Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 3)

FEATURE: At this year’s APCC-NPCC Partnership Summit, where science and tech issues were once again high on the agenda, City of London Police Commissioner Pete O’Doherty argued for policing to become more offensive in its efforts to ensure cyber security; senior leaders also made the case for a stronger national approach to tech, and a survivor of deepfake abuse described how the police response to her crime left her “completely broken”, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland 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.

ANALYSIS: In the fourth in a series of five articles looking at the big debates in police use of facial recognition (FR), extracted from this year’s ‘Facing the future: The rise of facial recognition in policing’ report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explores the crucial issue of privacy and intrusion – which goes to the very heart of the FR debate – and looks at the absence of legislation around FR, with much of the early oversight coming from privacy regulators.

FEATURE: A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland has praised Police Scotland’s “robust and effective” response to missing persons, with the national multi-agency framework driven by the force described as a “particular strength”; but inspectors have also called for more to be done “to ensure that clear leadership and strategic direction is in place”, raise awareness among officers and partners, and address technical and resource challenges, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: In her latest report the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales, Baroness Newlove, has highlighted concerns around delays caused by the strain on the justice system, the continuing plight of victims of antisocial behaviour, and the need for victims of all crimes to be listened to, rather than “talked at”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: There is much debate about the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in surveillance (both in policing and other sectors), and the public’s response to that deployment; researcher, lecturer, and Sheffield Hallam University PhD candidate Yasmine Ezzeddine argues that latest research suggests the public are already adapting to the growing use of AI – and rather than saying “no”, are urging for “not so fast”.

FEATURE: Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced the most ambitious wave of policing reform for a decade – a new ‘National Centre of Policing’ to run support services for local forces, a new Home Office Police Performance Unit and co-designed police performance framework, and over £500 million of extra funding for forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: New research from the University of Calgary shows that three-quarters of men charged with domestic violence (DV) have already interacted with police at least once, with two thirds showing a clear trajectory of increasing police interactions in the lead up to their DV charge; Associate Professor Lana Wells believes this data around perpetrators offers an opportunity to intervene early and prevent the escalation of violence.

INNOVATION: Tobias Stenström, Head of Camera Surveillance, Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Analytics for the Swedish Police Authority’s West Region, believes that data-driven policing “requires a different type of leadership” that “might be out of many bosses’ comfort zones”; speaking at a recent conference he also revealed how Swedish police are exploiting AI tools like ChatGPT and object recognition tech, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: A recent report by RAND Europe on behalf of the Ministry of Justice has highlighted a lack of experience and training among police officers among the main challenges in improving the use of out-of-court disposals (OOCDs) for adults with health vulnerabilities in England and Wales, and has also created a series of guides and a data collection prototype tool to enable forces to implement OOCDs more effectively, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the findings of a new report from the Dublin-based Enhancing Faith Institutions consultancy, which highlights the increase in crimes against all religious communities and places of worship in Europe in the 12 months since the tragic attack in Israel on 7 October, and the subsequent devastating loss of life and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

OPINION: To coincide with the launch of a discussion paper on a stronger national centre for policing in England and Wales – jointly published by the Police Foundation and consultants Leapwise – Foundation Director Rick Muir and Leapwise Managing Director Tom Gash set out their arguments for a new national policing agency and a reformed approach to national decision-making.

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.

FEATURE: Senior police leaders in England and Wales are drafting guidance on governance for the hundreds of staff networks for the first time, but their efforts to establish a consistent framework have already drawn criticism from some groups, and the potential of a legal challenge, as Ian Weinfass reports.

INNOVATION: With domestic abuse (DA) now recognised as a policing priority for UK forces, a new approach to tackling the issue has been launched by Dyfed Powys Police, with neighbourhood policing teams adopting the 4Ps model (prepare, protect, prevent, pursue) usually associated with terrorism and organised crime to provide an improved service to medium-risk DA victims and target offenders more effectively, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Latest findings from research with Queensland Police Service indicate that organisational and operational stressors such as poor leadership, work/life balance and lack of resources can be up to three times more harmful to officers’ mental health than trauma, as Griffith University Associate Professor and police psychologist Dr Jacqueline Drew told the recent Global Evidence-Based Policing Conference.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Uncovering the role of social media in the Southport riots and how open-source intelligence (OSINT) can combat misinformation and violent calls to action.

LONG READ: A record number of police forces in England and Wales have been put into special measures (formally known as ‘Engage’) over the past three years – but what does Engage mean, and how do forces move out of it? Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke, as well as two Chief Constables who have led their forces out of special measures – Staffordshire’s Chris Noble and Wiltshire’s Catherine Roper – to find out more.

OPINION: The latest figures for gun crime in parts of Canada make for worrying reading, with shootings in Toronto increasing by 58% on last year, and the average age of those involved dropping to 20; Professor Ardavan Eizadirad of Wilfrid Laurier University argues that the best way to tackle the issue is through a data-driven public health approach that addresses the root causes of violence using evidence-based interventions.

FEATURE: The ‘It Does Matter’ campaign – launched jointly by Thames Valley Police and campaigner Lisa Squire, whose daughter Libby was murdered by a sexual predator – aims to encourage reporting of non-contact sexual crimes to prevent offenders from escalating to more dangerous behaviour; now the force is hoping to share the campaign and its resources more widely with police colleagues and other agencies, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With public trust and confidence in policing reportedly at record low levels, University of the West of England Criminology Lecturer Finley MacDonald, and University of Hull Policing Degree Programme Director Mike McKue, explore the often overlooked changes and developments in police training which could help to address trust and confidence challenges.

FEATURE: Academics from two Canadian universities have raised concerns about the country’s law enforcement use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, claiming that police bodies aren’t transparent enough when procuring new tech, and that failing to make policing subject to new AI legislation could undermine justice in Canada in the future, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

INNOVATION: Many police forces around the world are facing new and ever-changing challenges – both in the ‘real world’ and online – and efforts to implement community policing approaches face an increasingly complex landscape; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at a new European Commission initiative to help police and other agencies meet those challenges, leveraging social sciences methodologies as well as the latest technology.

FEATURE: A new report from the University of Portsmouth and Perpetuity Research urges more UK police forces to overcome a “risk averse” approach to working with the private sector and tap into a “wealth of expertise” – particularly in banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions – to tackle the complex and evolving landscape of economic crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.