Features

OPINION: Under the Operation Uplift recruitment initiative, more female officers and staff are joining UK policing than ever before; but Kendal Wright, Dr Sean Bell and Dr Keely Duddin of the Open University argue that policing’s maternity policies are in need of an overhaul, with a more personalised approach offering greater chances of securing the commitment, motivation and positive mental health of mothers returning from maternity leave.

ANALYSIS: The police recognition of and response to honour-based abuse, forced marriage and female genital mutilation, while well intentioned, regularly fails to provide adequate support for victims; Jennifer Holton, Citizens in Policing Manager for Wiltshire Police, draws on her own experience and research into the issues (including her Master’s thesis) to highlight key challenges and opportunities for change.

ANALYSIS: The high-profile media investigations into the Panama Papers, Pandora Papers and others brought the issues of illegal financial activity and money laundering to a wider global audience; now a new Europol report has offered a law enforcement perspective on the use of international finance systems for criminal gain, and Policing Insight’s Chris Allen reports.

LONG READ: The use of naloxone by officers to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses is being trialled by several UK forces, having saved hundreds of lives in the US and Canada, and debates are ongoing in Australia and New Zealand – but not everyone believes it’s the best way forward; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro takes an in-depth look at the impact the medication can have, how and where it is being used, and the barriers to a wider roll-out.

ANALYSIS: Criminal justice stakeholders have been urged to take the opportunities offered by a new two-tier approach to out-of-court disposals as a route to cutting reoffending, reducing harm and clearing the CJS backlog – but a lot of work still needs to be done around oversight, openness and the evidence base, as Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: It’s 10 years since regulation of the private investigations industry in the UK was last considered; Policing Insight contributor Gareth Bryon takes a look at the calls for regulation, the current state of the sector, and whether a revisit of a regulatory framework could professionalise the industry.

ANALYSIS: Despite strong community rules and safeguards, some social media platforms remain a haven for a range of illegality, including the illicit trade in wildlife; University of Cape Town Research Associate Dr Rowan Martin, University of Oxford Senior Research Fellow Dr Amy Hinsley, and Dr Ana Nuno, Research Fellow at Nova School of Business and Economics, believe that trade can only be tackled effectively if experts, big tech and regulators adopt a united approach.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in this series on continuous professional development (CPD), Dr Nicky Miller (Director of Knowledge into Practice), Dr Emma Williams (Director of Research and Strategic Partnerships) and Research Fellow Richard Harding of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning explore the importance of reflective practice, particularly in relation to investigations of rape and serious sexual offences.

OPINION: UK police forces are increasingly opting to divert people found in possession of small quantities of drugs away from the criminal justice system; drugs policing expert and social justice charity leader, Meg Jones, who led the development and implementation of pre-arrest drug diversion in the West Midlands, considers the impact of the changing approach, and what it means for the future of policing drugs.

INNOVATION: The latest cybersecurity research and innovation opportunities published under the Horizon Europe programme offer police forces the chance to improve operational cyber monitoring and threat detection; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the opportunities available, and encourages UK forces to make the most of the funding available to strengthen security and detection through collaboration with EU partners.

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ANALYSIS: Collaboration is increasingly the approach of public sector service delivery, yet common insights highlight that collaborative efforts face a number of challenges that can lead to failure or discontinuation; University of Southampton Lecturer Dr Fatema Zaghloul draws on her current research to explore the emerging challenges and essential elements in developing and maintaining collaborative IT/IS projects across UK police forces.

INTERVIEW: Not all emergency service personnel are comfortable talking to their organisation’s wellbeing teams when struggling with mental health issues or personal challenges; for former Ontario Police Constable Dave McLennan, the answer was straightforward – set up a confidential peer support line – as he explained to Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Social Media Guru Hel Reynolds shares her experiences of why now is the time to invest in your social media engagement to enhance your reputation and grow your organisational reach.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Simon Sneddon, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Northampton, about firearms research, the links between organised crime and environmental injustice, and the potential growth of the synthetic narcotics trade.

OPINION: Police officers often deal with deaths and suicides by detaching and ‘normalizing’ distressing situations, but for former Queensland Far North Sgt Matthew Moloney, the suicide of someone he knew from the local Indigenous community prompted him to embark on an educational and research journey in an effort to change things for the better [WARNING: the article contains a graphic description of suicide that some readers may find distressing].

FEATURE: While some criminal activity has fallen during the pandemic, serious crimes have continued, which means so has the work of crime scene investigators; Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University, looks at the challenges of protecting CSI teams from COVID-19, and discusses some of her recent research on the steps agencies can take to keep staff safe.

INTERVIEW: The opportunity to spend a year as a White House Fellow gave LAPD officer Sgt Brian Churchill an incredible insight into leadership, one which he wanted to use to improve leadership training within the force; when the impact of Covid then shifted all learning online, the development of LAPD’s University app and online Leadership Program was the ideal solution, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: An Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe's Budapest Convention on Cybercrime contains important legal tools that will “enhance international co-operation”, according to Virgil Spiridon, Head of Operations at the Council’s Cybercrime Programme Office, who explained the latest developments to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Tour.

OPINION: With UK police forces witnessing a significant churn of experienced officers for new recruits, concerns over confidence, and a continuing challenge to maintain the policing by consent model, Acting Supt Stephen Lenney fears the service could be facing a perfect storm, one which could leave policing all at sea unless there is clarity of purpose and a shared consciousness of the challenges facing officers.

OPINION: Québec is currently experiencing its second province-wide pandemic curfew, introduced at the end of December in response to the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant; but for Brandon University’s Professor Christopher Schneider, the new restrictions bring with them a dangerous expansion in police discretionary powers that could lead to the inconsistent and unfair application of enforcement.

ANALYSIS: The recent siege in a synagogue in Texas highlighted once again that terrorists increasingly view places of worship as legitimate and accessible targets; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on a new EU operational briefing published this week, providing guidance for law enforcement, faith leaders and their communities on improving protection at places of worship.

OPINION: A significant proportion of the 800,000 people detained in police custody in 2019 were children and young people, but Transform Justice Research and Policy Lead Fionnuala Ratcliffe believes that such detentions often lead to unreliable evidence and long-term damage to police legitimacy, and suggests alternatives such as voluntary attendance and out-of-court disposals could prove more effective.

OPINION: Police forces both in the UK and internationally are increasingly equipping officers with overdose reversal medication such as naloxone, in an effort to cut the catastrophic numbers of drug-related deaths; drugs policing expert Ben Twomey, who wrote the policy for the first force in the UK to carry the medication, writes about what it means for the war on drugs.