Opinion

FEATURE: While some criminal activity has fallen during the pandemic, serious crimes have continued, which means so has the work of crime scene investigators; Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University, looks at the challenges of protecting CSI teams from COVID-19, and discusses some of her recent research on the steps agencies can take to keep staff safe.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: An Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe's Budapest Convention on Cybercrime contains important legal tools that will “enhance international co-operation”, according to Virgil Spiridon, Head of Operations at the Council’s Cybercrime Programme Office, who explained the latest developments to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Tour.

OPINION: With UK police forces witnessing a significant churn of experienced officers for new recruits, concerns over confidence, and a continuing challenge to maintain the policing by consent model, Acting Supt Stephen Lenney fears the service could be facing a perfect storm, one which could leave policing all at sea unless there is clarity of purpose and a shared consciousness of the challenges facing officers.

OPINION: Québec is currently experiencing its second province-wide pandemic curfew, introduced at the end of December in response to the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant; but for Brandon University’s Professor Christopher Schneider, the new restrictions bring with them a dangerous expansion in police discretionary powers that could lead to the inconsistent and unfair application of enforcement.

OPINION: A significant proportion of the 800,000 people detained in police custody in 2019 were children and young people, but Transform Justice Research and Policy Lead Fionnuala Ratcliffe believes that such detentions often lead to unreliable evidence and long-term damage to police legitimacy, and suggests alternatives such as voluntary attendance and out-of-court disposals could prove more effective.

OPINION: Police forces both in the UK and internationally are increasingly equipping officers with overdose reversal medication such as naloxone, in an effort to cut the catastrophic numbers of drug-related deaths; drugs policing expert Ben Twomey, who wrote the policy for the first force in the UK to carry the medication, writes about what it means for the war on drugs.

OPINION: A new collection of essays published by Polamk, the Finnish Police University College, provides an insight into policing innovation, and the disruptive thinking and fresh approaches necessary to overcome some of the barriers to change; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth, a long-term Polamk collaborator, believes the collection is essential reading for police leaders and innovators worldwide.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Amber Phillips, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of the West of England (UWE) in Bristol, about the mafia, asset confiscation, and the importance of grassroots initiatives when tackling organised crime.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: While UK policing has faced major challenges as a result of COVID-19, the innovative ICT responses to the pandemic from police forces, government and the private sector have driven change that will deliver benefits for years to come, as VMware Chief Technology Officer Joseph Langford explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

END OF YEAR REVIEW: For many, 2021 – like 2020 before it – was a year to forget, as Covid combined with other challenges to leave policing on the back foot; but behind the headlines there were some real achievements, so let’s take the positives – for policing and Policing Insight – into 2022, and see if we can rewrite some of that negative narrative.

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: After a challenging 12 months, those working in policing may not be feeling too festive; but it should still be a time for them to cherish and relax, and for the rest of us to thank them for their efforts, says Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter.

Top Articles 2021: Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter leads the team in selecting their favourite articles published in 2021. The editorial team have each selected their ‘Top 3’ picks and we have made them freely available during the Christmas period for all users with at least a free registered account. We hope you enjoy our selections!

OPINION: The UK Government’s recently published consultation on ‘Delivering justice to victims’ focuses on criminal justice as the gold standard, an attitude reflected in the media emphasis on punishment and retribution; but Transform Justice Director Penelope Gibbs argues that for many victims a ‘day in court’ is not the key component of a successful resolution or increased satisfaction.

OPINION: The Government’s recent public consultation on a new National Resilience Strategy sought views and submissions from a wide range of agencies and organisations, with leading international blue-light computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems provider Hexagon among those contributing to the process; Ian Holmes of the company’s Public Safety team picks out some of the key themes from their submission.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Improving the ability of police IT software and systems to “talk to each other”, enhancing the recruitment process, and creating a “citizen-centric approach” to public contact were among the issues discussed by Simon Bradford, Salesforce’s Regional Vice-President for Public Sector UK, when he joined Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

OPINION: Despite the successful efforts of Australian law enforcement to seize drugs and target suppliers, the country’s latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program confirms that the use of ‘ice’ in particular has continued to rise significantly; Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argues that data from the program should be used to guide strategy that focuses on cutting consumption and making communities safer.

INTERVIEW: When the citizens of Queen Creek, Arizona voted in favour of establishing a new police department, experienced Chief of Police Randy Brice was given the job of creating the organisation; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the challenges of recruiting during Covid, to a tight deadline, while ensuring the town’s community has a strong voice in the mission, values and vision of its new PD.

OPINION: Although calls for police reform have reduced since the jailing of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, the issues that prompted those calls have not gone away; but Associate Professor Angela Workman-Stark of Athabasca University believes that creating alternative sustainable development goals and metrics for policing – rather than defunding agencies – could achieve the desired change.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: With carbon footprints and sustainability high on the agenda for law enforcement agencies, Jersey Police Chief Officer Robin Smith believes the Crown Dependency force could be the first in the UK to run a fully electric fleet, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: Contactless card payment limits increased in the UK to £100 in October, seemingly largely in an effort to increase consumer spending and help stimulate economic recovery; but in this latest article from the UCL COVID-19 series, Professor Graham Farrell (University of Leeds) and Professor Nick Tilley (UCL) argue that a Tap-and-PIN approach would help to prevent crime, and potentially deter a large cohort of young offenders from becoming career criminals.

OPINION: The Internet of Things, that network of products and objects using digital communications to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems, is becoming increasingly common in our everyday world; but Dr Lennon Chang of Monash University believes it also represents a significant opportunity for cyber criminals to carry out a much wider range of both cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crimes.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Ian Stanier, Visiting Lecturer at Buckingham University’s Centre for Security and Intelligence, about the importance of CHIS and HUMINT, expanding the capability and capacity of UK covert investigations, and the FIREPLACES informant motivation model.

OPINION: The high-profile case of a TV presenter fined for ‘rape apology’ and ‘offences against decency’ in Côte d’Ivoire has put fears over rape culture in the country back under the spotlight; but University of Bristol Senior Lecturer Dr Peace A. Medie believes that while there are still challenges around support for victims, women’s rights and the policing response, there are also reasons for hope moving forwards.

INNOVATION: Artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to revolutionise identification processes for law enforcement; but if they are to be reliable and trusted, those commissioning their use must ensure concerns around gender dimension bias have been addressed from the outset, says Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth.