Features

FEATURE: With children and young people increasingly becoming a target for a wide range of online scams, sexual exploitation, bullying and identity theft by cybercriminals, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the inaugural INTERPOL Youth Cybercrime Awareness Webinar which aimed to increase awareness, provide guidance and offer support to youngsters to protect themselves against modern online threats.

ANALYSIS: In the third in this series of articles exploring the links between sport and organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Dalby looks at the opaque ownership arrangements, shady sponsorship deals and over-inflated transfer and services fees that have created an opportunity for criminals to launder illicit funds through professional football in England and across Europe.

ANALYSIS: Despite the Uplift recruitment programme, research suggests the public feel police are still less visible and less responsive, and the Government has now pledged a further 13,000 neighbourhood police officers by 2029; in the last in this current series of articles on workforce development, Ian Wiggett looks at the availability of the workforce, the way it is deployed, and why ultimately what will matter is whether the public notices the difference.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Chris Nelson, the APCC joint lead on local policing, sets out what PCCs are now doing to drive action against anti-social behaviour, a crime experienced by more than one in 10 people at least weekly – often with a significant and long-lasting impact – as well as being a gateway to other criminality.

INNOVATION: Northumbria Police has become the first force in England and Wales to recruit officers from all entry routes directly onto the neighbourhood policing pathway in an effort to widen workforce skillsets, support the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, and get “the right people in the right roles”, as Northumbria’s Assistant Chief Officer Joscelin Lawson explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: The recent joint inspection report published by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services highlighted key challenges for the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales; Dee Cowburn, communications specialist and police media advisor, argues that alongside a national strategy, clearer accountability and more effective ICT, improved communications are crucial in strengthening the CJS.

ANALYSIS: A new report into the performance of An Garda Síochána has highlighted the roll out of a new operating model as the “most significant change” to the structure of the force in its history, and has praised achievements in roads policing, tackling drugs and community engagement; but the report warns that persistent recruitment and retention difficulties, a lack of resources and inadequate IT remain key challenges to the performance of An Garda Síochána, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With recent advice to New Zealand Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello that the country is “losing the fight” against organised crime, efforts to control the trade in illegal guns will be crucial in limiting gang activity; University of Waikato Professor of Law Alexander Gillespie argues that another buy-back of all guns that should be on the country’s register by the end of August 2028, and adopting the UN protocol on the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms and ammunition, are steps the country needs to take.

FEATURE: Given the ongoing debates around the application of powers under the UK Terrorism Act 2000 in relation to proscribed organisations, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the challenges around keeping non-specialist officers up to speed with ever-evolving terrorist legislation, and why a consolidation act for counter-terrorism laws could benefit both individual rights and the effectiveness of police officers.

FEATURE: New research by Paris Graduate School PhD researcher David Graves, a former UK fraud squad detective, suggests that the creation of a National Crime Co-ordination Centre could enhance collaboration between police and private investigators, co-ordinate the multi-agency response to major and emerging threats including organised crime, and improve public confidence in policing, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen.

OPINION: Following the publication this month of Australia’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program, which shows a surge in consumption across every major drug type in every region of the country, Dr John Coyne, Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, argues that Australia’s national drug strategy is “in freefall”, and that law enforcement resources should be refocused on disrupting the infrastructure of illicit drug markets.

ANALYSIS: As protests around hotels housing asylum seekers look set to grow in the wake of the recent court decision involving Epping, and supporters of Palestine Action continue to adopt a protest policy of mass arrests, Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former Metropolitan Police officer and public order specialist, looks at the background and implications of the public order challenges facing policing this summer.

ANALYSIS: The latest police workforce data for England and Wales shows that over the last five years, forces have recruited the equivalent of 44% of the current officer strength, but the equivalent of 31% have left; in the second in this new series of articles on workforce development, Ian Wiggett looks at the effect on levels of experience and skills, the high levels of young in service resignations, and how politicians’ fixation on officer numbers has resulted in little attention being paid to the effect on the ground.

ANALYSIS: Reflecting on a turbulent 12 months for UK policing, Steve Dodd, a former South Wales Police detective and College of Policing subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation, examines some of the key challenges and how the community intelligence-led policing methodology could help forces and officers to address those issues.

FEATURE: A new report from Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Eleanor Lyons into how the UK policing response to modern slavery has changed over the past 10 years warns that the Whitehall rhetoric and political focus on organised immigration crime has left forces under resourced and officers with ‘one hand tied behind their backs’ in the fight against modern slavery – despite the significant impact on victims and the economy – as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Philip Lukens explores the unintended exposure of potentially sensitive information through a short-lived OpenAI experiment that left ChatGPT conversations not meant for public consumption accessible via Google Search, and the lessons that policing can learn from this.

INNOVATION: Operation Yellow Card, an innovative scheme launched by Cambridgeshire Police and local football clubs to tackle youth offending at matches, has already significantly reduced reoffending among youngsters and could soon be rolled out across other forces, as scheme founder and Cambridgeshire PC Mike Price – the Dedicated Football Officer (DFO) for Peterborough United – explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: County lines drug dealing was defined in the UK by the National Crime Agency in 2015, and has evolved considerably over the last 10 years, with some believing the term itself is now outdated; University of Liverpool Graduate Teaching Fellow and PhD Candidate Jenna Carr, a former county lines caseworker, argues that the evidence of the past decade suggests policing-led crackdowns on county lines are largely ineffective, and that public health and addressing the demand for drugs should be the priority.

INTERVIEW: The latest wellbeing survey of police officers in England and Wales has been labelled a “wake-up call” by Andy Rhodes, Service Director at Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service, who told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons that the police service is on “borrowed time” when it comes to officer attrition through exhaustion and fatigue, and warned that policing “can’t keep pushing the pedal harder”.

FEATURE: With the US and Canada now using counter-terror legislation to tackle drug trafficking cartels, and several other countries expected to follow suit, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the purpose of such legislation – particularly counter-terrorism finance tools – and why adopting such an approach could not only fail in the fight against organised crime, but could also confuse and distract from the legal definition of what terrorism is.

OPINION: Tensions between Russia and NATO are reaching new levels, but any conflict is likely to take place in the “grey zone of modern warfare”, argues Paul Goldenberg, Chief Advisor with Rutgers University Miller Police Center, with the sabotage of critical infrastructure, drone incursions and information warfare all tactics that will mean police – particularly those in Nordic countries – have a vital role to play in ensuring national security and stability as well as protecting democracy.

ANALYSIS: The latest police workforce data for England and Wales shows that while successive governments have promised more funding and additional officers, the total police workforce still remains smaller than at its previous peak 15 years ago; in the first in this new series of articles on workforce development, Ian Wiggett looks at the changes in size and make-up of the police workforce over the past year – the first under a Labour Government since 2010.

OPINION: With the policing focus in London inevitably drawn towards next week’s Notting Hill Carnival, Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone – a former Metropolitan Police officer and public order specialist who was involved in the policing of Carnival for 28 years – looks at the challenges of the event, the fears around public safety and the pressures of funding, and considers what would be the price to pay for a safer and more financially stable Carnival.

FEATURE: New research highlights how organised crime groups and long-term corporate actors are increasingly involved in a range of waste crime, attracted by the significant profits as well as the relatively low level of deterrents and punishments, as Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen reports.