Latest News, Analysis and Opinion  (Page 73)

INTERVIEW: A new early intervention system adopted by Dallas PD can highlight those officers who need more support and training to improve their performance; Deputy Chief Catrina Shead spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the system, as well as current recruitment challenges, and why experience and observation are as important as education.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in our series of articles on continuing professional development (CPD) in policing, Dr Ahmed Kadry and Jo Lambert of the Open University’s Policing Organisation and Practice team explore the opportunities for expanding the Police Education Qualification Framework to include special constables, and the benefits this could bring – both for forces and for individual officers.

ANALYSIS: With the electronic communications landscape changing significantly and quickly, existing legislation covering law enforcement electronic surveillance has struggled to keep pace; Analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf and specialist Jocelinn Kang, both of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, take a closer look at the country’s planned legislative reform around electronic surveillance, and why balancing security and liberty will be essential in any new law.

ANALYSIS: The images of child refugees fleeing the conflict in Ukraine have been among some of the most disturbing to emerge from the war; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the risks posed in neighbouring countries by human trafficking gangs, and efforts from the European Commission to fund new projects to counter human trafficking across the continent.

FEATURE: In his final State of Policing assessment, Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Tom Winsor – who leaves the HMICFRS at the end of this month – has praised the efforts of officers and staff, but highlighted significant concerns including the fragility of the 43-force model in England and Wales, the urgent need to restore public confidence, and compromises required between funding and public expectations, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Policing Insight's Chris Allen - consultant, researcher and lecturer in organised and transnational crime, has partnered up with the Police Science Dr Academy to deliver the first three sessions of a series of short courses live to a global online audience of law enforcement investigators, analysts and students in April and May.

OPINION: Having spent six years as part of the team leading the UK’s Police Superintendents’ Association, Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths completed his tenure as President last week, and shared his thoughts and reflections on the challenges and achievements during his time in the national office of the PSA.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Sir Jon Murphy, Professor of Advanced Policing Studies at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) and former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police about the untapped academic resource in fighting organised crime, targeting criminal communications, and the challenges of technological change.

ANALYSIS: Court cases around the world often depend on the independent deliberations and judgments of juries; but with jurors susceptible to their own biases, steps can be taken to ensure that such biases are balanced to prevent miscarriages of justice, as Dr Lee Curley and Dr James Munro of the Open University and Dr Itiel Dror of University College London, explain.

ANALYSIS: With the heightened global focus on legitimacy and professional standards within policing, a new report by Manhattan Institute Adjunct Fellow Dorothy Moses Schulz explores the issues around rogue ‘wandering cops’, including the recruitment pressures on police departments, efforts to make decertification easier and introduce more widespread licensing, and the need for clear language in any future legislation.

INTERVIEW: Once a hotbed of 1970s counterculture, Austin in Texas has a reputation as a progressive, fast-changing city, with all the policing challenges that a modern urban environment brings; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Austin Police Department Chief Joseph Chacon about meeting those challenges – including recruitment, community safety and racial inequality – and his own style of leadership.

OPINION: As a global leader in online safety, Australia was the natural destination for European Commission delegates looking to learn more and share best practice around online regulation and child protection ahead of introducing new European legislation; Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, believes the visit marked a watershed moment of international collaboration in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Super Recognisers are humans with an amazing ability to remember faces and recall names. All law enforcement agencies have such people – they just need to be found, trained in tactics and used to identify more suspects or missing persons in a systematic manner. Former Met Police DCI Mike Neville, now CEO of Super Recognisers International Ltd, explains how this untapped resource can help turn the tide of low detection rates within police forces.

FEATURE: The recently published UK Government Cyber Security Strategy highlights the need for the public sector to defend against ‘relentless’ attacks from an ‘ever-expanding array’ of adversaries, and commits the Government to local and international collaboration as well as promoting careers in public sector cyber security, as Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: As global police leaders gather in Dubai for the World Police Summit, and with international attention focused on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Dr Victoria Herrington, Director Knowledge at the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM), explores what the institution of policing stands for, why it needs to care about what’s happening in Ukraine, and what we could and should be doing to promote a shared responsibility for public safety.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Every day, developments unfold in security, whether at local, regional or global levels, that provide vibrant subjects for debate. The act of considering complex security challenges and thinking how best to formulate and communicate sensible policy alternatives in a comfortable space away from the pressures of the office proves challenging. Despite these challenges The University of Buckingham has made it possible to do both and is one of the key strengths their academic programmes.

OPINION: With public trust and confidence in UK policing currently a widely debated topic, Peter Edge, former SIO and Head of Training for Merseyside Police, looks at the importance of recognising and retaining both explicit and tacit knowledge within policing, and how addressing the issue effectively can help to strengthen the relationship with the public.

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: As well as changing society, the Covid pandemic has changed crime, as the disarray caused by rapidly introduced polices at national and international levels has presented all sorts of opportunities for criminals; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines one particular growth area of illicit activity – the sale of counterfeit COVID-19 passports.

Interview: Having worked her way up from secretary to a senior police role, Denver PD Deputy Chief Barb Archer has drawn on her diverse experiences to create a leadership style that is widely respected and admired; she spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about leadership, the need to improve diversity within policing, and what drives her to continue achieving.

FEATURE: Examples of forensic entomology – the use of insects in criminal investigations – can be traced back to the 13th century, and today flies and other insects can help to identify everything from a murder victim’s use of ketamine or cocaine, to the chemicals used in pet poisonings; Forensic Biologist Paola Magni of Murdoch University in Western Australia explains the forensic insights we can already gain from flies, and what more we could learn.

ANALYSIS: Fraud is now the most common crime in England and Wales, costing the UK economy £137bn each year; in this article, Richard Hyde, Scott Corfe and Bill Anderson-Samways of the Social Market Foundation (SMF) examine the inadequacy of police resource dedicated to tackling the problem, and call on the Government to take a comprehensive ‘systems approach’ to tackling fraud, enacting reforms that can endure over decades.

FEATURE: With the Russian invasion of Ukraine once again highlighting the key role that social media and digital communications play in international state actions and legitimacy, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at a new European research project on the impact of online networks on politics and democracy, which could have significant implications for policing and the rule of law.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in our series of articles on continuing professional development (CPD), Dr Paul Walley, Director of Learning at the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning, looks at how combinations of learning options – including experiential learning cycles, and ‘flipping the classroom’ – can lead to ‘light bulb moments’ and more effective outcomes for policing CPD.