Analysis

FEATURE: Another new report into stop and search has called for major reform and the launch of a taskforce on the topic; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone looks at the findings of the report, the context and application of existing powers, and how – in the absence of any viable alternative – police and communities could help to ensure that stop and search is used effectively to detect and prevent crime and increase community safety.

ANALYSIS: The pandemic presented new challenges for policing across the world, along with valuable lessons around the response; latest research by Dr Manja Nikolovska and Professor Shane D Johnson of the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL reveals what law enforcement stakeholders thought worked well in relation to Covid-19 (and what didn’t), and how these might shape the response to future threats such as climate change and the technological advances of crime.

FEATURE: Vulnerable members of the community experiencing mental health challenges account for a significant proportion of repeat callers to the police and other services; but Occupational Therapy Degree student Bridget Townsend believes a pilot project in which occupational therapists accompany police officers in response to those repeat callers could improve the service to individuals while reducing the resource burden on policing.

ANALYSIS: New research by Dr Jens Binder of Nottingham Trent University and Dr Chris Baker-Beall of Bournemouth University has found that terrorism radicalisation now takes place predominantly online, and that those recruited without face-to-face interaction are less likely to carry out violent attacks – but there is still a thin line between online only activity and mixed radicalisation processes, so internet extremism must still be taken seriously.

ANALYSIS: With inspectorate reports highlighting concerns over the use of anti-rip clothing in police custody, the Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) recently undertook a pilot project with Dyfed Powys Police to improve the monitoring, recording and risk assessments around the use of such clothing, with a long-term aim of ending the measure altogether, as ICVA Interim Chief Executive Sherry Ralph explains.

FEATURE: Despite several examples of terrorist attacks being livestreamed and online games being used to spread extreme propaganda and groom young fanatics, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth warns that the full extent of the terrorist use of the internet remains poorly understood by many frontline practitioners, and a multi-faceted, holistic approach is essential to tackle the threat.

FEATURE: A Northamptonshire initiative has seen growing numbers of community carers trained to recognise the dangers of doorstep scams and prevent their elderly clients from becoming victims of fraud, burglaries and other opportunist crimes, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new review by the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody has called for closer partnerships between policing, health and other criminal justice agencies to address mental health issues and help to prevent deaths in custody as well as suicides after release from police custody, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Senior UK police chiefs met with the Prime Minister and Home Secretary earlier this month to discuss the criminal activism in some recent protests, with Mr Sunak pledging to give police “whatever they need” in relation to additional powers; but Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a subject matter expert on public order policing and protest groups, believes more effective use of existing legislation, together with a stronger response from the criminal justice system, could bring greater benefits than new laws.

FEATURE: ‘Hybrid’ threats, which aim to exploit a country’s vulnerability by undermining fundamental democratic values and liberties, look set to pose a growing challenge to both society and law enforcement, yet rarely receive a policing focus; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at EU collaborative attempts to address those threats.

FEATURE: With county lines drug trafficking increasingly recognised and understood across the UK, police still face the conundrum of whether children and young people involved in these crimes should be treated as offenders, victims, or both; Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports on a session from the recent 24hr Conference on Global Organized Crime in which Trilateral Research’s Jana-Isabelle Dilger presented guidance for frontline officers making these tough calls.

ANALYSIS: This week saw the tragic killing of two Queensland Police officers during a shooting incident that left six people dead; Dr Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor of Criminology at Bond University, believes that while such events are rare in Australia compared to other countries, this latest loss of life will highlight once again the inherent dangers of policing, and what more can be done to reduce such risks.

FEATURE: While many law enforcement organisations around the world are facing challenges over legitimacy and community confidence, a new survey of Ireland’s An Garda Síochána has revealed increased public trust levels in the force of more than 90%, and a widespread belief that the organisation is well-managed and effective at tackling crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

LONG READ: With just one per cent of cases making it to court and convictions at a historic low, some believe the crime of rape has effectively been decriminalised. Dr John Fox, a lecturer in Police Studies at the University of Portsmouth, analyses the reasons why so few cases result in a conviction.

ANALYSIS: An inquiry into the strip search of a 15-year-old Black girl by police officers at her school concluded it should never had happened. Four officers found themselves facing an investigation for gross misconduct, but National Appropriate Adult Network Chief Executive Chris Bath argues the labyrinth of legislation and Codes of Practice covering strip searches lies at the heart of the problem.

ANALYSIS: Police adoption of live facial recognition (LFR) is a controversial topic, with the profound opportunities offered by this technology balanced out by considerable risks. A recent report from Cambridge University’s Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy presents a highly critical view of how the police use LFR. In this article, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland presents both sides of the story.

ANALYSIS: As many as one in five of the population are estimated to be neurodivergent, a term covering more than 600 conditions; Sarah Gardner looks at some of the key challenges this presents for policing, both in terms of recruiting and supporting neurodiverse colleagues, and understanding how those conditions can affect interactions with the public.

FEATURE: This week the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation announced that the country’s terror threat level was to be reduced; Dr John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, warns that while the move should be welcomed, extremist ideologies still exist in Australia and will need continued careful and close monitoring to prevent any further acts of violence.

ANALYSIS: The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) is likely to bring significant changes to policing tools and techniques; Dr Jonathan Jackson and Ronald Winch of Birmingham City University argue that, as legislation lags behind the pace of technological development across society, policing needs to urgently develop and implement ethical and safe systems of governance to protect the model of policing by consent.

ANALYSIS: One of the outcomes of the pandemic has been a quiet revolution in the way people seek to report crime; a survey by technical consulting firm BMT found that the public are increasingly willing to use digital contact channels to communicate with police, but need more information about the right routes to use, and reassurances over the response they will receive, as Justice and Security Business Unit Lead Christian Ellis explains.

FEATURE: Leading police researcher Professor Tom Kirchmaier recently urged police chiefs to “rethink” their stance on double crewing to protect officers and provide a better public service, while improving response times to have a “significant” impact on detection and clearance rates, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With the ever-increasing volume of online child sexual abuse material, identifying and removing these harmful and often horrific images will require the use of new digital tools; at the recent 24-hour Conference on Global Organized Crime, Jacques Marcoux, Director of Research and Analytics for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, outlined how Project Arachnid is delivering on this task, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: Australia’s Queensland Police, like many other forces around the world, deal with worrying levels of domestic violence on a daily basis, with many incidents carried out by repeat offenders; but the introduction of a simple text messaging initiative to remind those subject to protection orders about the behaviour conditions they are required to follow has seen a significant drop in repeat offences and an associated reduction in costs, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The issue of environmental crime is complex and frequently misunderstood by wider society, with wildlife trafficking often the focus of attention, at the expense of activities such as the illegal exploitation of minerals and other natural resources; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the latest report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime on the impacts of environmental crime today, and what we may face in the future.