North America

FEATURE: Organised crime groups have a long history of infiltrating the legitimate transport industry to move illicit goods and ‘commodities’ around the globe; now a new report has highlighted how those criminal networks are increasingly targeting the tow-truck sector as cover for their illegal activities, as Policing Insight's Chris Allen explains.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former FBI agent Donovan J Leighton explores the problems associated with tackling gun violence, and the challenges and successes of Operation Ceasefire in balancing prevention and enforcement.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Elliott Averett, a former Seattle Police officer and JD candidate at Georgetown University, explains why rioting, lack of support from political leadership, and the threat of defunding and layoffs are driving good police officers to quit.

FEATURE: A judge-led review of missing persons investigations in Canada – prompted by the murders of eight gay or bisexual men in the Toronto area by serial killer Bruce McArthur – has recommended a new approach to cases that draws on models from other countries including the UK; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports on the review, and the launch of an international database to share good practice.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Dr Laura Huey, Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario, argues that programs for ‘supportive reporting’ have the potential to reduce often unrecorded violence through increased reporting, not something easily dismissed.

VIOLENCE REDUCTION PROJECT: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Chris Fisher, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives at Seattle Police Department, says that any attempt to tackle the problem must focus on stopping the violence first, before wider public health and community approaches can be considered.

OPINION: With Sadiq Khan re-elected as London Mayor, the focus now turns to one of the key issues of the campaign – tackling knife crime; Greg Berman, former Director of New York’s Center for Court Innovation, and Elizabeth Glazer, former Director of the Mayor of New York’s Office of Criminal Justice, believe there are lessons for London in the efforts of New York to tackle its own problem of criminal violence.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Stephen Eide, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, calls for more effective treatment and supervision of those who are mentally ill as an important step towards reducing violence and creating safer communities.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Professor Michael Fortner of City University of New York explores the political limitations of the ‘causal story’ attached to #defund and why a blended reform approach rather than the moral clarity of police abolition will save more lives.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and gun violence remains worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Dr Maria (Maki) Haberfeld of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice argues that improving national standards in law enforcement and taking politics out of policing would be much more effective in reducing violence than defunding the police.

OPINION: At a time when relationships between police and some communities are under growing strain, and in an era when law enforcement is encouraged to engage more positively through social media, there is always a danger that police forces themselves become the ‘fake news’; when that happens it’s important to address the problem quickly and effectively, explains Yael Bar tur, digital communications expert and former NYPD Director of Social Media.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and gun violence remains worryingly high in 2021; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, DeVone Boggan, CEO of Advance Peace, explains why investing in ‘Violence Interrupters’ – reformed gun offenders operating as mediators, de-escalation experts and violence interventionists – has the real potential to drive change in gun-impacted communities.

OPINION: The guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd should be the catalyst for fundamental change in US policing, believes Professor Temitope Oriola, who argues that – with 17 disciplinary complaints against him – the fact that Chauvin was still a serving officer suggests the system is broken.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Nick Selby, former Director of Cyber Intelligence and Investigations for NYPD, sets out why funding mental health teams staffed by clinicians and cops would be a smarter way to reduce violence and deaths.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former police officer and current police reservist Steve Bellow outlines what Black communities want from policing – and why its important to listen to the people, rather than experts, academics and civic leaders.

OPINION: Canada already has strict gun laws in place, at least in comparison to its US neighbour; but Carleton University’s Noah Schwartz believes that attempts to introduce new American-style firearms legislation could create confusion and inconsistencies, while doing little to dissuade criminals from using guns.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former NYPD Chief of Department Louis Anemone sets out some specific policing strategies for reducing violence in the city, including increased solo foot patrols, a reduction in specialised roles, and an embargo on sworn officers filling administrative posts.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Professor Justin Nix argues that revisiting a successful St Louis ‘consent to search’ project which took more than 400 guns off the street could reduce violence and save lives.

OPINION: The rise of the white nationalist movement in the US and the riots at the Capitol in January have led to calls for more powers to target what has been labelled as domestic terrorism; but Professor David Cunningham of Washington University warns that, as attempts to crackdown on the KKK in 1960s America demonstrate, expanding police powers to tackle specific groups can have unintended consequences.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Chicago PD officer L Garcia urges politicians, management and the media to support police in doing what they need to do – target the criminals, keep communities safe, be accountable for their mistakes, and reduce violence across the city.

ANALYSIS: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Elijah Anderson, Sterling Professor at Yale University, outlines the ‘code of the streets’ that is contribution to a vicious circle of violence that claims victims Black and white, poor and affluent.

Analysis: Several US security experts say they now consider domestic extremism a greater threat to the country than international terror. Luis De la Calle examines the elements currently present in US society that could produce what he describes as a low-intensity terrorist conflict led by dissatisfied far-right groups who believe further violence is the only way to counter what they see as federal overreach.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former police officer and New York City Attorney Aurora Curtis calls for an expansion of the Massachusetts Domestic Violence High-Risk Response Model, which has co-ordinated a multi-agency approach to targeting the men most likely to kill their partners – with dramatic results.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Dr Michael Jenkins, Associate Professor at the University of Scranton, argues that a return to policing’s traditional roots will curb disorder and, in turn, build stronger, healthier police-public relations with a shared vision for communities.