Analysis: Police funding is a hot political issue with police leaders warning the cuts have pushed the service to breaking point. Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice, explores why, when policing budgets are so constrained, forces are so willing to pay thousands of pounds for virtual courts.
Analysis: Since 2010, the police service in England and Wales has been cut by nearly 20 per cent. In a typical ‘can do’ response, chief officers recognised the need to tighten the purse strings and, on the whole, responded gamely to austerity by accepting there were efficiency savings to be had in their force areas. However, in the face of continuing cuts and uncertainty over the police funding formula, against a backdrop of successive terror attacks, the language from the top has undoubtedly changed. Now the talk is of ‘tipping points’ and ‘cracks’ appearing in our police service.
EXCLUSIVE PCC INSIGHT: In the first of a monthly series of articles exclusively for Policing Insight, Dorset PCC Martyn Underhill sets out his thinking on the security challenges currently facing policing and the country.
Analysis: Daniel Kirkpatrick, Assistant Lecturer in International Conflict Analysis at the University of Kent explains how early dialogue rather than criminalising non-violent forms of expression is the route to preventing political violence.
Opinion: Confirmation bias runs at a subconscious level and occurs at all times, often harmlessly, but when it is applied to the world of investigation, it can present challenges for the investigator. Neil Beet, Managing Director, Blue Lights Digital, explores confirmation bias in digital investigations and how to mitigate against it.
ANALYSIS: This year's Queen's Speech comes in the wake of a general election that left the Conservatives without a majority. Policing Insight's Publisher, Bernard Rix, identifies the policing-related parts of that Speech, and hence the bills that will be brought forward in this Parliament.
Analysis: Eye witnesses accounts are regularly relied upon by police and the courts to prove the guilt or otherwise of a suspect, even though psychologists have shown they cannot be trusted. However, recent research has found some people's accounts are more reliable than others.
Technology: Everything from mobile phones and laptops to cameras and cars broadcast their MAC addresses as soon as they are switched on. Keith Potter examines how Australia's Queensland Police are using the data to investigate serious crime in Australia and whether the UK could adopt a similar approach.
Insight: The world of crime and policing is changing before our eyes – new crimes are emerging and old crimes are being committed in new ways. Richard Williamson, Executive Director, EY, explores how Greater Manchester Police are responding to new trends.
ELECTION REACTION: In the latest of our exclusive articles following the General Election, Durham PCC Ron Hogg identifies seven specific ways in which the Government's approach to policing must now change, and calls on Chief Officers, HMIC and fellow PCCs to be afforded "greater traction within the debate".
Insight: Criminals prey on the elderly. Coinciding with World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, Katy Bourne, Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex looks at the scale of the problem in her force area and how Operation Signature is helping to protect the elderly from fraud.
News: The Police and Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire, Mark-Burns-Williamson, has teamed up with police, academics and software developers across Europe to reduce the risks from cyber fraud. Andrew Staniforth, Andrew Staniforth, Head of West Yorkshire for Innovation, takes us through Project Aries.
Analysis: Policing Insight launches a unique ‘tracker’ and a series of special articles examining the progress of Police and Crime Commissioners as they assume joint governance over police and fire services in their areas. In the first of the series, Catherine Levin takes a look at the runners and riders and discovers that currently 'the east has it'.
Latest update: UPDATED 12TH AUGUST 2019: A regular series of articles and this useful tracker of the PCCs’ activity and progress. This update reflects the outcomes of the judicial reviews in Cambridgeshire and West Mercia. Gloucestershire were also informed that their business case would not be reviewed before the 2020 PCC elections.
ELECTION REACTION: Another in our series of exclusive articles following the result of the General Election. Eleven years ago, Leicestershire Police had one officer for every 430 citizens - it's one officer for every 599 citizens now. Simon Cole QPM, the force's Chief Constable, looks at the substantial financial challenge facing PCCs and Chiefs.
ELECTION REACTION: Continuing our series of exclusive articles following the result of the General Election, former Chief Constable Stuart Hyde suggests "now is the time to reach out, canvass and cajole, influence and inform, to seek some remedy to the lack of police funding"
Analysis: Recent events in London and Manchester have renewed the debate on extremism within the UK and how it should be dealt with. Dr Mark Roycroft, author of Police Chiefs in the UK, Politicians, HR managers or Cops? (2017) examines the current approach to counter terrorism.
ELECTION REACTION: In the first of a series of exclusive articles following the result of the General Election, Dafydd Llywelyn, Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys discusses the implications for the review of the police funding formula.
ANALYSIS: Jack Greig-Midlane of Cardiff University examines the likely impact of the General Election result on the Conservative "Police Reform" project, instigated by Theresa May during her time as Home Secretary.
Insight: Two years after the Modern Slavery Act 2015 was enacted, prosecutions for trafficking are rising, but remain in their hundreds. Given there were estimated to be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK in 2014, the conviction rate remains woefully low. So, what needs to change?
IN THE NEWS: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts - plus a short guide outlining how serving police officers and staff can get access, free, to many of the articles listed through the National Police Library.
ANALYSIS: Once again horrific terrorist attacks have taken place in the UK - and once again, the public sector's communications staff have stepped up to the mark to keep the public calm and informed. Dan Slee of comms2point0 analyses the public sector comms response to the Manchester attack.
