Opinion

OPINION: The findings of the recent Casey Review are likely to have the Metropolitan Police and other forces promoting their values and drawing a line in the sand over inappropriate behaviour; but workplace relationships expert Arran Heal believes the best way to develop a positive ‘Clear Air’ culture is by clearly stating behaviours the organisation wants people to exhibit, supported by training in the skills that people need.

OPINION: A new report into the policing of the 2022 occupation of parliamentary grounds in Wellington describes a largely successful operation with a positive outcome; but Professors Alexander Gillespie and Claire Breen of the University of Waikato warn that while policing has moved on significantly since previous high-profile demonstrations, there is still room for improvement around practice, equipment, legislation, and ensuring police independence.

OPINION: This weekend’s coronation of HM King Charles III is likely to be the largest deployment in peace time of uniformed officers on the streets of London; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, who served in the Met Police for 30 years, looks at the challenges of the day – both for those policing the route, and for those maintaining public order and community safety away from the event – as well as the unique opportunity such an operation offers.

OPINION: As he approaches his retirement, Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, reflects on 30 years spent in policing, and in particular the work he has done to combat child abuse in all forms.

OPINION: The Macpherson Report into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence made many recommendations around improving the police response, including ensuring the availability of dedicated, trained family liaison officers (FLOs) at a local level; Professor Fiona Brookman of South Wales University looks at how this role has now become an integral part of policing, and what more can be done to ensure forces are making best use of FLOs.

OPINION: Despite an apparently well-developed framework of accountability arrangements, British policing is still facing a ‘polycrisis’ resulting in a significant loss of public trust and confidence; Police Foundation Director Rick Muir believes that a fresh approach to the principles of accountability – as underlined in a report published recently by the Foundation – could prove crucial in underpinning efforts to tackle the key challenges.

INTERVIEW: An EU-funded three-month mentoring scheme is connecting female police officers in The Gambia with experienced colleagues in Thames Valley Police; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sarah-Jane Bray, who is managing the mentoring programme, about the shared challenges facing female officers, and the strong connections built between officers based more than 3,500 miles apart.

INTERVIEW: In the fifth in a month-long series of articles exploring the EU-funded PROTECTOR project, which aims to design, develop and deliver the next generation of measures to enhance the protection of places of worship and their congregations, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth spoke to Fiene Flos, Counter-Terrorism Analyst in the Antwerp Police Department, about her organisation’s role in the initiative and the benefits the project has brought to policing in Belgium.

OPINION: With the growing prospect of the responsibility for large national IT programmes passing from the Home Office to policing, the way the service gets its technology looks set to change; Sharad Rathi, Operations Director and Public Sector lead at HCLTech, believes that how that technology is developed and delivered is at least as important as which public body is delivering it.

OPINION: The recently published Casey Review highlighted issues of a “toxic culture” in parts of the Metropolitan Police including racist, sexist and misogynistic behaviour; but doctoral researcher Kathryn Farrow of the University of Oxford argues that while the findings and headlines have focused on the Met, other forces around the country still have much work to do on many of the same issues.

OPINION: A recent Scottish court case that saw a 21-year-old given a non-custodial sentence for rape – largely in the hope of aiding his rehabilitation – has prompted much discussion about the age of criminal responsibility; former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher believes the criminal justice system needs to be reset to recognise that with rights come responsibilities, and that offender rehabilitation must be balanced with justice for victims and protection of the public.

INTERVIEW: As the debate continues in many countries about police training and qualifications, a pioneering US programme in Massachusetts is offering recruits the opportunity to achieve both an undergraduate and master’s degree alongside their qualification to serve as a full-time officer; Programme Director Lisa Lane McCarty spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the degree debate, professionalizing police training, and the challenges of making “better human beings”.

OPINION: With concerns over the ever-expanding police mission and political interference in policing, continuing doubts about the efficacy of the 43-force structure in England and Wales, anger over pay and conditions and a legitimacy crisis reminiscent of that of the late 1950s, a new Royal Commission into policing could be the best way to determine what we expect of the police service, and how it is going to achieve those aims, argues former officer and University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews.

OPINION: With the recent Casey Review once against highlighting the need for changes to existing ‘police culture’ and the concept of ‘leadership’ in UK policing, former officer Tom Andrews, Policing Lecturer at the University of Derby, looks at previous examples of direct entry into policing, and considers whether this approach could offer solutions to some of the concerns raised by Baroness Casey and others.

OPINION: The recent final report of the Baroness Casey Review into standards of behaviour and internal culture in the Metropolitan Police Service included findings of “institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia”, and of a force that is “losing its way”; ahead of a virtual panel exploring these issues later this month, former Met and West Midlands officer Ron Winch, now Senior Teaching Fellow in Policing at Birmingham City University, looks at what needs to be done to get the force and policing back on course.

OPINION: Police are increasingly the first point of contact to respond to those in mental health crisis, but when restraint has been the focus of such a response, some cases have led to tragic consequences; Lynn Emslie, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, believes a partnership response from policing and health services could help to avoid future fatalities.

OPINION: While the debate continues around UK police education and the various entry routes for recruits into policing, former officer and now University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer Derek Flint argues that the ‘precious union’ between policing and academia needs to be maintained and strengthened to ensure the service has constables with a ‘professional curiosity’, and a desire and a determination to find out ‘why’ things are happening.

OPINION: With the police Uplift programme to recruit 20,000 ‘additional’ officers across England and Wales due to have hit its target at the end of March, change management consultant and former police officer Tom Wheelhouse looks at what the initiative has achieved – and the challenges that have arisen – around the issues of recruitment, retention and resettlement.

OPINION: The relationship between the police and the media has always been complex, but recent coverage of high-profile crimes involving officers, along with a raft of inquiries and reviews, has prompted concerns that the current reporting of law enforcement is negatively biased and contributing to the fall in public confidence; in the first of two Policing Insight opinion articles on the issue, former officer and regular ‘police commentator’ Graeme Wettone looks at how the relationship has changed – and what can be done to improve it.

RESEARCH: The wealth of CCTV footage recorded in a wide range of public and private settings regularly forms vital evidence in court cases; but a new study of British murder investigations by Professor Fiona Brookman and Research Fellow Helen Jones of the University of South Wales suggests that issues around interpretation, availability and quality of CCTV represent challenges and risks that can make such evidence unreliable and problematic.

OPINION: While LGBTQ+ people in Australia experience disproportionately high levels of sexual violence, to date little has been known about their experiences of sexual crimes or of seeking support; now new research by a team of academics from the University of Tasmania and the University of Melbourne has highlighted the significant impact of such crimes, gaps in the provision of support, and failings in some of the responses to those who do choose to report the crime.

OPINION: The recent Casey Review of the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service focused mainly on the damning findings around behaviour and culture, with little mention of drugs; but former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that the policing of drugs could be a key contributor to negative public perceptions and lower levels of trust in the force, and removing the drugs market from criminality could be the ‘huge and radical step’ required to help regain trust among London’s black community.

OPINION: The findings of Baroness Casey’s review of the Met Police were difficult reading for many, and described a force in crisis; John Fox, Senior Lecturer in Police Studies at the University of Portsmouth, believes the situation calls for strong measures – including the polygraph testing of applicants, better support for whistleblowers, and creating a hostile environment for toxic behaviour – to drive essential cultural change.

INTERVIEW: A traumatic experience early in Vernon Herron’s policing career gave him a personal insight into the services officers need to maintain their mental health and wellbeing; now he uses that experience, and many others gained during more than 30 years in policing, to ensure Baltimore PD officers have the right safety and wellness support, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend.