Oceania

INNOVATION: A new DNA technique being pioneered by the Australian Federal Police uses Massively Parallel Sequencing to predict gender, age, eye colour, hair colour and bio-geographical ancestry – with new markers being identified for traits such as facial metrics or physical stature – in a breakthrough that could help investigators identify human remains as well as potential suspects, as Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Australia has a lengthy and costly 40-year history of providing assistance to the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, but the offer recently accepted by the Islands’ Government of officers and equipment from China has raised some strategic concerns; Gordon Peake and Dr Graeme Smith of the Australian National University explore the Australian Federal Police’s capacity-building efforts to date, as well as China’s moves to extend their policing reach in the Pacific.

LONG READ: The use of naloxone by officers to reverse the effects of opioid overdoses is being trialled by several UK forces, having saved hundreds of lives in the US and Canada, and debates are ongoing in Australia and New Zealand – but not everyone believes it’s the best way forward; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro takes an in-depth look at the impact the medication can have, how and where it is being used, and the barriers to a wider roll-out.

Australia Day Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise the policing and criminal justice recipients of the 2022 Australia Day Honours. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service and contribution to their communities, particularly in these challenging times.

OPINION: Police officers often deal with deaths and suicides by detaching and ‘normalizing’ distressing situations, but for former Queensland Far North Sgt Matthew Moloney, the suicide of someone he knew from the local Indigenous community prompted him to embark on an educational and research journey in an effort to change things for the better [WARNING: the article contains a graphic description of suicide that some readers may find distressing].

FEATURE: While some criminal activity has fallen during the pandemic, serious crimes have continued, which means so has the work of crime scene investigators; Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University, looks at the challenges of protecting CSI teams from COVID-19, and discusses some of her recent research on the steps agencies can take to keep staff safe.

FEATURE: NZ Police has paused introduction of live automated facial recognition technology (FRT) after researchers highlighted concerns over accuracy, the disproportionate impact on the Māori community, and legal and ethical issues; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons spoke to researchers and the force about the report’s recommendations, and what they mean for the police use of FRT.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff from Singapore Civil Defence Force, who now have FREE access with the start of new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many police and security agencies from the UK and around the world with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

New Year Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise the policing 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 in another challenging year.

ANALYSIS: The rapid advancement of new technology is creating a range of potential uses and applications in law enforcement settings, as well as mounting public and community concern around the ethical use of tech; in this article Inspector Carla Gilmore, Manager - Emergent Technologies for New Zealand Police, explains how the force is creating new policies and frameworks to ensure emerging technology is used safely and responsibly.

Top Articles 2021: Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter leads the team in selecting their favourite articles published in 2021. The editorial team have each selected their ‘Top 3’ picks and we have made them freely available during the Christmas period for all users with at least a free registered account. We hope you enjoy our selections!

OPINION: Despite the successful efforts of Australian law enforcement to seize drugs and target suppliers, the country’s latest National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program confirms that the use of ‘ice’ in particular has continued to rise significantly; Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute argues that data from the program should be used to guide strategy that focuses on cutting consumption and making communities safer.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: World Health Organization Policing Consultant Professor Karl Roberts believes forces responded “incredibly well” to the pandemic, but should build closer relationships with public health agencies to improve the response to future challenges, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

LONG READ: The death of George Floyd shone the spotlight strongly on police use of force, but many police services and departments had already recognised concerns and were attempting to address the issue; however, the lack of data on the effectiveness of training in areas such as de-escalation have left it difficult to identify what works and why, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr-Munro reports.

ANALYSIS: The Biden administration’s recent ban on the use of Pegasus spyware in the US represents a strong international statement on human rights and democratic freedoms; but analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believes it raises serious questions for Australian policing, and the swathe of legislation giving law enforcement new powers to access individuals’ data in the name of tackling ‘exceptional’ or ‘unprecedented’ threats.

ANALYSIS: Last month the Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police seized 450kgs of heroin from a shipping container in Melbourne; but the huge seizure should be seen as a sign that the approach focused on policing and criminal justice is not working, as well as an indication of the scale of the challenge facing the country’s fight against narcotics, explains Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf.

FEATURE: Amid concerns that officers experiencing the mental health impact of critical firearms incidents were not receiving enough ‘return to work’ support, New Zealand Police have a adopted a peer-led approach to post-incident reintegration; Dr Anna Sutton of the University of Waikato explained to delegates at the recent Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) Conference how ongoing research to evaluate the programme could help to improve reintegration for affected officers.

ANALYSIS: High-harm domestic abuse offenders are likely to have a criminal record and several police interactions before they are first reported for partner violence – and a small number go on to cause disproportionate harm – so could algorithms and machine learning help to target them early? This was one of the key questions considered by New South Wales Police Superintendent Andrew Hurst at last week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing conference.

ANALYSIS: While the debate around raising the age of criminal responsibility in Australia continues, new research has highlighted the damaging long-term prospects of those very young offenders who first come into contact with police below the age of 10, and the need for more effective early interventions, as Detective Inspector Paul Hart of the Queensland Police Service told delegates at this week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) Conference.

FEATURE: Police officers in Victoria, Australia may soon be given the power to grant on-the-spot family violence intervention orders; but while police argue the new powers are victim focused, others fear the orders could enable perpetrators to utilise the system as a weapon against victim-survivors, as Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ellen Reeves and Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon of Monash University explain.

ANALYSIS: Detectives and plain-clothes criminal investigators play a crucial role in most policing agencies – but what are the key characteristics required of an effective detective sergeant? New research by Queensland Police Service Detective Senior Sergeant Christopher Rahmann, and Associate Professor Marcus Harmes and Dr Shayne Baker of the University of Southern Queensland, explores the desirable knowledge, skills, experience and attributes for senior investigators and detectives.

OPINION: The number of fatal police shootings in Australia reached a record high in 2019-20, against a backdrop of historically low levels of homicide and a general decline in crime; Dr Terry Goldsworthy of Bond University, who spent 28 years as a serving officer in Australia, believes that while policing is an inherently dangerous occupation, forces must avoid adopting an enforcement-only mentality.

FEATURE: Within weeks of the introduction of a new agreement ensuring Victoria Police officers in Australia can disengage from work when off duty, the pandemic arrived, and with it one of the few exceptions to the deal; but as The Police Association Victoria Secretary Wayne Gatt explains, officers understand the distinction between “what’s trite and what’s important”, and the spirit of the policy remains in place.

OPINION: The wide-ranging debate about responses to violence against women in Australia has included proposals for all women police stations; but researchers Dr Amanda Porter (University of Melbourne), journalist Ann Deslandes, Dr Crystal McKinnon (RMIT University) and Dr Marlene Longbottom (University of Wollongong) believe such a move is likely to be ineffective in addressing the real issues, particularly for females in Indigenous communities.