United Kingdom

IN THE NEWS: Our new-look Weekly Review, drawing on our popular Media Monitor database, picks up the key news stories and reports of the week, and explains why they matter to you.

OPINION: Colin Pipe was the first (and so far the only) Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner to hold office as a volunteer. In the fifth of our blogs celebrating Volunteers' Week, he argues that service - and therefore volunteering - should be at the heart of everything that PCCs do.

ANALYSIS: Who are the people that volunteer to support their police service? What is their contribution to policing? And what about their relationships with the police officers and staff who work alongside them? In the fourth of our blogs celebrating Volunteers' Week, Melissa Pepper explores the evidence.

OPINION: In the wake of a recent @wecops discussion on the role of sergeants, Emma Williams of Canterbury Christ Church University examines the nature of leadership at sergeant level in the changing social landscape of policing.

OPINION: In the third in our series celebrating police volunteering, Terry Wilkins calls on police forces to take advantage of the huge range of skills that volunteers can bring, helping to connect police to communities.

ANALYSIS: What is the role of local authorities in the fight against organised crime? Ahead of a Public Policy Exchange event on 7th June, Dr Anna Sergi of the University of Essex warns that none of our communities are immune from the threat.

OPINION: In the second of our series celebrating volunteering in policing, Dr Amie Birkhamshaw says PCCs have confounded their critics by embracing the volunteering agenda and embedding volunteers in the fabric of their planning

OPINION: As National Volunteers' Week commences across the UK today, Iain Britton, of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice, talks about the huge contribution volunteers make across policing and the potential for police volunteering in the future. 

IN THE NEWS: Our new-look Weekly Review, drawing on our popular Media Monitor database, picks up the key news stories and reports of the week, and explains why they should matter to you.

ANALYSIS: New media guidelines proposed by the College of Policing could impose strict new rules on contacts between police officers and journalists. Carina O'Reilly asks if they will protect the police, or smother vital relationships built on mutual understanding.

ANALYSIS: PCCs have only four years to establish their legacy before the next elections. Bernard Rix, editor of CoPACC, outlines the four key areas where PCCs can stamp their authority.

OPINION: Chief Constable Dave Thompson of West Midlands Police pays tribute to efforts made to increase diversity, but warns that police still need to correct assumptions, think harder, and talk about their challenges.

OPINION: Andrew Haldenby, Director of the Reform thinktank, welcomes the government's sweeping proposals for fire service reform - and warns if change doesn't happen voluntarily, the government may force it through anyway.

OPINION: Are Triage schemes doing their job in mental health emergencies? Serving police officer 'Nathan Constable' warns police forces could be heading down a dead end track with no way to turn around.

OPINION: Protecting vulnerable people is the new 'volume demand' in policing. Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas, Vice President of the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales, outlines the need for a consistent approach to vulnerability.

IN THE NEWS: Our Weekly Review, drawing heavily on our popular Media Monitor database

ANALYSIS: Ahead of the imminent, potentially massive, changes to Fire and Rescue Service organisation and structure, former Editor of Policing Today Philip Mason asks if the government has learnt from mistakes made during its parallel reform of the Police Service

ANALYSIS: Following publication last week of the Home Affairs Select Committee's report on police diversity, CoPaCC's Simon Bullock looks at the evidence...

BOOK EXTRACT: Policing Insight is delighted to publish an extract from Tom Gash's book, "Criminal: The Truth About Why People Do Bad Things".

ANALYSIS: Charlotte Pickles, Deputy Director and Head of Research at Reform, introduces the think tank's latest report on offender management, and examines its implications for PCCs

ANALYSIS: As the 'cutting season' begins, Avon & Somerset Constabulary's DCI Leanne Pook looks at how policing responds to Female Genital Mutilation

ANALYSIS: Former Greater Manchester ACC Ian Wiggett provides a considered response to an academic paper that, according to the Times today, has "caused fury by comparing bobbies to binmen"

NEWS: Bernard Rix, Policing Insight's publisher, welcomes Carina on board...

IN THE NEWS: Our Weekly Review, drawing heavily on our popular Media Monitor database