New Zealand

FEATURE: The successful trial of a new Tactical Response Model by New Zealand Police – launched following the tragic murder of Constable Matthew Hunt – provides enhanced training for officers and better frontline access to specialist capability, while ensuring that officers remain approachable and connected to their communities, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Front-line police deserve to be protected by equipment that not only protects them, but the public too. TASER technology is one of the most studied, safe and effective means of quickly stopping a threat. In this article, we’ll dig into the research around TASER energy devices and address misconceptions and myths.

OPINION: The Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA) has been at the forefront of identifying new and ongoing challenges for law enforcement, as well as the tools, techniques and guidance required to enable officers to meet them; ANZPAA CEO Dr Tracey Green outlines some of the key issues policing will be facing over 2023, and how the Agency is working with practitioners, stakeholders and others to deliver solutions.

New Year Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise the policing and public safety recipients of the UK and overseas New Year Honours as well as the New Zealand Order of Merit. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service.

END OF YEAR REVIEW: As 2022 draws to a close, Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter looks back over some of the key law enforcement themes covered over the past 12 months, the challenges met and opportunities offered, and our continuing commitment to provide a platform for sharing expertise, understanding and best practice throughout 2023.

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.

ANALYSIS: This month’s ANZPAA Conference offered another opportunity to learn more about brain fingerprinting, and the potential for its use in law enforcement investigations and deception detection; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the background to this cutting-edge technology, research on its operational performance to date, and how it could benefit policing and criminal justice systems moving forwards.

OPINION: A spate of juvenile charges being laid in youth courts in New Zealand has reignited the debate around whether the country needs to raise its criminal age of responsibility; Professor Claire Breen of the University of Waikato argues that increasing the age of responsibility from 10 to 12 or older would see children still face the consequences of their actions, but escape being caught up in the criminal justice system.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The inaugural Conference of the Global Collaboration of Evidence Based Policing takes to the virtual stage next week. This is a fully online live 24 hours of Exceptional Policing the Evidence Based Way – operationally relevant EBP stories and studies coming live, via your desk or phone, wherever you are. Register your ticket today! Make sure you claim your FREE ticket if your organisation or agency is already onboard.

FEATURE: Improving mental health and wellbeing for police, as well as the response to those in mental health crisis, is a key concern for law enforcement globally; Jacqueline Durand, Acting Director (Strategy) at the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), looks at what is being done in both countries to support officers, as well as efforts to respond collaboratively with paramedics and mental health to those community members in crisis.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: This is a world-first collaboration presenting the best available evidence that supports excellence in fighting crime, building trust and leadership to police across the globe. The programme features a range of operationally focussed and police-led strategies to tackle complex crime and policing challenges.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: As the UK Royal Family entered a period of mourning following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday, Policing Insight looks at some of the tributes and messages of condolence that have been sent from the policing family in the UK and overseas.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has sadly died today. Our publisher Bernard Rix expresses condolences on behalf of the the team at Policing Insight and PolicingTV.

ANALYSIS: As many as one in three people in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have experienced image-based abuse, yet fewer than half of those who witness it have intervened; research by Dr Asher Flynn of Monash University, Elena Cama of the University of New South Wales, and Dr Adrian Scott of Goldsmiths, University of London explores why people do or don’t intervene in such instances, and the vital role that bystander intervention programs could play in responding to image-based abuse.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Presented by the Australian and New Zealand Police Commissioners and supported by Policing Insight as Global Media Partner, this 2-day ANZPAA Police Conference 2022 (PC22) will demonstrate how innovation can be used to ‘navigate the next generation of policing’.

FEATURE: With more than 240,000 legitimate firearms holders among New Zealand’s five million population, and a large hunting community, previous attempts to tighten firearms licensing have been met with long and loud opposition; but plans for a new gun registry to target firearms criminality have gathered pace in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, and will come into effect next year, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

Job advertisement: Policing Insight is growing its editorial coverage of policing in Australia and New Zealand, and we are looking for freelance writers with an interest/expertise in policing and great contacts to join our team. The role involves keeping up with latest developments in policing through engagement with police forces, government and relevant academic, third-sector and commercial organisations, pitching and completing feature article ideas, and fulfilling commissions from our editor.

INTERVIEW: With a career combining operational policing and complex investigation with academia, Dr Tracey Green recently took up her post as CEO of the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency with greater insight than most into the demands facing law enforcement; she spoke to Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter about the Agency’s work on immediate and long-term policing challenges, the importance of sharing good practice, and the benefits of collaboration between police and academics.

ANALYSIS: New Zealand Police’s Understanding Policing Delivery programme represents a new approach to delivering on fairness and equity; Deputy Chief Executive Mark Evans, chair of the Governance Group guiding this work, explains more about the programme and how working with senior community representatives, experienced academics and local researchers aims to deliver evidence-based insights and opportunities with wide-ranging support – including from frontline Police staff.

FEATURE: Organised crime groups (OCGs) are testing New Zealand’s reputation as one of the least corrupt countries in the world; Matt Chatterton of the New Zealand Police Association looks at the OCG challenges facing policing, and talks to Detective Inspector Paul Newman of the force’s National Organised Crime Group about the efforts being made to counter the threat.

Queen's Birthday Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise Australian policing recipients of the 2022 Queen's Birthday Honours. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service.

OPINION: Chinese efforts to secure a deal with the Pacific islands that includes security matters such as training police have caused concern among policymakers across the region; but Dr John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, believes the long and strong policing ties between the islands and their colleagues in Australia and New Zealand will prove durable in the face of China’s open chequebook.

ANALYSIS: New Zealand reduced the minimum age for buying alcohol from 20 to 18 in 1999 and, with over two decades of data on the possible effects of the change, some health campaigners are calling for a return to the upper age limit; researchers Alexander Plum, Christopher Erwin and Kabir Dasgupta of the University of Auckland believe the evidence over the impact on crime figures is less than clear.