Opinion

OPINION: A proposed pilot scheme to allow football fans to drink alcohol in view of the pitch during some lower league games has been branded “irresponsible” by some senior police officers; but former Chief Superintendent and crowd policing specialist Owen West, now a Senior Lecturer at Edge Hill University, believes the “unevidenced” policing narrative lacks coherency, and could leave the service marginalised as reform of the sport moves forward.

OPINION: The murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of a serving Met Police officer has shocked and angered a nation, and prompted a much wider debate about violence against women and girls, misogyny, and the role of policing; author and former Met Police Chief Superintendent John Sutherland shares his thoughts on what this horrific crime means for police officers and society, and where we go from here.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Former Lancashire Chief Constable Andy Rhodes, now Service Director of Oscar Kilo, is “passionate” about providing support for officers and staff, and believes the new Police Covenant will improve welfare for those in policing from the moment they join the job until retirement and beyond, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Tour.

OPINION: Ahead of next week’s London Policing College Domestic Abuse workshop – the first in a series of workshops organised by the College, leading up to the 3rd International Police Education Conference in November – Deisy Carrillo, Project Co-ordinator at Hillingdon Women’s Centre, explores the issues around gender and masculinity which can influence the police response to domestic violence.

FEATURE: With a Law Commission review of hate crime to be published shortly, and all forces in England and Wales now due to record misogyny as a hate crime, steps are well underway to tackle a key driver of violence against women and girls; Nottinghamshire was the first force in the UK to adopt such an approach, and Susannah Fish, the force’s Deputy Chief Constable at the time, explains what prompted the move, the success of the scheme, and her hopes that a national rollout will make life safer for women and girls.

OPINION: Growing use of nitrous oxide among young people in the UK has led to the Home Secretary ordering a review of the harm it causes; but Associate Professor Ian Hamilton of the University of York, and Professor Harry Sumnall of Liverpool John Moores University, argue that with no evidence that additional control is needed, an over-stretched drug treatment system and worrying signs of increased use of more harmful substances, efforts to look ‘tough on drugs’ by targeting laughing gas may be counter-productive.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner Steve Turner believes officers were almost ashamed of admitting where they worked, after the force faced a series of challenges, controversies and critical inspections; now he’s determined to put pride back into the county’s policing, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Tour.

OPINION: A recent College of Policing report on workplace adjustments enabling officers and staff with disability and neurodiversity issues to make the best possible contribution to policing has highlighted significant improvements over recent years; but as Detective Inspector Jamie Mills, Chair of Essex Police Disability and Carers network explains, the report also underlines that there is much more to be done – and chief officer commitment is crucial.

OPINION: The wide-ranging debate about responses to violence against women in Australia has included proposals for all women police stations; but researchers Dr Amanda Porter (University of Melbourne), journalist Ann Deslandes, Dr Crystal McKinnon (RMIT University) and Dr Marlene Longbottom (University of Wollongong) believe such a move is likely to be ineffective in addressing the real issues, particularly for females in Indigenous communities.

INTERVIEW: In the second in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Professor Julian Richards, Director of the Buckingham University Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies (BUCSIS) and interim Associate Dean for the University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, on how his career has developed, his current research and plans for future projects, and the key challenges presented by organised crime moving forwards.

OPINION: There are conflicting views over whether proposed amendments to South African law, which would reduce the number of licensed firearms and rule out the acquisition of a firearm for self-defence, will have the desired effect on gun crime in the country; but criminologist and lecturer Dr Guy Lamb of Stellenbosch University argues that the legislation changes are an important element in the efforts of the Government and police to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Interview: Transferring into An Garda Síochána from Toronto Police, Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon wondered how she would be received as 'an outsider' implementing their reform programme. She needn't have worried. Here she tells Policing Insight's Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons about the warm welcome she's received, her frustrations at COVID restrictions limiting her walks on the beat and how the culturally rich policing style has her smitten.

OPINION: Amid the furore to call a halt to Dame Cressida Dick's time at the helm of the Metropolitan Police, the Government and - crucially - the rank and file respect and support her leadership style and believe she remains the right person for the job with no obvious successor yet identified. Former BBC Home Affairs correspondent Danny Shaw examines some of the reasons why the Commissioner's contract has, indeed, been extended.

OPINION: As new police and crime commissioners contemplate the content of their policing plans, Charlie Norman, MD of DriveTech argues that road safety deserves greater visibility than it sometimes gets – and that the concept of education and retraining has the potential to make an even greater contribution to reducing danger on our roads as the nature of hazards on those roads continues to evolve.

OPINION: While many governments are continuing their efforts to evacuate people from Afghanistan, the return of the Taliban has left the country’s 4,000 female police officers at particular risk; Dr Melissa Jardine, an international police consultant and former Victoria police officer, believes the international community must do more to protect those who put their lives on the line to secure the safety of their communities.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Avon and Somerset PCC Mark Shelford is leading the force’s hunt to find a new chief constable following the departure of Andy Marsh; but while traditionally the top job has been filled by existing chiefs or deputies, the force is widening the recruitment pool to include assistant chief constables and overseas applicants who possess the right leadership and Peelian qualities, as Mr Shelford explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Tour.

INTERVIEW: In the first in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised criminals, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Anna Sergi, Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Essex and an expert on the Mafia, on how her career has developed, her current research and plans for future projects, and the key challenges presented by organised crime moving forwards.

OPINION: Operations by police and security teams to clear homeless encampments around the city of Toronto have been defended as an attempt to ensure the safety of occupants and the general public; however, Professor Joe Hermer of the University of Toronto argues that not only is this untrue, but it also represents a betrayal by police and the mayor, who had previously pledged to listen to and build a relationship with the city’s most marginalised and vulnerable people.

OPINION: The Home Office recently put out a revised draft of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice for public consultation in the UK; Tony Porter, the former Surveillance Camera Commissioner and now Chief Privacy Officer at Corsight AI, believes there is a need for more guidance and clearer governance of surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology, and that regulation of their use and deployment should be a role for the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office.

OPINION: A temporary law introduced in New Zealand last summer allowing buyers of drugs to have them independently checked without risking prosecution looks set to become permanent this year; if it does, Professor Alexander Gillespie of the University of Waikato believes it will make the citizens of New Zealand safer, and reflect a legislative trend towards harm reduction

opinion: Promoting a single equality cause as overtly as this week's pictures of the LGBT rainbow emblem on police liveried vehicles could inadvertently discriminate against other protected groups, argues Evan Morris, Vice Chairman of the National Association of Police Fire and Crime Panels

OPINION: Last month an Australian couple were jailed after being found guilty of enslaving a vulnerable Tamil woman for eight years, in one of the few cases where people have been prosecuted for slavery offences rather than related crimes; Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believes the case should act as a reminder for police, prosecutors and the public that modern slavery exists in many areas of society, and also highlights latest UN policy guidance to help states tackle the issue.

OPINION: The recent tragic shootings in Plymouth, and the concerns over how gunman Jake Davison came to be in possession of a licensed shotgun, have prompted calls for a more thorough vetting of applicants and licence holders in the UK, including their online activity; but former Chief Constable Stuart Hyde believes we need more than just social media monitoring, and a move to a national licensing regime may be the way forward.

OPINION: The killing of five people in Plymouth by Jake Davison (pictured), a man whose online activity included regular interaction with the incel sub-culture, has raised questions in the UK around the need for such groups to be targeted under counter-terror and extremist legislation; former Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Bryon explores the growth in the incel movement and related attacks on women both in the UK and the US, and looks at what can be done to tackle the sub-culture.