involving the UK’s National Crime Agency amongst others, to tackle these ‘High-Risk Criminal Networks’.

ANALYSIS: For more than 12 years, Toronto Police Service’s Neighbourhood Community Officer (NCO) program has been working to place officers directly within communities, build relationships, and focus on solving problems; since its launch, Dr Doug Thomson and Dr Emma Smith have been evaluating the successes and challenges of the NCO program – both from the perspective of the officers involved, and from the communities they work in and with – as Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood reports.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of next month’s launch of the Police.AI initiative, which will develop and drive technological advances for forces in England and Wales, NCA Director of Threat Leadership Alex Murray, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for AI, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the aims and ambitions for the new centre, the potential for leveraging technology in policing, and the role of police leadership – with current chiefs likely to be the last cohort to run a ‘human only’ workforce.

ANALYSIS: In the third in a trilogy of articles focusing on male officer mental health in policing, accredited psychological therapist Dr Rachel Rogers explores the aftermath of the challenges and barriers to help-seeking for male officers – workplace processes, changes, worsening of symptoms, and risk of Complex PTSD and/or Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder – and includes the comments and experiences of officers themselves.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Criminal scam operations are rapidly evolving, and SIM farms now power fraud at an industrial scale. These covert centers can house tens of thousands of SIM cards, cycling through them to evade detection while enabling mass scam calls and texts. SS8’s latest analysis reveals how advanced location intelligence helps law enforcement uncover these hidden operations and shut them down.

FEATURE: The latest report by the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee into forensic science provision in England and Wales is warning that the neglect of the system is a “national scandal in the making”, with urgent steps needing to be taken including the creation of a National Institute for Forensic Science, an independent national storage capacity for long-term evidence retention, and a credible plan to preserve specialist forensic skills, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The latest report from digital investigations specialists Cellebrite highlights that while smartphones are now involved in 97% of criminal cases, many policing agencies still face a digital evidence backlog due to factors such as a lack of digital forensics resources, and a reliance on portable hard drives to share digital data; but there are steps that law enforcement can take to ease the bottleneck and speed up justice, as Jared Barnhart, Cellebrite’s Head of Global Engagement & Community, explains.

FEATURE: Research recently published by The Police Foundation on the health impact of fraud is calling for a national evidence-based ‘vulnerability framework’ to ensure a more consistent approach towards victims by police forces in England and Wales, along with a multi-agency, trauma-informed service model for victims, amid concerns over the life-threatening impact of the crime and the fear that police are being left to fill the gap in specialist support, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: This week saw the UK launch of a new Level 3 Award in Counter-Terrorism Protective Security and Preparedness, developed by Skills for Justice (SFJ) Awards in collaboration with the National Counter-Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO), and endorsed by Counter Terrorism Policing; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to SFJ Awards Managing Director David Higham about the aims of the qualification, the involvement of NaCTSO, and how the award helps with the implementation of Martyn’s Law.

OPINION: One in six people live with a significant disability, and evidence shows they face higher exposure to violence, exploitation, and procedural injustice; Col Dana Humaid Al Marzouqi, Director General of the International Affairs Bureau in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Interior, highlights some of the ways disabled people are targeted, and the steps that can be taken by policing to ensure inclusive security, including examples from the US, UAE and Portugal.

OPINION: While traditional policing challenges around issues such as serious violence and community harm will remain, the greatest pressures on law enforcement over the coming decade will come from hybrid and cascading risk, warns Odette Meli, former Co-ordinator of the Australian Federal Police’s Strategic Insights Centre and a Fellow of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), who argues that policing will need to integrate strategic foresight and interoperability if it is to maintain legitimacy.