Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 26)

FEATURE: The first survey to focus specifically on the use of section 136 detentions under the Mental Health Act by police forces in England and Wales has revealed significant disparities in the way the powers are used – including the number of people detained, the use of police vehicles to transfer detainees, handover times, and the use of custody – as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr Munro reports.

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.

LONG READ: The riots that affected many English cities last summer following the Southport murders highlighted the increasing difficulty for policing globally in responding to social media disinformation; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend, a communications specialist, looks at the challenges that have faced police in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US in the response to digital communications, as well as efforts to use online platforms to better engage communities and build trust.

OPINION: Twenty years ago this week, UK policing faced one of its largest planned operational challenges – the G8 summit in Scotland – as well the 7/7 suicide bombings in London; in this second article, Policing Insight contributor Graham Wettone – then an experienced sergeant on the Metropolitan Police Public Order Intelligence Unit – describes the training and deployment of intelligence and evidence gathering teams during the summit, and the devastating impact of the London attacks.

OPINION: Twenty years ago this week, UK policing faced one of its largest planned operational challenges – the G8 summit in Scotland – as well the 7/7 suicide bombings in London, the most devastating terrorist attack since the Lockerbie bombing; two of Policing Insight’s regular contributors, Martin Gallagher and Graham Wettone, were involved in the response to these events, and in this first of two articles, Martin shares his memories and experiences of policing the G8.

FEATURE: A new National Police Chiefs’ Council Mental Health and Policing Strategy will place the Right Care, Right Person approach at the centre of the policing response to those in mental health crisis, with renewed emphasis on tackling disproportionality and measures to improve data capture also key elements of the as yet unpublished document, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr Munro reports.

FEATURE: Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has set out a range of steps Police Scotland should take to gain the maximum benefit from new technology that will “transform society and policing” – including backing greater investment in live facial recognition, particularly in the fight to prevent violence against women and girls – as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

INNOVATION: University of Sheffield Senior Law Lecturer Dr Joe Purshouse, and University of Southampton Law Lecturer Dr Joe Atkinson, set out the findings from a series of workshops and events hosted by the UK’s Predictive Policing Network, including the current implantation of predictive policing technology, the regulation governing its use, and the potential opportunities and challenges of future adoption of predictive policing tools – particularly in relation to the use of artificial intelligence.

ANALYSIS: Police forces have been urged to improve their data capture and analysis around non-fatal strangulation and suffocation after a new report from the Institute for Addressing Strangulation highlighted a 65% increase in the number of recorded cases in 2023-24, but 70% of cases failing to progress to court and little clear or consistent data about victims or suspects, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: The UK Government’s latest Wastewater Analysis Programme report has highlighted an estimated 85% increase in ketamine use, prompting National Police Chiefs’ Council National Drugs Co-ordinator Mark Lay to call for more data sharing and closer collaboration between police and other agencies to make young people more aware of the dangers of the drug, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: New research suggests that Australians living in rural areas are more likely to support tougher penalties for crime than those in the cities; Caitlan Davey, Dr Kyle Mulrooney and Dr Sue Watt explain the reasons behind this divide, the implications for policing and the criminal justice system, and what can be done to address it.

INNOVATION: With the recent Counter-Terrorism Preparedness Network report focusing on the security benefits and challenges of artificial intelligence (AI), Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at some of the key issues raised by the report, as well as the work of the EU’s PRECRISIS initiative in establishing compliance frameworks around the use of AI in security contexts, which ensure that ethical standards, data privacy and personal rights can be maintained.

FEATURE: A new report from animal welfare charity the Naturewatch Foundation is calling for mandatory training for UK police officers to recognise how animals are used in domestic abuse cases involving coercive control, after highlighting a “postcode lottery” in the current approaches of forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Sign up for a series of four webinars on body-worn video (BWV) in July organised by the Policing Tech Forum with Devon and Cornwall Police and the National Police Chiefs Council and supported by Axon, Motorola Solutions and Reveal. The series looks at key aspects of BWV use including managing volume data, live streaming, scrutiny and innovation.

ANALYSIS: After the tragic murder of a 19-year-old woman in 2022, Essex Police set about changing how it assesses known and suspected perpetrators of domestic violence and developed an approach to stop them that had been “stolen with pride” from tackling gangs; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish and Detective Constable Robert Kedar about their work.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: In 2023, PNLD launched a new feature named ‘In the Spotlight’… a quarterly update available to our customers within the criminal justice arena, bringing focus and clarity to legal topics, all within one learning package.

OPINION: Baroness Casey’s recent report into grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation (CSE) in England and Wales made 12 recommendations, including a new national inquiry into child sexual exploitation; but Aisha K Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol, warns that, with none of the previous independent inquiry’s 20 recommendations fully implemented, identifying and rectifying the failures of police and local authorities remains crucial to securing justice for the victims of CSE.

FEATURE: A Home Office-commissioned evaluation of the UK police use of naloxone highlights that not only is the opioid overdose reversal medication a potential life-saver, but its wider carriage by officers could help to build more trust and stronger relationships with drug-using communities – if challenges can be addressed around training and data collection, collaboration with healthcare agencies on handover and aftercare, and officers’ own stigma around drug users, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight's Sarah Gibbons spoke to Polly Harrar – founder of the Sharan Project, Chair of the London Harmful Practices Group led by the Metropolitan Police, violence against women and girls (VAWG) advocate, and women in leadership trainer – about the need to improve the systems in place for tackling VAWG, the dangers of weighing cultural considerations in the fight against sexual crimes and child abuse, and the importance of training for women leaders.

OPINION: The proposed Strong Borders Act, a bill currently before the Canadian Parliament, includes measures that will enable police to obtain information about an individual’s online activity by obtaining a warrant on a lower standard of reasonable suspicion of a crime, instead of probable cause; Thompson Rivers University Professor of Law Robert Diab argues that the new powers will turn tech companies such as Google, Apple, Shaw and Telus into agents of the state.

INTERVIEW: With this week’s official launch of the Neighbourhood Policing Programme (NPP) career pathway across England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Chief Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, Head of Uniformed Policing at the College of Policing, about the reasons for introducing the NPP, the make-up of the training modules, and what the new programme aims to achieve.

FEATURE: Chief constables, police and crime commissioners, and directors of public health across England and Wales have been sent new guidance and warnings about the dangers of a potential influx of harmful new drugs – including synthetic opioids – which could present greater risks to “those who are drug-naive or experimenting for the first time” at this summer’s music festivals, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: With jurisdictions across the world looking at ways to tackle the threat of deepfakes – particularly those of a sexually explicit nature – Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the AVALANCHE project in developing new tools and techniques to address the issue, as well as the wider impact of the Strengthened Security Research and Innovation area of the Horizon Europe programme for security.