Opinion

INNOVATION: Chief Executive Officer of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) Katherine Van Gurp explains how the Agency's recently published first five-year Strategy focuses on preparing Australia and New Zealand Police for the challenges of the future.

INNOVATION: The world of forensics suffers from fragmentation, skills shortages, an unstable marketplace and lack of investment and accreditation. But NPCC Forensics Lead and Dorset Chief Constable James Vaughan says police forces can make a bright future for forensics – with help from the new Forensics Capability Network (FCN).

Opinion: Chair of Bedfordshire Community Scrutiny Panel Montell Neufville shares his concerns that lockdown measures have prevented panels from scrutinising the police use of Covid-19 powers which could undermine transparency and damage community relations.

Book Review: Former Met Commander John Sutherland's latest book - Crossing the Line - is billed as a love letter to police officers and those vulnerable people they protect and serve. CoPaCC Director Bernard Rix says the book is a riveting read that should be read by everyone in the policing family.

Opinion: The lockdown and social distancing means trainers and course providers have had to find different ways to deliver their courses. Despite the challenges of moving a CPD-accredited settlement course for leavers to a virtual setting, Mightify's Tom Wheelhouse found many participants preferred this new style of delivery.

OPINION: The global pandemic has illustrated that policing does not operate in a vacuum when it comes to delivering public services. Policing Insight's Publisher Bernard Rix looks at how one supplier worked with UK police forces, the Police ICT Company and the National Police Technology Council to ensure previously office-based work could be rapidly undertaken by police officers and staff in their own homes.

Opinion: Since the Covid-19 lockdown began, knife crime has fallen significantly across the UK, but former gang member and founder of Gangsline Sheldon Thomas warns that the respite will be short-lived as this and other gang-related crime can only be tackled through societal change.

Opinion: Tom Nolan, Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College, Boston University, explores how the pandemic is affecting crime statistics in the United States and the impact it is having on the police response.

Opinion: With some daily headlines in Britain focused on the use of police powers in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Ian Loader from the University of Oxford considers the role of the police and how effective the current police response has been.

Opinion: The elections for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England and Wales, were due take place today (7 May) and were cancelled due to the pandemic, but has anyone noticed? Prospective Labour candidate for Warwickshire Ben Twomey argues that in 2021, following the fallout from the pandemic, it will even more important the public cast their vote.

OPINION: The culture of policing has undoubtedly evolved over the last decades, but what does the latest stage mean? Serving officer Martin Gallagher argues that the 'fourth age' of policing could see mobile working undermine the capacity of senior officers to lead on the frontline.

INSIGHT: A rapid flattening of the now familiar Covid-19 infection curve has enabled the Isle of Man to ease some of the current restrictions, ahead of the United Kingdom. Isle of Man Chief Constable Gary Roberts shares the challenges this has presented and some of the early lessons learnt.

Opinion: As retired police officers are asked to consider returning to their force to help police the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, policing commentator Mark Brown discusses how the UK could develop a resilient and effective policing model able to cope in times of crisis.

Interview: Last month, amid concerns, the Government announced 4,000 low-risk prisoners would be released to tackle the spread of Covid-19. Policing Insight contributor Sarah Gibbons asks West Midlands Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner Waheed Saleem, who is leading a multi-agency, regional response, how will the scheme will work.

OPINION: Former Chief Superintendent and author of the bestselling Blue: A Memoir - Keeping the Peace and Falling to Pieces John Sutherland considers the role police officers are playing in the face of the current pandemic and how all too often stories of their bravery and courage are overshadowed by tales of heavy-handed policing tactics.

INTERVIEW: Policing is facing its greatest challenge since the Second World War as officers enforce the lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Bedfordshire Chief Constable Garry Forsyth tells Policing Insight how the Coronavirus has touched every aspect of police business, including challenging accepted working practices.

Opinion: As the police service explores the growing potential of technology to undertake some traditional policing functions, CEO of MeLearning Nick Richards argues that no matter how sophisticated the technology it can only be as good as the skills of those that use it and training remains a vital component of any rollout.

Analysis: When US polling organisation Elucd asked Americans how satisfied they were with guidance received during the Coronavirus emergency, local police departments polled even worse than the President. Michael Simon, CEO of Elucd and former head of analysis to President Obama’s re-election campaign, tries to understand what lies behind this surprising result.

OPINION: Bernard Rix, Publisher of Policing Insight, provides a brief overview of policing responses worldwide to Covid-19, and identifies some of the factors that will determine which forces emerge from the pandemic with their reputations enhanced.

INTERVIEW: The lockdown has led to a steep rise in calls to domestic abuse helplines in the UK. While they offer vital support, alternative accommodation is essential to enabling people to escape their situation, but Co-APCC Victims lead on domestic abuse Julia Mulligan says refuges are all but full and more accommodation is urgently needed.

OPINION: Call handling – often the public’s only point of contact with police – is under ever-increasing pressure, and deserves more attention says CoPaCC Director and former Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett in his introduction to the CoPaCC Police Contact Management: Demand Analysis Report. The recently published report examines trends and performance in UK call handling and online reporting.

Opinion: Figures show 64 per cent of short-term prisoners in the UK re-offend. Director of Operational Safety at Northgate Public Services Steve Ainsworth examines how better information sharing between the police and the probation service has the power to reduce re-offending rates and make communities safer.

OPINION: Necessity is, as they say, the mother invention and here Nick Bradley, Managing Director of Enlighten Training and Consultancy describes how the Coronavirus emergency has accelerated the modernisation of training delivery with one large police force.

INTERVIEW: As the government seeks to implement new anti-terror emergency measures to prevent the early release of convicted terrorists, Professor Emeritus Clive Walker, international terrorism expert and senior special adviser to the UK’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, tells Policing Insight about the complex challenges around convicted terrorists and suspects.