Analysis

ANALYSIS: With public services under increasing pressure, leaders need to refresh their thinking on harnessing the considerable untapped resources in every community; in the second in a series of articles, Intensive Engagement’s Richard James (a former police territorial commander), Citizens in Policing specialist Dr Iain Britton, and Jayne Pascoe (Neighbourhood Watch Network) suggest there is no shortage of support available – but can leaders turn the key to unlock this resource?

ANALYSIS: Covid fixed penalty notices were issued to BAME individuals in England and Wales at up to twice the rate as white individuals; now a new report has found that officer ‘discomfort and uncertainty’ of the regulations led to a focus on ‘blatant’ breaches, with fines more dependent on the circumstance of the breach and the how officers perceived an individual’s attitude and responses to them, than on the potential risk of harm, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: Shiaphobic hate crimes were highlighted in the wake of the recent Lady of Heaven film controversy, and came to the fore gain last month with the religious celebration of Eid al-Ghadīr; Michael Dhanoya of the University of Leicester’s School of Criminology explores the context and background to Shiaphobia, and the importance of recording and investigating it as an Islamic sectarian hate crime, rather than as examples of Islamaphobia.

ANALYSIS: With police budgets under pressure as countries around the world face the prospect of recession, and the worsening economic situation likely to drive an increase in crime, the relationship between policing and the private sector will be more important than ever; Policing Insight’s Michael Hardiman, a former economist with Australia’s Victoria Police, looks at the challenges posed by the economic pressures, and opportunities arising from them.

FEATURE: A new mental health project launched by Cambridgeshire Constabulary to identify frontline detectives suffering from compassion fatigue has found that significant numbers are at ‘high risk’ and will be offered tailored support and treatment, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Police forces across England and Wales have been warned they face a tough challenge to hit the UK Government’s 20,000 Uplift recruitment target as latest figures show a slowdown on new joiners as well as record levels of resignations – prompting fresh calls for forces to improve their understanding of why officers leave the job, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: As latest figures confirm that Scotland has the highest rate of drug-related fatalities in Europe, the country’s Minister for Drugs Policy has urged the UK Government to back a public health approach to substance misuse as set out recently by the Scottish Drugs Death Taskforce – rather than the punishment-focused white paper on recreational drug users – as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: The recent Spanish seizure of a number of underwater ‘narco drones’ capable of carrying around 200kgs of drug while being operated remotely has highlighted the growth in one narcotics trafficking method; Professor Natalie Klein of UNSW Sydney and Dr Rob McLaughlin of the Australian National University believe both Australian and international law will need to be updated to be able to act effectively against those using such techniques.

ANALYSIS: While the latest US drone strike highlighted the continuing physical global terrorist threat, extremist organisations are increasingly launching their own websites to spread their views and propaganda, and recruit new members; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the online threat posed by terrorists, and the work of Tech Against Terrorism to try and counter that threat.

FEATURE: With an increasing array of contact channels and growing complexity of calls, emergency service control rooms are facing a “data tsunami”; the solution, says David Jackson, Director of Business Engagement at the Police Digital Service, is the increased use of technology to identify relevant and useful data, and to monitor the impact of potentially traumatic contact on call handlers, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr-Munro reports.

ANALYSIS: The ground-breaking Operation Soteria-Bluestone initiative seeks to improve the investigation of rape and serious sexual offences, and has highlighted the impact on those investigating such cases; Research Fellows Richard Harding and Dr Arun Sondhi, and Dr Emma Williams (Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships), of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning, look at the early findings in relation to learning, wellbeing and officer burnout, and the important role of the organisational environment.

ANALYSIS: Australia’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program offers a unique insight into drug use across the country; Dr John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, believes results from the program in the wake of one of the country’s biggest enforcement operations highlight the difficulties of trying to measure the success of drug strategies in terms of seizures and arrests.

ANALYSIS: New Zealand Police’s Understanding Policing Delivery programme represents a new approach to delivering on fairness and equity; Deputy Chief Executive Mark Evans, chair of the Governance Group guiding this work, explains more about the programme and how working with senior community representatives, experienced academics and local researchers aims to deliver evidence-based insights and opportunities with wide-ranging support – including from frontline Police staff.

analysis: A new report from the Police Foundation highlights the growing tide of online child sexual abuse, with a 400% increase in victims reporting offences over the past four years; but report authors Michael Skidmore and Beth Aitkenhead believe that with a greater focus on prevention, prioritisation on serious harm and investment in people and technology, that tide can be turned around.

ANALYSIS: Seventeen years ago this month the UK faced its first ‘critical’ threat level following a series of terrorist attacks in London that prompted significant changes to the country’s counter-terrorism operations; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks back at the events of July 2005, and considers whether the appointment of former counter-terror chief Sir Mark Rowley as Metropolitan Police Commissioner could improve collaboration and co-operation between the security services and police.

FEATURE: As the ‘big four’ social media companies continue to successfully tighten up the identification and removal of harmful terrorist content, delegates at the recent Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT) discussed how extremist organisations and those intent on violence are looking for alternative ‘low-tech’ online routes to broadcast their message, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: Over the past five years a series of drug deaths in Australia has highlighted the arrival of an increasing range of synthetic drugs, many originating from factories in China and India and ordered online; this article from the Lens, the research publication of Monash University, explores the forensic medicine efforts of ‘toxico-surveillance’ specialists to identify and track the influx of new illicit drugs, and the dangers they represent.

FEATURE: The latest report from consultants PwC has highlighted the risks posed by external rather than internal fraud, as organised crime and other entities look to exploit a perfect storm of environmental, geopolitical, financial and social pressures; the survey also urges departments in US organisations to adopt a “unified approach”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The UK’s access to Horizon Europe’s research and innovation programme funding as an associate member – and with it the ability to undertake pioneering research into policing and security that has delivered real benefits to UK law enforcement – appears to be increasingly under threat, thanks to ongoing political wrangles over the Northern Ireland post-Brexit border arrangements, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: Purposeful community engagement is now widely recognised and recommended as a crucial step in delivering social change, including policies around crime reduction, preventing radicalisation, and building trust and confidence in policing; in the first of a series of articles, Intensive Engagement’s Richard James (a former police territorial commander) and Associate Professor Dr Tim Curtis explore the essential processes needed to create focused, sustainable and effective community engagement.

FEATURE: Technological advances in extracting valuable knowledge and information from Big Data could deliver significant benefits for the security and safety of smart cities and their residents; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores a new European research and innovation project that is looking to maximise those benefits for all stakeholders, including policing.

FEATURE: New research has recommended that police forces in England and Wales should improve their awareness and responses to gambling-related harms after identifying custody suites as the ideal ‘gatekeepers’ to challenge the narratives about the nature of gambling-related crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.  

FEATURE: Several UK police forces have pushed ahead with pilot schemes and the wider roll out of opioid overdose reversal drug naloxone for frontline officers, despite opposition from some staff associations; now a new report by the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has called for increased support and training for officers as part of a ‘national joined-up approach’ to its use, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: With the scale of child sexual abuse in the UK reaching record levels, and offenders using encryption and other technology tools to carry out increasingly severe and abhorrent abuse, National Crime Agency Deputy Director Sarah Blight has urged law enforcement, government, industry and other stakeholders to develop a ‘whole of system response’ to the threat, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.