Analysis

ANALYSIS: Deploying ‘mixed’ squads consisting of police officers and healthcare or social workers is an approach that has been used in responding to the homeless and those in mental health crises in a number of countries; but new Canadian research by Concordia University Professor Ted Rutland and Karl Beaulieu, Université du Québec à Montréal PhD researcher, suggest that in the case of ‘unhoused people’, far from improving the situation it’s an approach that is creating more harm.

ANALYSIS: With the complex digital underground increasingly offering ‘crime as a service’ facilities to both traditional organised crime groups and cybercriminals, understanding how the approach works is essential for law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at the latest information from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and new research funding that could help police organised crime investigators, analysts and experts tackle the problem.

ANALYSIS: A new report by the University of Nottingham Rights Lab has highlighted the link between climate change and human trafficking as families look to migrate from threatened environments or place children in forced marriages to alleviate debt; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the key points in the report, and spoke to Dame Sara Thornton, former UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner and now Professor of Practice in Modern Slavery Policy at the Rights Lab, about its findings.

LONG READ: Once regarded as among Europe’s safest and most peaceful countries, Sweden has faced a significant increase in shootings and violence over recent years, due in large part to the rapid expansion of gang conflict and organised crime; Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to officers and academics working to tackle the problem, and explored how the country’s interpretation of the group violence intervention (GVI) approach pioneered in Boston is having a big impact on Scandinavian streets.

ANALYSIS: Last month the cross-party UK Home Affairs Committee published its latest report on drugs, which included calls for a reform of legislation, greater cross-departmental collaboration in combating drugs, and more emphasis on protecting children and adopting a trauma-informed approach to the problem; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons explores some of the key recommendation from the Committee.

ANALYSIS: Historically low reporting and conviction rates for rape and sexual assault in the UK and elsewhere remain a significant cause for concern; Pragya Agarwal, Visiting Professor of Social Inequities and Injustice at Loughborough University, believes that proper training in rape myths – and greater awareness for officers and juries around unconscious biases against sexual assault survivors – are essential if women are to trust the system enough to report more offences.

FEATURE: After months of negotiations, in August the UK was re-admitted to the Horizon Europe programme, offering police organisations and innovators funding opportunities for research and collaboration across an extensive range of threats and crime types including terrorism, cybercrime, human trafficking and child sexual exploitation, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: The findings of the Policing Productivity Review across forces in England and Wales are due to land on the Home Secretary’s desk at the end of this week; in the latest in a series of articles focusing on the topics and debates from this month’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis explores some of the key points highlighted by review lead Alan Pughsley, who gave Summit delegates an update on the work of the review so far.

FEATURE: A habitual knife-carrier index pioneered by Sussex Police, which uses a multi-source database to identify at-risk young people and develops intervention and support to tackle reoffending and victimisation, is securing significant reductions and is now being considered by a number of other forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) expanding rapidly across society, police face increasing opportunities and challenges around its safe, ethical and reliable adoption and implementation; Caitlyn Kennedy, Policy & Research Officer for the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), outlines the context and key points behind the Agency’s recently launched Australia New Zealand Police Artificial Intelligence Principles.

INTERVIEW: In the final part of our extended interview series with Professor Laurence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland sought the views of the Metropolitan Police Chief Scientific Officer on misconduct, making tough choices, and how artificial intelligence and live facial recognition might transform the nation’s largest police force.

ANALYSIS: The rapid expansion of the metaverse will leave police facing a whole new raft of challenges and potential criminality; in the second in a series of articles highlighting key topics and debates from last week’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to technology expert Dr David Nugent about policing the metaverse, the balance between free speech and accountability, and how verified digital identities could help to reduce and detect crime while freeing up police resources.

OPINION: CANADA: As calls for ‘defund the police’ switch to ‘refund the police’ in priority areas, Dr N Zoe Hilton, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Dr Sandy Jung, Professor of Psychology at MacEwan University, argue that police-researcher partnerships are needed now more than ever, and could be particularly beneficial in developing and implementing the assessment tools to tackle intimate partner violence and coercive control.

ANALYSIS: Last week police officers and staff, industry experts and stakeholders gathered in Brighton for the UK Police Digital Summit; in the first in a series of articles highlighting key topics and debates from the two-day event, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to keynote speaker, Police Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Paul Taylor, about facilitating innovation and how forces can collaborate to make the best use of technology.

ANALYSIS: Earlier this year Andy Cooke, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for the UK (excluding Scotland), asked the Home Office for a suite of legal changes, including the unprecedented ability for him to give directions to police forces, the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council. Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass examines the calls and reveals how they have gone down within the service, and in Whitehall.

INTERVIEW: In the third part of our extended interview with Professor Lawrence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke with the Met’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) about the controversial topic of stop and search and the force’s new ‘precision’ approach to tackling violent crime on the streets of London.

ANALYSIS: The recent change of Prime Minister in Vanuatu comes after a period of political crisis during which China sent officers and equipment to strengthen the Pacific island’s police force; John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, believes its crucial that Australia and New Zealand return to working with others across the Pacific to support law enforcement in the islands, and prevent a slide into the undemocratic policing model favoured by Beijing.

ANALYSIS: Despite repeated recommendations for forces in England and Wales to record ethnicity data of the people they deal with, two new reports from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services have highlighted continuing failures to gather data on ethnicity and gender that “presents a real risk to plans for improving the service provided by police”, and could lead to regulations being imposed by the Home Secretary, as Policing Insight's Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Recent reviews of the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade have described both organisations as ‘institutionally misogynist’; Professor Catherine Durose of the University of Liverpool, and University of Birmingham Professor Emerita Vivien Lowndes, explain how new research on proposals for forces to classify misogyny as a hate crime has highlighted that officers struggle to identify or empathise with female victims of crime, and with the emotional complexities of misogynistic offending.

POLICE SUPERS' CONFERENCE: As superintending ranks from across England and Wales gathered this week for the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Annual Conference, PSA President Paul Fotheringham defended operational officers’ engagement with community groups and their efforts to promote diversity, and warned that language used by Home Secretary Suella Braverman and others was positioning the service as “political rather than inclusive”, reports Policing Insight's Keith Potter.

ANALYSIS: Police engagement in UK schools suffered a significant reduction in funding and resources during the austerity era; but University of Portsmouth Policing Lecturer David Knowles, a former police officer, believes that recent trials of his Your Choice Matters engagement exercise highlight the potential for reducing vulnerability to knife crime and hate crime among young people.

ANALYSIS: With gang membership on the rise in recent years in New Zealand, the country’s novel approach – prioritising deep engagement with gang communities through bodies such as the Gang Harm Insights Centre, alongside tough enforcement – is under more pressure than ever, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

INTERVIEW: In the second part of our extended interview series with Metropolitan Police Chief Scientific Officer Professor Lawrence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to him about VAWG 100, the force’s innovative new approach to tackling high-harm offences against women and girls.

ANALYSIS: A new report from the Police Foundation assesses the implications, opportunities and risks for the police service of adopting new contact and engagement technology as it seeks to rebuild public trust and confidence; the Foundation’s Research Director Andy Higgins explains more about the key points from the report.