Features

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Matt Horne, Former Deputy Director of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and now Head of Policing and Government at Clue Software, about why organised crime is like a virus, the importance of legislation to tackle economic crime, and why focusing greater effort on the enablers of organised crime is a key strategy.

OPINION: The recent directive from UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman calling for a review of police officers’ political activism is the latest salvo in a much wider conversation about so-called ‘woke’ policing; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former long-serving police officer, looks at the origins of the term ‘woke’, its relevance to policing, and how the service has been affected by increased politicisation.

OPINION: The idea of a ‘policing culture’ and how it can be improved is a concept that regularly features in research, reviews and the media; University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews explores why policing culture – like any other – can be slow to change, and what individual officers can do to help bring about that change.

ANALYSIS: Despite repeated recommendations for forces in England and Wales to record ethnicity data of the people they deal with, two new reports from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services have highlighted continuing failures to gather data on ethnicity and gender that “presents a real risk to plans for improving the service provided by police”, and could lead to regulations being imposed by the Home Secretary, as Policing Insight's Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Recent reviews of the Metropolitan Police and the London Fire Brigade have described both organisations as ‘institutionally misogynist’; Professor Catherine Durose of the University of Liverpool, and University of Birmingham Professor Emerita Vivien Lowndes, explain how new research on proposals for forces to classify misogyny as a hate crime has highlighted that officers struggle to identify or empathise with female victims of crime, and with the emotional complexities of misogynistic offending.

POLICE SUPERS' CONFERENCE: As superintending ranks from across England and Wales gathered this week for the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA) Annual Conference, PSA President Paul Fotheringham defended operational officers’ engagement with community groups and their efforts to promote diversity, and warned that language used by Home Secretary Suella Braverman and others was positioning the service as “political rather than inclusive”, reports Policing Insight's Keith Potter.

INTERVIEW: As she takes the helm of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) –  the representative group for UK police governance – Donna Jones speaks to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about the changes that are coming for PCCs and the wider law enforcement picture.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Please join us for the National Body Worn Video (BWV) Conference, supported by Policing Insight and PolicingTV, taking place near Bristol on Tuesday 10th October 2023. In its second year, this event brings together keynote speakers, current UK suppliers and delegates from across UK policing, our partner agencies and beyond, for what will be a collaborative and informative day.

FEATURE: In the fifth in a new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores sociological theories for explaining crime, including the pioneering work of the Chicago School, which examined the effects of social disorganisation on crime – an approach which still has real relevance to the role of community policing today.

ANALYSIS: Police engagement in UK schools suffered a significant reduction in funding and resources during the austerity era; but University of Portsmouth Policing Lecturer David Knowles, a former police officer, believes that recent trials of his Your Choice Matters engagement exercise highlight the potential for reducing vulnerability to knife crime and hate crime among young people.

ANALYSIS: With gang membership on the rise in recent years in New Zealand, the country’s novel approach – prioritising deep engagement with gang communities through bodies such as the Gang Harm Insights Centre, alongside tough enforcement – is under more pressure than ever, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

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FEATURE: As police leaders and practitioners, government and industry prepare to gather for this week’s Police Digital Summit, Martyn Underhill, a former police officer and police and crime commissioner who is now a consultant on policing issues, reflects on a similar Cityforum summit from earlier in the summer which focused on the challenges, progress and future potential for the police delivery of digital forensics.

INTERVIEW: In the second part of our extended interview series with Metropolitan Police Chief Scientific Officer Professor Lawrence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to him about VAWG 100, the force’s innovative new approach to tackling high-harm offences against women and girls.

ANALYSIS: A new report from the Police Foundation assesses the implications, opportunities and risks for the police service of adopting new contact and engagement technology as it seeks to rebuild public trust and confidence; the Foundation’s Research Director Andy Higgins explains more about the key points from the report.

OPINION: Improving system interoperability has been something of a technology holy grail for UK policing, and key to overcoming the frustrations felt by frontline officers as well as operational ineffectiveness and inefficiency; Wayne Parkes, former Chief Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Officer for the Police Digital Service and now a DDaT policing consultant, believes the wider adoption of Integration Platform-as-a-Service (IPaaS) could be the solution.

OPINION: Earlier this year British Columbia began Canada’s first drug ‘decriminalisation’ policy, removing criminal sanctions for adults in possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs; but research scientist Dr Kanna Hayashi, an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University, warns that while police continue to seize drugs even when users aren’t charged with offences, toxic drug deaths will remain a major problem.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth takes a look at the UK's new National Risk Register, the most open and transparent Register to date, and considers the implications for policing and other emergency services of the increased focus on partnership approaches.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Salesforce has introduced a capability that transforms the experience for a victim of crime, providing them with automatic updates on their case and offering a feedback facility. This will initially target high-volume, low-level crimes.

INTERVIEW: Widely regarded as the founder of evidence-based policing, Professor Lawrence Sherman is one of the world’s most influential policing experts; in the first article in a four-part interview series, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke with Professor Sherman about his innovative work as the Metropolitan Police’s first Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) tackling some of the biggest problems facing the force.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The world of data and analytics is changing. An ever-growing range of sources of information and intelligence, whilst necessary for the modern policing mission, can also provide challenges. How do Analysts avoid being overwhelmed and missing important pieces of the puzzle?

OPINION: In September 2022, Sir Mark Rowley came back into policing after some time away from the job at the end of a 30-year career, to take up one of the UK’s toughest roles as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, who served in the Met Police for 30 years, looks back over Sir Mark’s first year in post, and delivers an annual appraisal of how well the Commissioner has performed against his stated objectives.

FEATURE: Researchers from the University of Birmingham have identified key warning signs that indicate which survivors of domestic abuse may be most at risk of attempting suicide, and believe that sharing the assessment tool with police and healthcare professionals could help to keep more abuse survivors alive, as Sarah Gibbons reports.

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