Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 30)

INTERVIEW: As international collaboration between law enforcement agencies becomes increasingly critical to combat contemporary organised crime, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Superintendent Ted Esplund and Project Manager Åsa Granström at the Swedish Police Authority about the importance of knowledge exchange as part of their participation in NOTIONES, a new European network bringing police agencies together to improve the capacity and capability of intelligence functions.

ANALYSIS: Although Australia maintains a low ranking in the Global Terrorism Index, a shifting focus from jihadist actors to homegrown terrorists, coupled with a surge in terrorism investigations among minors, suggests that radicalisation among disaffected and troubled teenagers is a growing problem – one which, if ignored, could lead to disaster, warns Australian Strategic Policy Institute visiting fellow William Frangia.

ANALYSIS: The UK Government’s efforts to influence policing’s operational response to protests have reached new levels in recent months, and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s comments on the issue would appear to have prompted her sacking; but Wrexham University’s Professor Peter Joyce and Dr Wendy Laverick of Hull University argue that policing independence in relation to protests has been threatened by Conservative governments for some time, and that a fundamental rethink of governance arrangements may be the only long-term answer.

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: In the latest in a new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly looks at labelling theory – who decides what a deviant act is, how individuals are defined as deviants or criminals, and what the consequences of that can be for the individuals themselves, as well as for the police.

INTERVIEW: In 2020, as Leicestershire Police prepared to greatly increase its officer numbers as part of the Uplift recruitment programme, leaders within the force set about trying to change attitudes, consideration of and delivery of training through the creation of the Team Leicestershire Academy; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to its head Sarah Taylor, and Chief Constable Rob Nixon, about the force’s new methods.

OPINION: Approaches and initiatives that improve police engagement with communities are acknowledged by many in policing as delivering real and long-term benefits, but when it comes to resourcing, are often regarded as ‘nice to haves’ rather than necessary; however, University of Portsmouth Policing Lecturer David Knowles – a specialist in engagement during his 30-year policing career – argues that such engagement is essential in building trust and confidence as well as tackling all levels of crime.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The winners of the Inspire Justice Awards 2023, supported by Policing Insight, were revealed recently at a glittering awards ceremony held at the QEII Centre in Central London. The Inspire Justice Awards celebrates and shines a light on the wider justice workforce that keeps our criminal justice system running smoothly.

ANALYSIS: A new study from Crest Advisory on the impact of devolving justice approaches to local areas has highlighted the positive outcomes of initiatives aimed at reducing reoffending and supporting specific vulnerable groups in four case study areas, with particular success for “whole-system approaches” delivered under police and crime commissioner and mayoral protocols, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With the Metropolitan Police having come under significant pressure over the past week to ban the planned pro-Palestinian protest in the capital tomorrow (Armistice Day), Edge Hill University Senior Policing Lecturer Owen West, a former chief superintendent and public order specialist, argues that history suggests prohibiting the march is likely to result in widespread violence, with dialogue and facilitation of a peaceful demonstration a much-preferred alternative.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: To save lives and better serve the public, police forces need to receive and share information with internal teams, partners, neighboring agencies and their communities as quickly and efficiently as possible. A global pandemic, social unrest and tightening budgets have exacerbated this need, making it vital for forces to adapt now. Join Hexagon’s Klaus Dalgaard on a webinar to learn how improving collaboration and real-time data sharing can help police forces.

FEATURE: As the parliamentary debates around the legislation set out in the King’s Speech – including a new Victims and Prisoners Bill – got underway, Victims’ Commissioner Baroness Newlove outlined to House of Lords’ colleagues the results of the latest victims experiences survey which underline high levels of dissatisfaction with the police and criminal justice system, and a reluctance to report crimes in the future, as Policing Insight’s Thomas James reports.

ANALYSIS: In October the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) marked 10 years in operation, a decade that has seen significant international operations, substantial convictions and drug seizures, and major technological advances; but as Cathy Haenlein, Director of Organised Crime & Policing at the Royal United Services Institute explains, the threat to the UK from serious and organised crime is on the rise, and policing alone cannot overcome that threat.

FEATURE: With the law enforcement use of artificial intelligence (AI) advancing quickly in the UK and internationally, the National Police Chiefs’ Council recently published a new Covenant for Using AI in Policing; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the main principles in the document, and the wider guidance around the ethical, proportionate and transparent use of AI across criminal justice sectors.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Embracing technological modernisation in the police force will not only enhance safety for both officers and those they serve, but deliver operational efficiencies which can greatly improve response management.

OPINION: The final report into the long-running New South Wales (NSW) Police Suspect Targeted Management Plan – which targeted children and adults who the force believed could become repeat offenders – found the program to be ‘unreasonable, unjust, and oppressive’; NSW Police dropped the program having seen a draft copy of the report, and Dr Vicki Sentas, UNSW Sydney Senior Law Lecturer, argues that any replacement approach should take a lead from Indigenous community alternatives.

LONG READ: The exponential growth in data sources offers policing significant opportunities for investigating and intelligence gathering, but brings with it new obstacles around the scale, complexity and consistency of data; in the first in a series of five features looking at the police use of data, Policing Insight’s Keith Potter looks at some of those key challenges at a force and national level.

OPINION: Recent comments from Home Secretary Suella Braverman around the policing of the pro-Palestinian protests have once again called into question UK policing’s political independence; but former officer and University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews argues that such independence has been largely illusionary in the past, and that a Royal Commission into policing is essential if such independence is to be guaranteed in the future.

FEATURE: UK National Crime Agency Director General Graeme Biggar has warned that policing and the wider criminal justice system is not moving fast enough or far enough in its efforts to combat the shift online in serious and organised crime, and that the roll out of end-to-end encryption on sites such as Facebook would be “tantamount to consciously turning a blind eye” to child abuse, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter 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.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Do you want to further your ability to help others and keep people safe? Are you interested in shifting your career focus to anti-money laundering or financial crimes?

ANALYSIS: Ahead of this week’s UK Society of Evidence-Based Policing (UK SEBP) Conference, National Crime Agency Temporary Director of Investigations John Denley, Keele University Academic Policing Collaboration Professor of Practice Marcus Beale, and Cambridge University Professor of Experimental Criminology Barak Ariel, highlight some of the key findings from their latest research drawing on police information and intelligence and the views of police professionals to explore new ways to prevent organised crime (the focus of an SEBP Conference session).

ANALYSIS: Over recent weeks all the UK’s main political parties have held their annual conferences – potentially the last major party gatherings that will be held before general election as well as police and crime commissioner elections in 2024; Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks back at the key speeches from the events to highlight the police and crime discussions taking place, and the calls and commitments shared with delegates around law and order.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Dr Tetiana Melnychuk, Associate Professor at Ukraine’s National University Odesa Law Academy and visiting researcher at the Center for European and International Criminal Law Studies at the University of Osnabrück, about the ‘blurred edges’ of organised crime, preventing criminals infiltrating government and legal agencies, and the need to prepare for the restoration of law and order after the war in Ukraine.