Opinion

OPINION: Research from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) is spearheading survivor-informed change throughout operational policing and the criminal courts; NAPAC Chief Executive Gabrielle Shaw outlines how the research offers an alternative approach to justice which looks beyond criminal conviction, prioritising support for survivors and building a system that provides accessible routes to both formal and personal justice outcomes.

OPINION: Recent headlines around the Pacific island nations’ role in drug production and trafficking have seen comparisons made with Latin America’s cartel-dominated countries; but John Coyne, Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warns that the reality is much more nuanced, and that the way to tackle the ‘smugglers haven’ is through continued partnership and collaboration between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Bedfordshire PCC John Tizard, the APCC’s Joint Lead on Performance, Data and New Tech Ethics, looks at the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and technology in policing, and highlights the steps he has taken in his own force around accountability and governance, which could help achieve the APCC’s aim of a roadmap towards a strong ethical governance framework with PCCs at the centre.

OPINION: While gender inequality in policing and the damage caused by a misogynistic culture have featured regularly in reports, research and media discourse, attempts to tackle the problem appear to have had little success; Nicola Harrison, a former police officer and Senior lecturer in Policing and Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University, argues that to address these issues, culture change cannot be mandated but must be cultivated from the ground up.

OPINION: Developing an effective response to modern slavery requires an understanding of the extent of the issue, but estimates for the number of UK victims vary considerably; Professor Todd Landman and policy engagement and impact lead Vicky Brotherton of the University of Nottingham-based Rights Lab believe a change to the way data is recorded would provide a more accurate estimate that is likely to be much higher than current figures.

OPINION: Former West Midlands Sergeant Phil Cleary, co-founder of SmartWater and now a published novelist, shares one officer’s account of how underfunded services, not indifference, may have shaped the failures around the UK child grooming scandal that are now widely condemned, explores what could have been done differently, and suggests steps the current Government could take to reset the child protection and safeguarding response.

OPINION: Previous surveys by the Police Federation of England and Wales revealed the impact on female officers of experiencing the menopause while working in policing, and the scale of the problem; now new research by PC Beverley Beck of Dorset Police has highlighted how the institutional neglect of menopause contributes to the early exit of talented and experienced female officers, as well as the good practice underway in some forces to address the issues and support officers.

OPINION: South Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Aneela Khalil-Khan recently completed the Senior Leadership Programme at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia; in this article she shares some of the key lessons from the experience, including the contrast and similarities between UK and US policing, and the opportunities for learning for policing in both countries.

ANALYSIS: New research into how perpetrators of repeat abuse “weaponise attachment” use grooming, trauma-sharing, and emotional manipulation to coerce victims – a relationship wrongly described by many professionals as ‘codependency’ – has highlighted the language and actions that police, social workers and others need to understand to be able to recognise coercive control, as research author and University of Cambridge Doctoral Researcher Mags Lesiak explains.

OPINION: The collapse over the past decade of construction firms Carillion and ISG and provider Robin Hood Energy highlighted the dangers to public services and the risks for government of major single suppliers going bust; but as Content Guru Co-Founder and Deputy CEO Martin Taylor warns, the collapse of key policing supplier could disrupt critical communication channels, damage public confidence and compromise public safety – so what can forces be doing to reduce those risks?

INNOVATION: As International Control Room Week gets underway, Essex Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Hooper, the National Police Chiefs’ Council Contact Operations Lead, outlines the development of AI Post-Call Analysis, which produces concise, easy-to-read summaries of all incoming control room contact and automatically categorises calls by topic to enable rapid retrieval and analysis – one of a tranche of technical innovations designed to help forces “move from overwhelmed to empowered”.

OPINION: With continuing UK protests fuelled by polarised views presenting ongoing problems for policing, 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 CILPM could enhance both the delivery and impact of the new neighbourhood policing focus, and feed into addressing the challenges of policing a fractured society.

OPINION: California has become the second US state to bring in legislation requiring transparent notice that artificial intelligence (AI) has been used to draft a police report; George Washington University’s Professor Andrew Guthrie Ferguson believes that, with officers in some states using predictive text to write formal statements based on audio transcripts from body-worn cameras, transparency, the training of AI models, and understanding the risks of relying on AI are among the issues that need to be examined.

OPINION: More than 1,600 people lost their lives on British roads last year, with distraction, poor driver behaviour and under-resourced roads policing all contributing to the stabilisation of previously declining casualty figures, says Drivetech Director Leo Taylor, who is calling for a government-led ‘coalition of the willing’– properly resourced and taking advantage of new technology – to reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on the roads.

OPINION: The Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) recently published its revised Anti-Racism and Cultural Diversity Principles, designed to provide a framework for police “to address racism and strengthen collaborative partnerships”; Jacqueline Durand, ANZPAA’s Assistant Director of Policy and Projects, explains why the Principles have been updated, the important differences between anti-racism and cultural awareness, and the vital role leadership plays in delivering this proactive approach.

OPINION: The recent undercover BBC Panorama programme highlighting serious misconduct by some Met officers, and the resulting outcry, once again focused on the bad behaviour of individuals; but Graham Goulden, a former officer with a 30-year career and now a strong advocate for safe and supportive workplaces, argues that the real focus needs to be on the cultures, situations and systems that enable such behaviour.

ANALYSIS: New figures from Childlight’s Into the Light index show that around five million children across western Europe report having been raped or sexually assaulted by the age of 18, with more than 50 million in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka experiencing the same sexual violence; Childlight’s Director of Data, Professor Deborah Fry, says the “deeply troubling” data is being driven by a surge in AI-generated child sexual abuse material, but believes that enforcement and prevention efforts can have a significant impact.

OPINION: A new report on the police use of live facial recognition highlights the rapidly expanding deployment of the technology, and calls for the creation of a new national co-ordination capability to systematise its best practice use, as report author James Sweetland, Senior Consultant at policing, justice, and public safety consultancy Leapwise, explains.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), West Yorkshire Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime Alison Lowe, the APCC’s Joint Lead on Transparency and Accountability, looks at the importance and implications of the recently published ‘Hillsborough Law’, and why accountability will continue to be at the heart of ongoing police reform.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: With the huge potential of data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) beginning to be leveraged in policing, former long-serving police officer John Kilburn, now with data and AI specialists SAS, spoke to Policing Insight about some of the potential benefits of the new technology for both the policing and the public, the importance of transparent and explainable applications of AI, and how incremental approaches to developing systems within forces can lead to long-term gains.

OPINION: Latest United Nations figures indicate that in 2023, only 8% of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) workforce were women, with the majority of those in junior clerical posts; Dr Usman A. Ojedokun, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan, looks at the historical and cultural challenges behind the NPF’s gender gap, and what steps can be taken to address it

OPINION: Following the strong support from Lord Justice Brian Leveson for out-of-court resolutions in his recent Independent Review of the Criminal Courts, Pavan Dhaliwal, CEO of Revolving Doors, and Emily Spurrell, Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside & Chair of the APCC, set out why the time is right for a national diversion strategy that would bring significant benefits for low-level offenders caught in the cycle of crisis and crime, for policing, and for the wider criminal justice system.

OPINION: The New Zealand Parliament is currently considering a bill which could criminalise public protests that take place too close to people’s homes or private residences; but Professor Kris Gledhill of Auckland University of Technology argues that not only is the proposed legislation unnecessary given the laws already in place, but will be difficult for police to enforce, and unlikely to be upheld by the courts.

OPINION: New bail laws introduced in Victoria this summer aim to tackle repeat high-harm offending with a new ‘high-harm test’ and tougher rules on offences committed while on bail; but Kavitha Vipulananda, author, speaker and reform consultant, highlights Law Institute of Victoria concerns around disproportionality stemming from the new legislation, and urges the state Government to focus more on wraparound services and rehabilitation or risk repeating past failures.