INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential illicit gateway between Europe and Africa, but it’s not just drugs and people smugglers keeping the Royal Gibraltar Police Marine Unit busy; in this second in a two-part series on the Unit’s work, Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar spoke to Chief Inspector Sean Perera about the unique challenges of policing the Iberian Peninsula and this incredibly busy stretch of water, where tackling traffickers, counter-terrorism and environmental emergencies are all part of the job.

ANALYSIS: Teaching methods are constantly evolving, driven in part by the emergence of new technology, and virtual reality (VR) is one of the latest learning tools; Claire Smith, a former police officer and now a Teaching Fellow at the University of Portsmouth, outlines the findings of a recent pilot study into how VR could be used to improve learning for the UK’s new student officers.

FEATURE: As the awareness-raising events and learning opportunities as part of the EU’s European Cybersecurity Month begin to draw to a close, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest funded research initiatives designed to promote co-operation and collaboration across the continent, in an effort to enhance cybersecurity and protect the increasing number of crucial connected digital systems and networks.

OPINION: Amid the current UK political chaos, one clearly emerging scenario is that further public spending cuts are now probable, with policing likely to be back in the firing line; Tom Gash, Managing Director of strategy consultancy Leapwise and former Director of Research at the Institute for Government, looks at how policing can navigate this harsh reality, and the current window of opportunity to prepare a case for protection from cuts and drive productivity improvements locally and nationally.

FEATURE: A new report from Europol has highlighted some of the policing and legislation challenges posed by the emergence of the metaverse, and warned that failing to ‘stay abreast’ of the new technology will leave law enforcement playing catch-up in the same way it has been forced to do with digitally enabled crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons 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.

FEATURE: With the growing threat from cybercrime, policing is looking to build ever stronger partnerships to mitigate risk and improve learning and understanding; Detective Superintendent Nick Bell, CEO of the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group (NCRCG) and National Policing Director for the Cyber Resilience Centres, reports on the work of the NCRCG and the key themes explored at its inaugural summit earlier this month.

ANALYSIS: In this second article in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at police staff and police community support officer numbers, and the overall resource picture; while the public and politicians focus on the amount of police officers, forces are complex organisations, and overall capacity and capability depends on the combined staffing picture.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the latest in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the new NAViGATORs initiative, a multi-agency collaboration across a consortium of EU member states to support and enhance law enforcement’s digital forensic investigations capability.

ANALYSIS: A series of inquiries have highlighted links between Australian casinos and money laundering, but despite the revelations there has so far been little individual accountability; journalist Georgina Kenyon believes the gaming empires are also guilty of providing opportunities for organised crime to wash the ‘dirty money’ derived from animal trafficking and other illicit wildlife activity, making Australia a favoured location for those looking to profit from environmental crimes.

ANALYSIS: It’s little surprise that the contentious nature of policing will in some cases give rise to complaints, but the way those complaints are handled and resolved has been an issue of concern for both the public and police officers in the UK; in this second of three articles reviewing the police complaints process, Professor Stephen Tong and Dr Rob Heaton explore the nature and psychology of disputes, how similar conflict is resolved in other sectors, and why the assessment of how a complaint should be handled is so crucial.

INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential gateway for drug traffickers between Europe and Morocco, with smugglers able to cross the 14km between Gibraltar and Africa by fast boat in just 15 minutes; narcotics and human trafficking are among the demanding and complex challenges faced every week by Royal Gibraltar Police’s Marine Unit, as Chief Inspector Sean Perera explained to Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar in this first of two articles.

OPINION: The recent publication of Baroness Casey’s interim report into the internal discipline system of the Met Police found not only an apparent failure to address misconduct by some officers, but little faith in the complaints procedure among the officers and staff of the UK’s largest force; Professor Colin Rogers of the University of South Wales believes that adopting an organisational justice approach could be key to meeting those challenges.

FEATURE: While the benefits and negative consequences of the police use of stop and search are frequently debated, the increased use of community scrutiny panels has been put forward as one measure to improve both monitoring and understanding of this policing tool; the panels were the focus of a recent @WeCops Twitter Chat, which has been summarised here by team member and West Mercia Sergeant Kerri Monaghan.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the latest in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the new Cyber Crime Driver project, a collaboration by European law enforcement agencies to understand the factors that determine cybercrime behaviours, especially in young people.

FEATURE: While the latest workplace survey of New Zealand Police’s officers and staff has found that most still feel the force is a great place to work, more than a third having experienced bullying or harassment in the past year – prompting Commissioner Andrew Coster to call for a ‘reset’ of the working environment after two years of unprecedented Covid challenges, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: In this new article in our continuing series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the varying effects the Uplift recruitment programme has had on police officer numbers across different forces, and how potential new challenges around funding could significantly impact on some forces’ ability to meet both workforce and performance targets.

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: Recent protest activities in the UK – in particular those by the Just Stop Oil group – have prompted much debate about the effectiveness of the police response to such actions; Graham Wettone, who spent much of his policing career managing public order policing, highlights some key challenges in responding to the current protests, and why it may be time for a more robust approach to those groups unwilling to engage.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in a series of articles examining the intricacies of the cocaine industry, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a look at how the influx of billions of pounds in drug money is impacting the economy of Western African nations that are increasingly acting as transit countries.

OPINION: Despite pervasive ‘common sense intuitions’ to the contrary, a new report from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales states there is no evidence that harsher sentences deter crime; Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice, believes the findings of the report underline the need for a more effective sentencing regime that can help to reduce both crime and prison populations.

OPINION: Last month’s violent confrontations between groups of Hindu and Muslim men in Leicester seem to take many in the English city (including police) by surprise; however, Professor Chris Allen of the University of Leicester believes that rushing through a proposed review into the violence risks a failure to recognise that neither Muslim nor Hindu communities are one-dimensional or singular, and that not all the problems they experience are based in religion.

INTERVIEW: The culture of policing continues to be a matter of international discussion, and global law enforcement leaders gathered in Dublin over the summer to move the debate forward; An Garda Síochána Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the issues discussed in Dublin, and how they will feed into efforts to address cultural change, starting with a leaders workshop at this weekend’s International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.

ANALYSIS: It’s little surprise that the contentious nature of policing will in some cases give rise to complaints, but the way those complaints are handled and resolved has been an issue of concern for both the public and police officers in the UK; in this first of three articles reviewing the police complaints process, Dr Rob Heaton and Professor Stephen Tong identify why some policing activity will inevitably lead to complaints, and why attempts to reform the complaints system to date seem to have fallen short of expectations.