Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 3)

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.

INNOVATION: An artificial intelligence (AI) model is currently being developed by Cheshire Constabulary in conjunction with two universities to spot stalking behaviour and identify offending patterns earlier in investigations; Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons how the new technology will be used, the training process for the AI algorithm, and the potential opportunities to expand its use into other threatening behaviour offences related to violence against women and girls.

FEATURE: In the latest article in The Police Student series, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly examines the issue of youth justice, including the background to the current system, the development of the child-first approach, and the importance of the debate around rehabilitation, diversion, punishment, and deterrence.

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.

INTERVIEW: After a year as Temporary Commissioner of City of London Police, Pete O’Doherty formally took up his post as Commissioner of the ‘Square Mile’ – the smallest police force area in the UK, but the financial heart of the country – in October 2024; six months on, he spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the force’s new Policing Plan, why diversity is so important to policing, and the need for a “virtual stinger” capability that can stop cybercriminals in their tracks.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: From 21 to 22 July 2025, Cambridge will host the most distinguished gathering in the science of policing, as the Society of Evidence-Based Policing (SEBP) welcomes the world to the Global Societies of Evidence-Based Policing Conference. Held at the Clayton Hotel, this flagship event is at the height of the Summer of EBP—a season of cutting-edge events dedicated to sharing the best of research, practice, and innovation in policing and security.

OPINION: US President Donald Trump has declared himself as “the most police president in the history of America”; but Liverpool John Moores University Policing Lecturer James Williams argues that the administration’s latest legislative measures and approaches to immigration look set to undermine efforts to build trust with many communities across the US, and ultimately make the job of a US police tougher than ever.

OPINION: While the recent Government Spending Review left many chief constables, forces and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales saying the increase in police spending wasn’t enough, University of Leeds Professor of Crime Science Graham Farrell argues that more money and more officers doesn’t always lead to a fall in crime, with crime prevention and reducing crime opportunities by working with businesses, suppliers and manufacturers often a more effective approach.

FEATURE: A new report into male victim-survivor views on the criminalisation of coercive control in Australia, published by an international team of researchers, has highlighted both the majority support for new legislation, but also concerns about the potential misuse or ineffectiveness of an offence of coercive control, unless there is “whole of system change” across the criminal justice sector, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance has praised Scottish police superintendents for their role in leading innovation and collaboration that has ensured Police Scotland can meet the challenges of modern crime – despite a backdrop of a “challenging financial environment” which has left the force and the Government with “no quick fixes” and limited choices, as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

ANALYSIS: A recent court ruling on the routine use of in-custody strip searches of four teenage girls in youth detention found that the warrantless, standardless routine strip search of teenage prisoners is unreasonable, as is any law that authorizes it; Monika Lemke, PhD Candidate at Canada’s York University, believes the ruling importantly recognizes the goal of minimizing the use of strip searches in every context they are employed, and could have wider implications for Canadian policing generally.

OPINION: The recent publication of the UK’s new National Policing Digital Strategy 2025-2030 is a welcome development, argues Sharad Rathi, Global Operations Director of HCLTech, but policing will need more than the promise of new institutions if it is to deliver on the strategy’s ambitions – particularly in the current financial climate.

FEATURE: A new review published by Clinks and researched by the Neurodivergence in Criminal Justice Network has highlighted a “pervasive lack of awareness and understanding of how neurodivergent people present” within the UK criminal justice system, and sets out a raft of measures to overcome the significant barriers they experience, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

INTERVIEW: Nauris Paulins, Innovation and Digital Transformation Adviser at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia, recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth about the work of the unit, its role within the European NOTIONES Project, and how the FIU’s involvement in this and other research and innovation projects benefits both policing in Latvia and forces further afield.

FEATURE: Association of Scottish Police Superintendents President Rob Hay has urged Police Scotland’s leadership not to take officers for granted as superintending ranks begin to “vote with their feet” and withdraw from volunteering for on-call, and called on the Scottish Government to invest in a service that is “stretched to breaking point”, warning that Chief Constable Jo Farrell faces the “stark choice” of cannibalising the service to provide a fair pay award, as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Metropolitan Police Service Director of Data Aimee Smith and Deputy Director of Data Samantha Laskey about how they overcame a traditional culture and delays to develop policing’s first open data strategy.

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.

INTERVIEW: The Suicide Trauma Education Prevention (STEP) initiative initially launched in Hampshire Police is now looking to extend nationally and raise awareness among senior UK officers; STEP founder Spencer Wragg told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the call for mandatory Trauma Risk Management (TRiM) referrals for every officer or member of staff who attends a suicide, the need for a review of the impact of discipline investigations, and how his own experiences have shaped his approach to the issue.

ANALYSIS: After nearly two decades of focus, discussion and research, mental health and wellbeing among British police officers and staff shows little improvement; Professor Emma Williams and Associate Professor Sarah-Jane Lennie of the Centre of Excellence for Equities in Uniformed Public Services argue that, juxtaposed with the persistent and challenging issues related to police recruitment, retention, presenteeism and long-term sickness, the evidence suggests a growing mental health crisis within British policing.

King's Birthday Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise the policing and public safety recipients of the UK and overseas 2025 King's Birthday Honours. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service.

OPINION: With the UK Government recently announcing that the Vagrancy Act will be repealed by spring next year, Generation Rent Chief Executive Ben Twomey looks at the background to a 200-year-old piece of “outdated” legislation that is still used to criminalise some aspects of homelessness, and considers what may take its place.

OPINION: As part of US President Donald Trump’s framework for large deportations of undocumented immigrants, there has been a huge increase in 287(g) agreements allowing police to function as federal immigration officers, interviewing and detaining people before handing them over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); St Edward’s University Professor W. Carsten Andresen argues that many police forces have found such actions significantly undermine trust and public safety.