Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 20)

LATEST RESEARCH: 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.

ANALYSIS: With violence reduction units set to be expanded across all of England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to several of those involved in the work to date, asking how we will know when they’ve really been successful and what practitioners in the new areas will need to know.

FEATURE: The latest Assurance Review by the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner has called for stronger governance of biometric data – particularly images – held by the country’s law enforcement agencies, while restating the Commissioner’s opposition to UK Government plans to give police forces access to passport and driving licence images for use with tools such as facial recognition, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: With policing coming under growing pressure to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI), Assistant Professor Dr Eric Halford, a former officer and now Associate Researcher in policing and development, explores the potential for police forces to improve efficiency and effectiveness through greater use of general purpose AI, as well as the associated challenges, and the pitfalls to avoid.

OPINION: While the Canadian public support efforts to fight crime, Professor Irvin Waller of the University of Ottawa and PhD candidate Jeffrey Bradley of Carleton University argue that current proposals to increase incarceration won’t deliver the desired reductions, and point instead to crime prevention approaches pioneered in Scotland as a more viable option.

INTERVIEW: Following an article in Policing Insight in 2018, Cambridge University PhD Researcher Emily Quin began exploring the idea of the ‘copper’s nose’, and how any policing ‘sixth sense’ could be defined and measured; she spoke to Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher – author of the original piece – about her work so far, the importance of talking directly to officers, and what the eventual findings could mean for policing.

INTERVIEW: The New Blue fellowship programme in the US is looking to empower “forward-thinking” front-line officers with the skills, awareness and support to develop innovative solutions around engagement and public trust that can address issues identified in the communities they serve, as programme Executive Director Kristin Daley explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend.

FEATURE: The Environment Agency has launched a new Economic Crime Unit which will work with police and revenue and customs in England to tackle organised waste crime including the dumping, burning and illegal shipping of waste, as well as the operation of illegal waste sites – a market estimated to cost the country £1billion a year, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: As the UK, Europe and the US all prepare for parliamentary elections this year, and with increasing calls for legislation to target hate speech, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at the new project using AI-based technologies to equip NGOs, civil service organisations, public authorities and others with the skills and awareness to tackle online hate speech and disinformation.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in policing, Chief Philip Lukens looks at the potential benefits that AI solutions can deliver in relation to accreditation and performance – including a master training schedule, an AI-assisted tool to review and update policy, and an automated compliance checker – all of which can save time and resources, increase reliability, and boost trust and confidence.

OPINION: Former Scottish police officer Graham Goulden, now a police trainer, believes that recent examples of street violence highlight the need for action rather than words, and points to the success of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit’s long-term violence prevention approach – using a combination of enforcement, collaboration and community involvement – as an effective strategy moving forwards.

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OPINION: Policing’s growing focus on equality, diversity and inclusion, and fears that officers will be increasingly dragged into adjudicating “abusive spats” online under Scotland’s new Hate Crime Act, are the latest example of a wider debate that needs to be had, argues former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher – one which considers what the police are really for, and the danger that policing’s key purpose is being sidelined in favour of diversity.

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OPINION: Algorithms are used to predict the risk of criminal behaviour, drug use and reoffending in a number of countries (as well as being employed widely outside the criminal justice sector); but Associate Professor Tatiana Dancy of the University of Melbourne argues that decisions should only be taken – and penalties applied – on the basis of behaviour, not other physical, mental or social characteristics fed into predictive tools.

FEATURE: A recent joint report by inspectorates across the criminal justice system in England and Wales warns that police forces will need to recruit almost 20,000 more officers as increasing numbers of resignations – particularly among inexperienced and under pressure Uplift recruits – continue to drive the growing attrition rate, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: With heightened tensions over conflict in the Middle East, and significant increases in hate crime in the UK, new National Police Chaplain Matt Hopley believes police chaplains have a vital role to play not only in supporting officers, staff and volunteers, but in providing a valuable conduit between policing and communities, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INNOVATION: The use of DNA to solve crimes and identify offenders has been a key tool for policing for almost 40 years; now the growing use of forensic genetic genealogy – also known as investigative genetic genealogy – has the potential to be a similar game changer in investigating cold cases, as Policing Insight’s Vernon White reports.

FEATURE: University of Portsmouth Policing Lecturer David Knowles and Teaching Fellow Claire Smith visited a number of further education colleges near the city to encourage students to apply for the University’s professional policing degree; as well as learning the best ways to engage young people, they also identified some important digital communications lessons for policing.

FEATURE: GardaSAFE, the new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system rolled out by An Garda Síochána, has been described by senior officers as “far and away better” than previous systems, and praised for delivering “continuous improvement”; but a recent report raised concerns that a review of the system was not able to monitor live calls because of data privacy fears, an approach which the review team described as “retrograde and risk averse”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With terrorists increasingly exploiting the vulnerabilities of public spaces in urban settings – such as event venues, shopping centres and other crowded places – Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of PRECRISIS, a European partnership of subject matter experts looking to improve protection of those spaces through the use of integrated and innovative technology.

INNOVATION: Smart devices have revolutionised the way many people interact, but they can also be used to facilitate a wide range of abuse; Andi Brown, criminologist and Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Lecturer at Monash University, argues that there are several steps that could be taken to design safety features that empower victim-survivors, instead of exposing them to risk.

INTERVIEW: In this second half of a two-part interview, City of London Police Temporary Commissioner Peter O’Doherty spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the challenges posed by fraud and cybercrime, the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and a national approach to new technology, and why the Police Service of Northern Ireland data breach has implications for all forces.

LATEST RESEARCH: 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.