Opinion

OPINION: With UK police reform now firmly on the agenda, ethics specialist Dr Richard Cockbain sets out why policing needs to shift its focus from the risk-averse approach of minimising failure at all costs to recognising, articulating and learning from successes, and the challenges around culture, structure and incentive that will need to be addressed if reform is to deliver positive transformation.

OPINION: Failures around police vetting in the UK have recently been under the spotlight, particularly in relation to the relaxation of measures in order to hit recruitment targets; Avesta Afshari-Mehr, a Durham University student and scrutiny and accountability volunteer with Durham Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, believes a national vetting standard is essential in light of his own experiences of the application and vetting process.

OPINION: In response to an apparent surge in youth gang crime, Victoria Police in Australia have reportedly begun issuing ‘anti-association orders’ to prevent youngsters being drawn into gangs; but Dr Kathryn Benier of Monash University and Dr Angela Higginson of Queensland University of Technology argue that alongside clearer understanding of why young people join gangs, better funded early intervention and prevention programs are needed for sustainable reductions in youth violence and gang involvement.

OPINION: In the wake of last week’s UK Government white paper on police reform, Emily Spurrell, Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), explains that while PCCs welcome modernisation of the service, the APCC has concerns over the accountability of policing – and particularly the new National Police Service – under the reform plans, as well as the risks of stifling local innovation, and the need to safeguard the future of victim and crime prevention services pioneered by PCCs.

OPINION: In the wake of the publication of the UK Government’s white paper on police reform for England and Wales, former chief officer Will Kerr highlighted four key challenges, drawing on lessons learned during restructuring in Scotland and Northern Ireland; in this longer-read article, he expands on those points, exploring the challenges facing the reform intent set out in the paper, and suggests steps that can be taken to ensure the process is more effective.

OPINION: The public perception of policing is of a straightforward chain of command; but experienced officer Keith F. Lazaron II, who currently serves with the West Kittanning Police Department in Pennsylvania, warns that in US law enforcement the behind-the-scenes pressure exerted by the ‘stakeholder table’ of elected officials, administrators, insiders and connected community voices can lead to a shift in policing away from professional standards and toward political survival.

OPINION: In the wake of the recent controversy around West Midlands Police’s decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from Aston Villa, a move which eventually led to the retirement of the force’s beleaguered Chief Constable Craig Guildford, former chief superintendent and policing lecturer Owen West, who specialised in crowd policing throughout his career, argues that the case highlights the paucity of good intelligence around football policing, and calls for a review of this major policing function.

ANALYSIS: With the significant surge in the demand for cocaine over the past decade, drug traffickers have needed to find ways to launder huge sums of money; Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University Senior Lecturer Pierre-Charles Pradier explores the traditional processes for criminals to launder their cash, and how the development of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has prevented new challenges in the fight against organised crime.

OPINION: Following the publication on Monday of the long-awaited white paper on reform for policing in England and Wales, Police Superintendents’ Association President, Supt Nick Smart, shares his initial response to the Government’s proposals – highlighting both the challenges and opportunities – and urges the Home Secretary to work more closely with officers in developing a service that is fit for the future.

OPINION: With the UK Government’s police reform white paper finally emerging, police leadership is once again due to come under the spotlight; police ethics advisor Montell Neufville, and Kimberley C. Lamb, Director of Legitimacy and Public Service for Bedfordshire Police, set out why this opportunity to create a new leadership model for policing, widen the talent pool, and introduce diverse, standardised, independent selection panels, could strengthen leadership legitimacy and professionalism while building greater public and internal trust.

ANALYSIS: As UK policing continues to wait expectantly for a new white paper, in the second of two articles on police reform organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson takes a closer look at other elements of the ‘Performance Paradox’ – including the technology trap, and the case for national capability – and sets out 10 provocations to challenge conventional reform thinking, in the hope that policing achieve real and sustainable change for victims and officers.

OPINION: Wildlife and environmental crime is surging, but with Australia’s unique wildlife species, high extinction rates, and policing challenges relating to its size and remote areas, understanding of its impact is limited; a new study by Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Isabelle Onley, Research Program Manager Katie Smith, Law Lecturer Dr Kellie Toole, and Director Professor Phill Cassey, of Adelaide University’s Wildlife Crime Research Hub, has led to the creation of the country’s first national database of wildlife and environmental crime, as well as four reforms that could help to tackle the problem.

OPINION: The recently published Metropolitan Police report into vetting failures highlights a wider potential “perfect storm” for good officers, warns former police superintendent Martin Gallagher, now an author and terrorism expert, as the dangers of working alongside colleagues who should not be in the service, the risks of corruption, and a lack of strong leadership leave them doing an increasingly difficult job in the face of growing hostility from the public.

ANALYSIS: Policing in the UK is currently waiting expectantly for the soon-to-be-published police reform white paper; in the first of a two-part article on reform – and why bigger isn’t better, culture trumps structure, and technology won’t save us without transformation – organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson explores the performance myths that need to be dispelled, the real story from the PEEL assessment data, and why Positive Deviance methodology could be crucial for police reform.

LONG READ: With policing facing both growing demand and increasingly complex challenges, the role of leadership has never been more crucial; in this long-read article that draws on his own PhD thesis, Dr Aksar Bashir of the Force Contact Training Academy at West Midlands Police explores the concept of IDEA leadership – which fuses inspirational, distributed, ethical, and authentic leadership – as the ideal approach to equip the next generation of police leaders.

OPINION: The controversial killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis has prompted widespread criticism after it was confirmed the 37-year-old mother was shot in her car; Penn State University Assistant Professor Ben Jones highlights that the tactic of shooting at suspects in moving vehicles has been prohibited in use-of-force policies adopted by many US police forces – both to prioritize the protection of human life, and for the safety of officers themselves.

OPINION: Law enforcement agencies with “good policies” often continue to get bad outcomes; experienced officer Keith F. Lazaron II, who currently serves with the West Kittanning Police Department in Pennsylvania, explains why policy (what an agency sets out as its standard for behavior) almost always loses out to culture (what officers know gets tolerated) – and what good leaders should be doing to ensure policy and culture align more closely.

OPINION: As policing in England and Wales moves towards meeting the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing commitment, former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology (CILPM), explores how the approach can re-establish trust between modern-day policing and communities, and prevent neighbourhood policing from becoming a white elephant.

OPINION: A report published last year noted that the global art market in 2024 was worth $57.5billion in sales, but the lack of transparency in the market offers a high-profile opportunity for criminals; Professors Guergana Guintcheva and Bertrand Monnet of France’s EDHEC Business School explore why art is such a target for organised crime, the processes behind money laundering and counterfeiting, and the efforts to tackle such criminal activities.

OPINION: Ahead of the publication later this month of his new book on the ongoing roll-out of body-worn cameras, Brandon University’s Professor Christopher J. Schneider explains how research suggests the continuing expansion of the technology is being driven by media coverage and the “new discourse of police reform” focusing on transparency and accountability, rather than evidence of its effectiveness in reducing civilian complaints and police use of force.

OPINION: Policing stands at a pivotal moment in tackling domestic abuse, demanding better alignment, data, culture and technology to protect victims, prevent harm, and drive a smarter, evidence-led systemwide response. Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Domestic Abuse, and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Helen Millichap, the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) Director, introduce the Policing Insight thematic report, ‘Evolving police responses to domestic abuse’.

OPINION: Recent horrific attacks in Australia and the UK have brought the threat from terrorists back firmly into the public spotlight; research by Dr Sara Fregonese of the University of Birmingham and Dr Paul Simpson of the University of Plymouth suggests that what the UK public fears and assumes about terrorism threats is quite different from reality, with perceptions from culturally diverse demographic groups showing significant variations.

OPINION: With UK police forces under growing pressure to increase efficiency and productivity, Darren Nicholas, Assistant Director of Criminal Justice Services at UK social justice charity Cranstoun, looks at the potential for more effective use of out-of-court resolutions – particularly when combined with technology – to save police and criminal justice resources while improving outcomes for offenders and communities.

OPINION: Canada’s decision to legalise cannabis in 2018 prompted concerns that the move would lead to more stoned drivers on the roads; but research by Brock University Associate Professor Michael Armstrong suggests that the longer-term changes in drug- and drink-impaired driving bore little correlation to the changes in the legal consumption of cannabis, although there was a clearer relationship between provinces catching more drug-drivers and the number of police trained in drug recognition.