Opinion

OPINION: Australia’s female prison population has increased significantly, with First Nations women disproportionately affected, as laws and measures introduced to protect women and children from male violence have led to more females being jailed; Monash University Associate Professor Silke Meyer believes it’s time to invest more in primary prevention to end violence against women.

Policing Friendship Tour: Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix’s Policing Friendship Tour recently caught up with Police Federation of England and Wales Vice-Chair Ché Donald, for a stroll around the Surrey Downs; as they walked and talked, Ché and Bernard discussed the impact of the pandemic on policing, the relentless pressures on officers and staff, trial by media, the challenges of recruitment, retention and diversity, and the importance of addressing mental health – along with a heartwarming story of overcoming addiction.

OPINION: Drill and grime music has often been linked (rightly or otherwise) to urban gangs, with claims that lyrics and videos posted on social media are an incitement to violence; but Liverpool John Moores University Policing Studies graduate Gwen Jones argues that the use of Criminal Behaviour Orders to prevent artists recording or publishing new material has criminalised those musical genres, often without evidence of preventing crime.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former NYPD Detective Sergeant Joseph Giacalone, now an Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York, explains why solving cold cases could build community bridges, take more offenders off the street, and play a crucial part in reducing levels of violence.

OPINION: Defining laws on hate speech is notoriously difficult; but as New Zealand considers new legislation to protect groups against the impact of hate speech, Dr Eddie Clark, Senior Lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington, believes that the current insistence on proving a link to inciting violence as a precondition for defining hate speech regulation is wrong, and contradicts other existing forms of speech regulation in New Zealand law.

OPINION: The balance between protecting civil liberties and ensuring national security is under scrutiny in Australia, as global issues such as the threat of extremism, international conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic impact on communities nationally and locally; lawyer Lydia Shelly and Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believe the long-term solution is a bill of rights – but there are short-term measures that could be taken in the meantime.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, born and bred city resident Voice of Chicago highlights the devastating impact of the increase in the number of murders, violence and gun crime has had on the city’s Black community, and what can be done to address the problem.

OPINION: The increased use of police body-worn cameras has been welcomed in many quarters as a route to improving transparency and accountability; but Bryce Newell, Assistant Professor of Media Law and Policy at the University of Oregon, fears that public records laws such as those prevalent in the US can lead to people’s most sensitive and traumatic moments being made available for public viewing.

OPINION: In the latest in his series of bi-monthly articles, Superintendent Simon Nelson, President of the Disabled Police Association, looks at the importance of creating a safe, supportive and inclusive environment within policing, which enables those with a disability to share their identity of living with those conditions, and ensure that forces make best use of the extensive skillsets that people have to offer.

OPINION: There are calls from some quarters in Australia for the introduction of ‘negligent rape’, based on a ‘recklessness’ towards the consent of the victim, rather than deliberately disregarding the lack of consent; but Dr Rachael Burgin of Swinburne University of Technology, University of Sydney PhD student Bri Lee, and Professor Jonathan Crowe of Bond University argue that such a move would create a rape ‘hierarchy’ that is both wrong and offensive.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix’s Policing Friendship Tour recently arrived in Leamington Spa, where he was able to walk and talk with long-term police tech supplier Simon Hall about the challenges of police procurement, the launch of the new Police Digital Service, and the benefits of partnership working in reaching a global law enforcement market.

OPINION: A recent UK cross-party report has called for major changes to the forthcoming Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, along with a warning that the police must not become the ‘enforcement agency of the state’; but with the report’s criticism of recent protest policing quickly rejected by some senior leaders, former chief superintendent Owen West believes the concerns over political interference in policing are falling on deaf ears.

OPINION: While the potential evidential benefits of police body-worn cameras are increasingly clear, inconsistencies in their use and oversight threaten to limit their positive impact; Griffith University Lecturers Robyn Blewer and Ronald Behlau believe regulation leading to more effective, consistent use, coupled with independent oversight, is the way forward.

OPINION: Police ethics advisor Montell Neufville explores the issue of police legitimacy, what it means and its relationship to building trust and confidence in policing, whose role it is to build that trust and confidence, and the opportunities and recommendations for how this can be achieved.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, police officer Ari Maas argues that the Broken Windows approach employed so successfully on the New York subway in the 1980s by Transit Police Chief Bill Bratton has been wrongly conflated with zero tolerance and stop-and-frisk, leaving a successful crime fighting tool overlooked and dismissed by academics and others.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: On a recent leg of his Policing Friendship Tour, Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix walked and talked with former West Mercia Chief Constable Paul West; from ‘flaws’ in the current model of police governance and a lack of diversity amongst police and crime commissioners, to abandoned force mergers and increased collaboration, the pair discussed some of the key policing issues as they strolled around the grounds of Hartlebury Castle.

OPINION: The recent inquest into the Fishmonger’s Hall terror attack highlighted missed opportunities into the investigation of terrorist Usman Khan, and prompted criticism of the police and security services for their failure to share information more effectively; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth believes that, in the light of this inquest and other previous incidents, it’s now time to consider if the present UK counter-terrorism architecture is fit for purpose.

OPINION: Today is the international UN Public Service Day, when the efforts and achievements of frontline public service employees should be recognised and applauded; and after the struggles of an incredibly tough pandemic year, it’s important that the work of the police, NHS and others are equally celebrated, says Dr Sarah Jane Fox of Staffordshire University’s Institute of Policing.

ADVERTISEMENT INTERVIEW: With UK police preparing to handle rapidly growing volumes of digital, multichannel contact from the public, the benefits – both for citizens and forces – of installing integrated contact management and CRM platforms are increasingly obvious; Steve Norris, Police Market Director at Salesforce UK (a specified supplier under the recent framework) highlights the advantages of the latest contact technology in enabling forces to cope with demand and enhance the service to citizens.

FEATURE: The collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and FBI in using the AN0M app to break up organised crime networks has been hailed as a spectacular success; but Australian Strategic Policy Institute Dr Teagan Westendorf believes it’s important that the use of new police powers in such operations is transparent and fully understood, to maintain the public’s confidence and trust in law enforcement.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: On the latest leg of his Policing Friendship Tour, Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix caught up with Chris Lewis, Policy and Research Officer for Warwickshire OPCC, to talk about efforts to improve support for the victims of crime – and especially those injured or killed in road traffic collisions – as well as his work with the National Association of Retired Police Officers.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former FBI agent Donovan J Leighton explores the problems associated with tackling gun violence, and the challenges and successes of Operation Ceasefire in balancing prevention and enforcement.

OPINION: Consumer fraud is a high-volume and seemingly ever-growing area of crime, yet only 15% of frauds are reported to police each year; David Geere, Chris Oxborough and Esther Paterson of professional services firm PwC believe that better use of technology and increased co-operation and collaboration with the private sector are the key to tackling this complex and often international crime.

OPINION: This week saw the publication of a new report into the Metropolitan Police Service’s investigation of the murder of Daniel Morgan, one of the UK’s longest-running police controversies, and with it a finding of ‘institutional corruption’ on the part of the force; former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw says that despite low expectations, the report offers an important insight into the workings of the Met today.