North America

ANALYSIS: Robust performance measurement practices are instrumental in demonstrating police accountability, transparency and improvement, all key steps to strengthening public confidence in policing; but a new RAND Europe study of international approaches has highlighted both the dangers of disjointed police performance measurement, and innovative approaches from law enforcement around the world, as RAND analyst Emma Zürcher explains.

ANALYSIS: The consequences of labelling – both for citizens and for police – can be significant, particularly in relation to officers’ own perception of their role as guardians or a ‘warrior mindset’; Matthew Wood, a police constable with Toronto Police Service and part-time professor at the Seneca College School of Public Safety, explores these issues in relation to the ‘grey zone’ of law enforcement, the importance of police discretion, and what steps can be taken to improve policing outcomes.

INTERVIEW: Despite widely acknowledged challenges facing policing in the UK, and the ongoing debate around entry routes into the profession, a career keeping communities safe from crime, disorder and terrorism remains an attractive proposition for many young people; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to final-year Professional Policing undergraduate Megan Collins-Dale about her choice of degree qualification, and how a recent internship in the US has helped her prepare for a future in policing and criminal justice in the UK.

ANALYSIS: A long-term approach to using technology, data analysis and information sharing to deliver significant reductions in gun violence in New Jersey has been hailed as the “tipping point in a new era of law enforcement” and is already being adopted and adapted by police and authorities in others states across the US, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New international research on the approach by policing and industry to rural crime has highlighted the multi-million-dollar impact on farms and countryside communities often overlooked by law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dr Kyle Mulrooney of the University of New England and Inspector Oliver Fisher of Sussex Police about the steps that can be taken to improve prevention and response for farmers and rural communities.

OPINION: With mass shootings an increasing concern in the US and Canada, and many European countries alert to the deadly potential of attacks by armed terrorists, the response to such events by both police and those targeted can be crucial in saving lives; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, explore the approaches used in the police response to active shooters, and what facilities and organisations can be doing to protect their communities.

FEATURE: As police forces in the UK collaborate with local authorities, government and community groups to promote National Hate Crime Awareness Week, new figures from the US and the UK highlight an increase in hate crime – particularly anti-Semitism – with incidents surging in the wake of the horrific attacks and continuing conflict between Israel and Gaza, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: As the Chief of Winnipeg Police Service and President of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, Danny Smyth understands more than most about the challenges facing policing and police leadership in Canada and beyond; and as he explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend, building community relationships, ensuring the wellbeing of officers, and preparing the next generation of leaders will all be vital to meeting those challenges.

ANALYSIS: Deploying ‘mixed’ squads consisting of police officers and healthcare or social workers is an approach that has been used in responding to the homeless and those in mental health crises in a number of countries; but new Canadian research by Concordia University Professor Ted Rutland and Karl Beaulieu, Université du Québec à Montréal PhD researcher, suggest that in the case of ‘unhoused people’, far from improving the situation it’s an approach that is creating more harm.

OPINION: While Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) have been in existence for several decades, modern technology to clone VINs for stolen cars, ‘title wash’ damaged vehicles and create fraudulent records has contributed to Canada’s growing car theft problem; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, argue that provincial governments have a key role to play in tackling this issue through physical VIN verification services.

INTERVIEW: The University of Tennessee’s Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC) established a global reputation for forensics training, but more recently has become recognised for innovative approaches to issues including leadership, communications and culture; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to LEIC Training Specialist Jeff Hundley about the institution’s evolution, training challenges, and its student demographic.

OPINION: As the opioid crisis continues to grow in countries around the world, more police forces in the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere are looking to equip officers with overdose reversal medication naloxone to save lives; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, argue that with enforcement showing little signs of ending the opioid crisis in the near future, naloxone should become standard issue for officers.

OPINION: CANADA: As calls for ‘defund the police’ switch to ‘refund the police’ in priority areas, Dr N Zoe Hilton, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, and Dr Sandy Jung, Professor of Psychology at MacEwan University, argue that police-researcher partnerships are needed now more than ever, and could be particularly beneficial in developing and implementing the assessment tools to tackle intimate partner violence and coercive control.

OPINION: Earlier this year British Columbia began Canada’s first drug ‘decriminalisation’ policy, removing criminal sanctions for adults in possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs; but research scientist Dr Kanna Hayashi, an Associate Professor at Simon Fraser University, warns that while police continue to seize drugs even when users aren’t charged with offences, toxic drug deaths will remain a major problem.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Valentin Pereda, Assistant Professor in the School of Criminology at the University of Montreal, about the need to tackle the flow of illegal firearms, the importance of conversations between academia and law enforcement, and the impact of organised crime in his home country of Mexico.

ANALYSIS: The Government of British Columbia has introduced new policing standards in relation to the response to and investigation of sexual assault, in a bid to ensure a “victim-centred, trauma-informed approach”, as well as highlighting the need for police policies to be “culturally-appropriate and legally-informed”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The police use of live facial recognition (LFR) regularly comes under scrutiny because of privacy, accuracy and surveillance concerns; but Dr Asress Gikay, Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation, and Law at Brunel University, argues that rather than banning LFR, more effective regulation of its use would address concerns while enhancing public safety.

OPINION: A series of high-profile cases involving bullying, harassment and sexual abuse have seen the Royal Canadian Mounted Police the focus of strong criticism; following the most recent case, Adler University Associate Professor Jason Walker believes it is time to abandon the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) – the body set up to investigate such cases – in favour of more decisive action, both for the RCMP and law enforcement agencies around the world.

INTERVIEW: British journalist and author Ioan Grillo has reported on the cartels and organised crime gangs of Mexico and Central America for more than 20 years; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher about reporting on extreme violence (there were 43,000 murders in Mexico last year), the parallels between Central America and the UK, and what motivates him in his work.

ANALYSIS: Confidential informers play a significant role in police investigations around the world, but there are also recognised risks of informers committing ‘treachery’ – either intentionally feeding officers false information, or revealing their identity to a third person; new research by Sgt David Younan and Crime Analyst Sarah Harmer – both of London Police Service, Ontario – examines the instances of treachery by Service informants over a two-decade period, and suggests evidence-based approaches that policing can implement to minimize the risks.

OPINION: With a combination of municipal, provincial and regional law enforcement, Canada’s policing environment is both complex and in need of national standards; in this first of two articles, Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Health at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, argue that establishing a college of policing for Canada could help to create those standards while also professionalising the policing role.

OPINION: This year marks the 125th anniversary of the official recognition of police matrons in Australia, but women had undertaken this work for at least 50 years beforehand; University of Newcastle Criminology Lecturer Dr Alice Neikirk explores one of women’s earliest roles in policing – a role which shared many of the same characteristics as today’s problem-orientated policing model.

ANALYSIS: Various sectors of criminal justice systems around the world are increasing their use of artificial intelligence (AI), but AI has played a key part in offender assessment decisions in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and other countries for more than 20 years, with little or no transparency or independent inspection of the algorithms involved, as University of Surrey Professor Melissa Hamilton and Professor Pamela Ugwudike of the University of Southampton explain.

OPINION: Three years after the death of George Floyd, the latest report by the US Justice Department in to policing in Minneapolis features a raft of worrying findings, including discrimination against Black people and Native Americans, and routine use of excessive force; but Arizona State University Associate Professor Rashad Shabazz believes the report also demonstrates that rather than being an aberration, such misconduct is part of how policing was historically intended to be in the US.