INNOVATION: Student officers at the Akademie der Polizei Hamburg have become the latest to use virtual reality technology to gain a greater insight and understanding of hate crime, following the success of a similar initiative in Greater Manchester Police (GMP); the Akademie is now looking to incorporate VR more widely in its training and hopes to work more closely with GMP, as Professor Dr Eva Groß told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

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ANALYSIS: A series of high-profile instances of police misconduct in recent years (including in the US, the UK, Germany and most recently France) are believed to have damaged trust in policing – but to what extent? Post-doctoral researcher Christof Nägel and Associate Professor Amy Nivette used the latest research techniques to examine how police misconduct impacted public trust, and whether the effect was the same across different communities.

ANALYSIS: Continued exposure to horrific imagery and harrowing testimony is having a significant impact on the mental health of crime investigators across Europe; Dr Fazeelat Duran, a Postdoctoral researcher in occupational psychology at the University of Birmingham, outlines the findings of recent research that highlights the scale of the problem, and gives a voice to frontline officers who feel ignored by policymakers.

INNOVATION: A team from the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region are collaborating with colleagues across Europe to develop an app that uses machine learning to find and block images of child sexual abuse on personal devices – potentially protecting thousands of children while allowing police to target resources on the most persistent and prolific offenders, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INNOVATION: With terrorism moving increasingly online, the use of steganography – embedding potentially dangerous data inside seemingly innocent files – is becoming a growing concern for law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at this new technology being adopted by terrorist organisations, and the efforts being made to counter their activity.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Fortem International, an award-winning tradeshow organiser are proud to see the successful Natural Disasters Expo return to it’s new location of the Messe Frankfurt on the 11th & 12th October 2023. The show is the World’s leading event series for the management and mitigation of natural disaster and has already taken over Singapore, California and Miami and is making its debut in Germany.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Amid growing demand and tighter budgetary constraints, police and other bluelight services are under increased pressure to do more with less, particularly by making more effective use of technology; Hexagon Director Nick Chorley spoke to Policing Insight about the potential benefits – for service delivery, citizens and staff – of digital transformation, as well as some of the challenges that journey presents.

FEATURE: Despite several examples of terrorist attacks being livestreamed and online games being used to spread extreme propaganda and groom young fanatics, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth warns that the full extent of the terrorist use of the internet remains poorly understood by many frontline practitioners, and a multi-faceted, holistic approach is essential to tackle the threat.

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.

FEATURE: A documentary film sharing the harrowing stories of Romanian domestic violence victims driven to kill their abusers, efforts to ensure Spanish support services are accessible for all, and a project to provide common operating standards for India’s two million police officers were among international initiatives to tackle VAWG discussed at a recent global conference, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s London Policing College workshop on policing public protest in Germany, keynote speaker Dr Bernd Bürger of the Bavarian Police Institute of Further Education spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the importance of communication and negotiation in handling demonstrations, the need for officers and commanders to have expertise and experience, and the benefits of establishing full-time public order policing units.

FEATURE: The increased use of drones – including small, commercially available models – has been a key feature of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, prompting growing concerns of the potential threat they pose in terrorist hands; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the latest European security efforts to train police and staff to tackle the threat.

FEATURE: Following the mass shooting in Munich in 2016 in which nine people died and thirty six were injured, the Bavarian Police began to examine ways of enhancing their digital radio communications to include visual information.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Visit or exhibit at Europe's biggest closed specialized trade fair for police and all authorities related to internal security. More than 365 exhibitors from 24 countries, covering all subject areas and types of equipment and participants from 5 continents, are registered for GPEC® 2022 taking place 31 May to 2 June 2022.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The European Police Congress will be taking place this year on 11 and 12 May. It will be even broader and more international than in previous years. The event is now to take place in hub27 on the Berlin exhibition grounds.

ANALYSIS: The surge in terrorist content online has presented law enforcement agencies and tech companies with significant challenges in tackling dangerous extremists; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at European efforts to target such activities and online material, including new draft legislation governing how the EU can work with third countries to exchange data.

ANALYSIS: Europol’s latest EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT) found that while terrorist activity in Europe remained stable in 2020, more jihadist attacks were completed than stopped, as policing across the continent struggled to cope with the pandemic; Policing Insight’s Sean Howe looks at some of the key issues highlighted by the report, including the increase in radicalisation during COVID-19, and the growth of online extremist propaganda.

ANALYSIS: While mafia myths of traditional, family-based organised crime networks expanding internationally still loom large in the media, new research suggests the European reality is one of co-operation between different groups, rather than exporting the Italian crime structure abroad; Dr Anna Sergi of the University of Essex outlines the key findings of the Countering regional Italian Mafia expansion (CRIME) project.

INNOVATION: The fast pace of development in drone technology represents an ever-evolving range of threats – particularly in the hands of terrorists; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the new counter-UAV training for first responders being delivered as part of DroneWISE, and how the project is helping to improve co-ordination and co-operation between countries and agencies.

FEATURE: As religious worshippers around the world celebrate Easter – one of the main events in the Christian calendar – Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on latest efforts by law enforcement agencies across Europe to protect places of worship from terrorist attack and hate crimes.

INTERVIEW: As the impact of COVID-19 continues to create an environment where organised human trafficking thrives, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth talks to Sophie Kenneally of Agenfor International about the threat from the trade in people across Europe, and how a unique project with police in Germany, Italy and Spain will enhance the capacity of investigators to disrupt trafficking networks through financial analysis.

FEATURE: As advances in technology made drones more accessible and easy to use, so growing concerns about their potential use by terrorist organisations prompted the launch of the European DroneWISE project; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the project’s operational briefing which contains clear messages for first responders, police and security agencies.

INTERVIEW: Dr Holger Nitsch, from the Police Department of the University of Applied Sciences for Public Service in Bavaria, explains to Policing Insight the unique research and innovation collaborations between German and UK police forces to tackle the twin threats of cybercrime and terrorism.