Interview

INTERVIEW: The Chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce – the organisation now consisting of 15 law enforcement agencies tackling online child sexual exploitation – passed from the UK’s National Crime Agency to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in November; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to AFP Commander Helen Schneider about the goals for the Taskforce over the next three years, and why identifying AI deepfakes and protecting the wellbeing of police investigators will be among the priorities.

INTERVIEW: Having embarked on a policing career out of a strong desire to be “the person who helped”, Barrie Police Service Chief Rich Johnston found that evidence-based policing (EBP) instilled a real passion to make policing smarter, safer, and more transparent; and as he explained to Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood, while adopting and implementing an EBP philosophy has its challenges, it offers significant potential for positive transformation.

INNOVATION: A portal developed in Humberside that allows victims to contact officers in charge of their case for updates rather than tie-up call handlers on force phone lines is also helping to provide a better service, according to those behind the plan; Ian Weinfass spoke to Humberside Police’s Scot Dunn and senior responsible officer for the NPCC’s digital public contact programme, DCC Simon Megicks, about the award-winning initiative.

INTERVIEW: Having joined Peel Regional Police five years ago, Chief Nishan Duraiappah soon recognised the challenges facing the force, and set about implementing a change programme to create “the most progressive, innovative and inclusive service in the galaxy” – one which needed needs “to look and feel like it has a start-up mentality”, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Research by criminal intelligence specialist Helen Glazebrook as part of a Churchill Fellowship award examines the collaboration between police and correctional facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK, highlighting the need for closer co-operation between agencies particularly in relation to monitoring the actions of those involved in serious organised crime, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

LONG READ: A record number of police forces in England and Wales have been put into special measures (formally known as ‘Engage’) over the past three years – but what does Engage mean, and how do forces move out of it? Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke, as well as two Chief Constables who have led their forces out of special measures – Staffordshire’s Chris Noble and Wiltshire’s Catherine Roper – to find out more.

INTERVIEW: Alex Finn, the National Police Chiefs’ Council digital youth engagement lead, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about a UK project to engage young people on social media, and why he thinks it should be rolled out further.

FEATURE: With cuckooing – the exploitation of vulnerable people by drug gangs who take over their home – not currently classified by the Home Office as a specific crime, the true scale of the problem in the UK remains unclear; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to North-West Regional County Lines Co-ordinator DI Adam Norton, and Intelligence Analyst and PhD candidate Ruth Lewin, about the nature of the crime, and what more can be done to identify and improve support for victims while also strengthening enforcement.

INTERVIEW: Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board face a unique set of challenges, protecting its communities and securing a border that is also the external border of the European Union; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Hannes Järvine, Strategy Bureau Project Manager in the Board’s Development Department, about the responsibilities of keeping Estonian citizens safe and borders secure, and how collaborative research and innovation are helping to enhance the service’s operational capabilities.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of the upcoming Investigator Wellbeing Week of Action, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sarah-Jayne Bray, Programme Manager for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigator Programme, and researchers Dr Liam Curran and Mark Dimelow, about the pressures and stressors facing senior investigating officers (SIOs), and what individuals and forces can do to improve SIO wellbeing.

INTERVIEW: With almost half of police forces in England and Wales having adopted and implemented the Operation Soteria model to tackle rape and serious sexual offences, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to City University of London Professor Katrin Hohl and Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Sarah Crew about the continuing roll out of the programme, the expansion of the approach to address domestic abuse, and concerns that an end to funding could threaten the progress already made.

INTERVIEW: The pioneering New Zealand Police Understanding Policing Delivery programme, which examines systemic bias within policing in partnership with an independent panel, has now published its first seven reports; Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to independent panel Chair Professor Khylee Quince, and NZ Police programme lead Mark Evans OBE, about the findings of the reports, and how they are likely to influence policing in a changing political environment.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s recent ‘Facing the future: the rise of facial recognition in policing’ report drew on 34 interviews with operational leaders and experts to examine how police use facial recognition (FR) around the world, and the key debates about the technology; as part of that project, James Sweetland interviewed Dr Nessa Lynch, Matheson Lecturer in Law, Innovation and Technology at University College Cork, about the risk and regulation of FR – and in this article, we share more from that insightful conversation.

INTERVIEW: As the new Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), ex-Home Office official Rachel Watson is heading up a body that’s constantly in the headlines; in an interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, she explained the IOPC’s aim to be “really radical in speeding up parts of its investigations”, why a funding boost’s needed to mitigate a 34% real-terms budget cut, and why it’s “healthy” that the watchdog “won’t always agree with policing”.

INTERVIEW: Despite new legal provisions and the best effort of law enforcement agencies, the online terror threat persists, with increasingly sophisticated propaganda campaigns recruiting and radicalising teenagers to terrorist causes; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to international expert Laurence Bindner, co-founder of the JOS Project, about the challenges of tackling online terrorism and the current threat landscape.

INTERVIEW: Having experienced plenty of “ugly” and “brutal” racism in her younger life and early policing career, Leanne Liddle has now joined Northern Territory Police Force as Executive Director of the Community Resilience and Engagement Command, with a remit to help reform the force and rebuild trust with the Aboriginal community; and as she told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons, with the NT Police “on the cusp” of important change, she’s not frightened to ruffle a few feathers.

INTERVIEW: With growing recognition of the potential law enforcement benefits of police partnerships with academia, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Prof Babak Akhgar (Director) and Prof Saskia Bayerl (Head of Research) at Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research (CENTRIC) about working with policing, the benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence, and encouraging officers to be innovative.

INTERVIEW: Having recently been elected to serve a fourth consecutive term, Suffolk Police and Crime Commissioner Tim Passmore is one of the country’s longest-serving PCCs; in an exclusive interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, he explained how the lack of clarity around chief constables’ operational independence “causes tension and friction”, called on the new government to avoid a “dictatorial” centralised approach to policing, and said chief constables “need a better understanding of public expectations”.

INTERVIEW: In the second of a two-part interview, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke QPM DL told Policing Insight’s James Sweetland that the Inspectorate should play a role in picking chief constables as he and his team “know more about policing than police and crime commissioners”; he also explained why the Inspectorate needs new powers, and how a £13 million funding boost could pay for an artificial intelligence “early warning system” to identify forces at risk of going into special measures.

INTERVIEW: As the first National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for artificial intelligence (AI), National Crime Agency Director Alex Murray has a unique insight into how this tech is changing policing; he spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the “brilliant work” developing police facial recognition in England and Wales, the dangers of deepfake evidence undermining the criminal justice system, and challenged “doomsters” who criticise an “overhyped version” of genuine police AI.

FEATURE: In the wake of the rape and murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan Police Officer, Bedfordshire Police launched its Blue Bell network to support victims and witnesses of sexual misconduct within the force, and empower officers and staff to speak out; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Bedfordshire Detective Chief Superintendent Zara Brown about the success of the initiative, tackling the “epidemic” of violence against women and girls, and the interest in the scheme from other forces and agencies.

INTERVIEW: Andy Cooke QPM DL has served as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary since April 2022, leading the body responsible for inspecting police forces across England, Wales and Northern Ireland; in the first of a two-part interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, Mr Cooke described the criminal justice system as “the most bureaucratic and the slowest that I’ve ever seen it”, explained why “just saying ‘institutional racism’ isn’t going to change anything”, and shared his concerns that the Police Race Action Plan is “taking an awfully long time to come to fruition”.

INTERVIEW: This week West Midlands Police moved out of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services’ (HMICFRS) ‘Engage’ phase (commonly known as special measures) in record time, after response times improved dramatically, arrest rates doubled, and the force had the largest drop in crime across England and Wales; Chief Constable Guildford told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons the successes – which will now be used as an HMICFRS ‘masterclass’ – were the result of a huge team effort.

INTERVIEW: Former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and National Police Chief’s Council Lead for Counter-Terrorism Policing Neil Basu QPM is one of the country’s most outspoken former senior cops; in the final part of a series of interviews with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, he discussed institutional racism – what chief constables really think about this contentious label, the “utterly ineffective and utterly ignored” Police Race Action Plan, and why taking on neo-Nazi group National Action was one of his “proudest moments” in policing.