OPINION: The recently published Casey Review highlighted issues of a “toxic culture” in parts of the Metropolitan Police including racist, sexist and misogynistic behaviour; but doctoral researcher Kathryn Farrow of the University of Oxford argues that while the findings and headlines have focused on the Met, other forces around the country still have much work to do on many of the same issues.

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ANALYSIS: It’s long been argued that the police funding formula in England and Wales, which relies mainly on a combination of central government grant and locally set precept, is in need of reform, and fails to recognise the areas of greatest need; Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the increasing dependence on the precept, the challenges around deprivation, and whether politicians are really willing to tackle a funding conundrum that has no comfortable fix.

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.

OPINION: A recent Scottish court case that saw a 21-year-old given a non-custodial sentence for rape – largely in the hope of aiding his rehabilitation – has prompted much discussion about the age of criminal responsibility; former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher believes the criminal justice system needs to be reset to recognise that with rights come responsibilities, and that offender rehabilitation must be balanced with justice for victims and protection of the public.

FEATURE: In the fourth in a month-long series of articles exploring the EU-funded PROTECTOR project, which aims to design, develop and deliver the next generation of measures to enhance the protection of places of worship and their congregations, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at the rapid response to the recent religious attack in Hamburg, and highlights project recommendations for law enforcement regarding the safety of religious communities and sites.

INTERVIEW: As the debate continues in many countries about police training and qualifications, a pioneering US programme in Massachusetts is offering recruits the opportunity to achieve both an undergraduate and master’s degree alongside their qualification to serve as a full-time officer; Programme Director Lisa Lane McCarty spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the degree debate, professionalizing police training, and the challenges of making “better human beings”.

OPINION: With concerns over the ever-expanding police mission and political interference in policing, continuing doubts about the efficacy of the 43-force structure in England and Wales, anger over pay and conditions and a legitimacy crisis reminiscent of that of the late 1950s, a new Royal Commission into policing could be the best way to determine what we expect of the police service, and how it is going to achieve those aims, argues former officer and University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews.

INTERVIEW: The focus of New Zealand Police’s road policing approach has been widened to include impairment prevention relating to drug-driving and fatigue; Supt Steve Greally, Director of the National Road Policing Centre, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need for a holistic approach, the plans for roadside drug testing, and the impact on officers of dealing with the fatalities and serious injuries caused by poor driver decisions.

INTERVIEW: In the third in a month-long series of articles exploring the EU-funded PROTECTOR project, which aims to design, develop and deliver the next generation of measures to enhance the protection of places of worship and their congregations, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth spoke to Nina Tell and Daniel Jacobsson of the Swedish Police Authority about their organisation’s role in the initiative, and the benefits the project has brought to policing in Sweden.

INNOVATION: With the publication of Baroness Casey’s Review the most recent development to highlight the importance of integrity in policing, the need for more effective employee vetting and screening processes is once again under the spotlight; Dr Matt Bland, Associate Professor in Evidence-Based Policing at Cambridge University, outlines the work undertaken by Master’s student Nick Dale to develop a screening solution that could be a gamechanger for UK policing.

FEATURE: Australia is the latest country to give serious consideration to criminalising coercive control, a step taken in the UK in 2015; new research published by Melbourne’s Monash University suggests that while the majority of victim-survivors believe such a step would be beneficial, they also argue significant investment in police training and a ‘cultural shift’ in the policing of domestic abuse would be required to make any new offence effective, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

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.

OPINION: With the recent Casey Review once against highlighting the need for changes to existing ‘police culture’ and the concept of ‘leadership’ in UK policing, former officer Tom Andrews, Policing Lecturer at the University of Derby, looks at previous examples of direct entry into policing, and considers whether this approach could offer solutions to some of the concerns raised by Baroness Casey and others.

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FEATURE: Facial recognition technology is often criticised for its purported disproportionality, with police use of this tool already banned in some parts of the world; but a new academic study – hailed by the Met and South Wales Police – challenges this narrative, arguing that British policing is deploying live facial recognition tech that is effective and avoids the problem of disproportionality, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: The recent final report of the Baroness Casey Review into standards of behaviour and internal culture in the Metropolitan Police Service included findings of “institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia”, and of a force that is “losing its way”; ahead of a virtual panel exploring these issues later this month, former Met and West Midlands officer Ron Winch, now Senior Teaching Fellow in Policing at Birmingham City University, looks at what needs to be done to get the force and policing back on course.

INTERVIEW: As religious tensions once again threaten to boil over in Jerusalem – with places of worship at risk of becoming backdrops for violence – Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth spoke to An Garda Síochána Sergeant Eugene O’Leary about his force’s involvement in the PROTECTOR project, which aims to design, develop and deliver the next generation of integrated measures to enhance the protection of all places of worship.

OPINION: Police are increasingly the first point of contact to respond to those in mental health crisis, but when restraint has been the focus of such a response, some cases have led to tragic consequences; Lynn Emslie, Chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, believes a partnership response from policing and health services could help to avoid future fatalities.

OPINION: While the debate continues around UK police education and the various entry routes for recruits into policing, former officer and now University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer Derek Flint argues that the ‘precious union’ between policing and academia needs to be maintained and strengthened to ensure the service has constables with a ‘professional curiosity’, and a desire and a determination to find out ‘why’ things are happening.

OPINION: With the police Uplift programme to recruit 20,000 ‘additional’ officers across England and Wales due to have hit its target at the end of March, change management consultant and former police officer Tom Wheelhouse looks at what the initiative has achieved – and the challenges that have arisen – around the issues of recruitment, retention and resettlement.

FEATURE: Last month saw more than 100 victims and families of those affected by terrorism, as well as support organisations, emergency services and European representatives, gather in Paris for the European Remembrance Day for Victims of Terrorism; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at continuing EU efforts to combat terrorism and support victims, including new regulations aimed at removing terrorist content online.

ANALYSIS: The Mass Casualty Commission into the April 2020 Nova Scotia shootings that left 22 people dead has made a range of recommendations around tighter gun control, particularly of the most powerful and potentially destructive weapons; Professor Blake Brown of St Mary’s University believes the non-partisan nature of the Commission will give its findings added weight – but if and how quickly they are implemented by the federal government remains to be seen.

SERIES LAUNCH: We are pleased to announce the launch of the latest series of The Police Student, supporting degree-entry recruits to the police service. This new series looks at criminology – the study of crime, how we think about it, what causes crime, the way that criminal justice agencies respond to offenders, and how all of this can affect what you do as police officers.