FEATURE: A new report into male victim-survivor views on the criminalisation of coercive control in Australia, published by an international team of researchers, has highlighted both the majority support for new legislation, but also concerns about the potential misuse or ineffectiveness of an offence of coercive control, unless there is “whole of system change” across the criminal justice sector, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

OPINION: US President Donald Trump has declared himself as “the most police president in the history of America”; but Liverpool John Moores University Policing Lecturer James Williams argues that the administration’s latest legislative measures and approaches to immigration look set to undermine efforts to build trust with many communities across the US, and ultimately make the job of a US police tougher than ever.

ANALYSIS: A recent court ruling on the routine use of in-custody strip searches of four teenage girls in youth detention found that the warrantless, standardless routine strip search of teenage prisoners is unreasonable, as is any law that authorizes it; Monika Lemke, PhD Candidate at Canada’s York University, believes the ruling importantly recognizes the goal of minimizing the use of strip searches in every context they are employed, and could have wider implications for Canadian policing generally.

INTERVIEW: Nauris Paulins, Innovation and Digital Transformation Adviser at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia, recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth about the work of the unit, its role within the European NOTIONES Project, and how the FIU’s involvement in this and other research and innovation projects benefits both policing in Latvia and forces further afield.

FEATURE: A new report into barriers preventing An Garda Siochána officers from engaging with mental health support warns that a police culture that stigmatises mental health issues, fears over the impact on career progression, and other concerns about trust and confidentiality, are leading to officers “toughing it out” amid deteriorating conditions – despite the fact that support provision in the force is at the best level researchers have seen in more than 30 years, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The World Police Summit 2025, supported by Policing Insight as media partner, is to take place in Dubai this May, bringing together thought leaders, law enforcement professionals, and global speakers from over 100 countries. Register your place today!

FEATURE: Speaking at an international workshop hosted by the University of Gothenburg and CRISP, Research Fellow Amir Cahane of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem warned that Israel Police engage in “a disturbing pattern of acquire first and ask questions later” when deploying domestic AI surveillance tools – with “a lack of legal constraints” meaning that court battles over individual cases play an outsized role, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: Recent research by Dr Azwihangwisi Judith Mphidi of Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria highlights concerns over the levels of corruption and moral degradation across the Tshwane Metropolitan Police Department; in this article she sets out the main findings from that research, as well as the steps that need to be taken to reform the Department policing South Africa’s capital.

ANALYSIS: Terrorist attacks targeting police officers in Nigeria resulted in the deaths of more than 900 officers between 2009 and 2022; Dr Usman A. Ojedokun, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at Nigeria’s University of Ibadan, looks at the statistics behind the attacks, the groups carrying them out, the weapons they use, and the lessons to learn from the current trends.

FEATURE: The latest report on the MDMA drugs market, published by Europol and the European Union Drugs Agency, points to increased European production with significant health and environmental impacts, as well as EU criminal gangs reversing traditional cocaine routes to export MDMA to South America and Asia – in some cases bartering their product for other drugs – as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: A new report exposes the financial mechanisms that are enabling the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children on a global scale, as well as highlighting that financial institutions, tech companies and online payment platforms are also profiting from this “grotesque marketplace”, as Deborah Fry, Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh and Global Director of Data for Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute, explains.

FEATURE: The latest report on the MDMA drugs market, published by Europol and the European Union Drugs Agency, points to increased European production with significant health and environmental impacts, as well as EU criminal gangs reversing traditional cocaine routes to export MDMA to South America and Asia – in some cases bartering their product for other drugs – as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: The increase in drug-related extreme violence and the scale of drug seizures across Europe suggest Mexican and South American cartels already view the EU as the ideal location for expansion; former DEA Special Agent Michael Brown, Global Director of Counter-Narcotics Technology at Rigaku Analytical Devices, believes steps can be taken by European governments and law enforcement to thwart that expansion – but will require political will, increased co-operation, and better use of technology.

INNOVATION: An artificial intelligence (AI) model is currently being developed by Cheshire Constabulary in conjunction with two universities to spot stalking behaviour and identify offending patterns earlier in investigations; Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons how the new technology will be used, the training process for the AI algorithm, and the potential opportunities to expand its use into other threatening behaviour offences related to violence against women and girls.

FEATURE: In the latest article in The Police Student series, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly examines the issue of youth justice, including the background to the current system, the development of the child-first approach, and the importance of the debate around rehabilitation, diversion, punishment, and deterrence.