FEATURE: Amid concerns that officers experiencing the mental health impact of critical firearms incidents were not receiving enough ‘return to work’ support, New Zealand Police have a adopted a peer-led approach to post-incident reintegration; Dr Anna Sutton of the University of Waikato explained to delegates at the recent Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) Conference how ongoing research to evaluate the programme could help to improve reintegration for affected officers.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Martin Hewitt believes UK policing is facing a defining challenge in relation to public trust and confidence – one which will require officers and organisations to listen to and learn from those who experience prejudice – as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

ANALYSIS: As the UK continues to host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), GI-TOC Senior Analyst Summer Walker explains how organised environmental crime intensifies climate change – and the need for a response that is a targeted, sustainable intervention in the climate change mitigation arsenal.

OPINION: The UK has a lengthy tradition of problem-oriented policing (POP), but the enthusiasm for this long-term preventative approach has waxed and waned, and with it the impact of POP overall; however Professor Nick Tilley, a keen advocate, believes that a renewed commitment to the problem-solving mentality can reap benefits in enabling forces to meet many of the modern policing challenges.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Surrey Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, head of the NPCC Finance Co-ordination Committee, says this year’s pay freeze was a “bitter blow” for officers, but believes there are still plenty of opportunities to find efficiency gains in UK policing, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix during a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

OPINION: ‘Degree gate’ – the apparent controversy over the value of policing degrees – has been a topic of conversation in UK policing circles and on social media for months; but for former chief superintendent Owen West, now a policing lecturer, the quality and depth of training, exposure to practical skills and enthusiasm of students suggests that much of the opposition to pre-join policing degrees must be based either in ignorance or cynicism.

FEATURE: As the UK hospitality industry emerges from pandemic restrictions there have been widespread reports of a surge in drinks being spiked in clubs and bars, and drinkers even being injected; Associate Professor Lata Gautam of Anglia Ruskin University believes that while a lack of data makes determining the level of spiking difficult, two recent online surveys suggest worryingly high incidence, as well as significant under-reporting.

FEATURE: With the site of a new National Cyber Force now confirmed – along with the centre’s role in “offensive cyber operations” – the UK has reinforced its position as a leading player in global cyber security; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at plans for the NCF, the country’s continuing efforts to build cyber capacity, and the opportunities for developing new uses of artificial intelligence within those disruptive technologies.

ANALYSIS: The Institute for Government’s (IfG) recently published Performance Tracker has highlighted the huge pressures faced by the UK’s public services during the pandemic, and policing was no exception; IfG Research Assistant Anoushka Kavanagh looks at the impact of Covid on police performance and activity, as well as the challenges that still remain, and what the latest Spending Review will mean for the service.

OPINION : Project Bluestone involves Avon and Somerset working with leading academics to assess and address the force's issues around rape investigations; Dr Emma Williams of the Open University, one of the academics involved with Bluestone, assesses the ongoing project and its potential.

ANALYSIS: High-harm domestic abuse offenders are likely to have a criminal record and several police interactions before they are first reported for partner violence – and a small number go on to cause disproportionate harm – so could algorithms and machine learning help to target them early? This was one of the key questions considered by New South Wales Police Superintendent Andrew Hurst at last week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing conference.

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.

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 Dr James Windle, a Criminology Lecturer at University College Cork, about situational crime prevention, suppressing opium cultivation, and how he sees organised crime and the illegal drugs market evolving over the next decade.

FEATURE: The process of replacing the UK’s increasingly outdated Airwave communications network with a new Emergency Services Network (ESN) has been plagued by overruns and soaring additional costs; now the Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into the Motorola-owned Airwave, amid concerns that the company is cashing in on the delays, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: The pre-join degree scheme seems to be the ‘forgotten’ recruitment route for UK policing, argues Nottingham Trent University Policing Lecturer Phil Rudkin, with only three forces currently ready to accept recruits from these programmes; but with up to 2,600 pre-join graduates likely to enter the police recruitment pool by 2025, it’s time for forces and higher-education institutions to work together to improve this entry pathway into policing.

ANALYSIS: While the debate around raising the age of criminal responsibility in Australia continues, new research has highlighted the damaging long-term prospects of those very young offenders who first come into contact with police below the age of 10, and the need for more effective early interventions, as Detective Inspector Paul Hart of the Queensland Police Service told delegates at this week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) Conference.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: West Mercia Police Community Support Officer Aidan Goundry believes introducing a limited promotion framework for PCSOs could help forces to retain experience and local engagement; he’s also preparing to embark on an international charity project delivering ambulances to The Gambia, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix during a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

FEATURE: Police officers in Victoria, Australia may soon be given the power to grant on-the-spot family violence intervention orders; but while police argue the new powers are victim focused, others fear the orders could enable perpetrators to utilise the system as a weapon against victim-survivors, as Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ellen Reeves and Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon of Monash University explain.

FEATURE: The sentencing in September of a UK-based people trafficking network highlighted the huge financial gains such gangs can make, and the continuing market in those who fall victim to modern slavery; but as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports, efforts by the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner to raise awareness of the problem (particularly in the financial sector) and develop a collaborative response should serve as a model for other agencies around the world.

OPINION: Against the backdrop of a shaken public confidence in policing following the Sarah Everard murder, the Conservative and Labour parties set out their law and order objectives during the recent conference season; but as Police Foundation Director Rick Muir reports, while politicians fought for the ‘tough on crime’ mantle, it is the largely overlooked shortage in investigative skills that is the real emerging crisis.

OPINION: Out-of-court disposals with conditions encouraging rehabilitation and reparation are set to be used more widely from 2023; but Fionnuala Ratcliffe, Research and Policy Lead for Transform Justice, warns that without stronger, clearer guidance, the greater use of conditional cautions could lead to more rather than fewer people being drawn into the criminal justice system.

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: The illegal trafficking of wild animals feeds a major global market, and involves a huge range of species; now a new series of briefings on this illicit trade – starting with a focus on live cheetahs and African Elephant ivory – is highlighting the challenges of tackling animal trafficking as well as how routes and markets have responded to COVID-19, as Policing Insight’s Chris Allen reports.

OPINION: The rapid advance of biometric technology is generating new identification and surveillance opportunities for the police and security sectors, alongside growing concern about oversight; Jessica Figueras, Vice-Chair of the UK Cyber Security Council (writing here in a private capacity) believes that improved ethical governance will be crucial as the use of biometrics expands – and the lack of ‘algorithmic inspection’ skills required to provide that governance could slow the pace of adoption.