United Kingdom

INNOVATION: There is enormous potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to assist with policing, but to realise that potential it’s important to gain public acceptance; in the first in a series of three articles on AI in policing, Matt Palmer, Product Director, Public Safety from NEC Software Solutions, recommends being open with the public about how AI is used.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports on what was discussed at a first-of-a-kind international symposium on boosting trust and confidence in policing, including new research on winning public support and the importance of listening to communities.

FEATURE: In the wake of a joint investigation into a super complaint over police-perpetrated domestic abuse (PPDA), the Independent Office for Police Conduct has now published its review of the way forces in England and Wales handle such cases, with calls for improved training for frontline officers on the potentially complex nature of PPDA, the need for better recording and vetting, and greater consideration of the impartiality of investigations, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With police forces needing to adopt and implement data-driven approaches to meet evolving crimes and demands, Charlotte Hails, Justice and Policing Lead and Head of Public Sector Vertical Strategy at Virgin Media O2 Business, argues that leveraging more benefits from policing’s partnerships with the private sector can help to address key challenges around skills shortages and investing in long-term technology strategies.

INTERVIEW: Dr Lella Nouri, Associate Professor of Criminology at Swansea University and Co-Director of the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC), has pioneered the StreetSnap to enable councils, local police and their partners to better record, utilise and remove hateful graffiti, and the Flip the Streets initiative involving community members in co-producing artwork to replace instances of hateful visuals, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth.

INNOVATION: The continuing development of digital and multi-channel public contact is a key issue for policing across England and Wales; in the second in a series of police technology webinars produced by PolicingTV, NPCC Digital Public Contact Programme Social Media lead Patrick Robins and Digital Youth Engagement lead Alex Finn, and TOEX and CSE Taskforce Communications lead Natalie Reed, explored the benefits and risks of policing’s social media participation, and the challenges around engaging young people.

OPINION: In the first in a new regular series of articles and opinion pieces from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, Chair of the APCC, highlights the PCC-based initiatives underway across England and Wales to reduce crime and improve community safety, particularly focusing on crime prevention and partnership working, with new research published this week underlining the effectiveness of multi-agency, evidence-based collaboration.

ANALYSIS: Every day, police officers endure experiences that most people can’t even imagine – violence, tragedy, and life-or-death emotionally fuelled decisions – but what happens when the weight of that trauma becomes too much to bear? PhD researcher Lucy Davies of the Open University’s Centre of Policing Research & Learning (CPRL) explores how unprocessed trauma can quietly erode judgement, fuel emotion dysregulation and, in some cases, lead to the very misconduct that undermines public trust.

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FEATURE: A new Police Foundation report into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in policing across England and Wales has called for improved data literacy – particularly at senior leadership levels – alongside national frameworks for digital technology delivery, data standardisation and the ethical use of AI, to ensure forces leverage maximum potential from the new tech while improving service to the public, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INNOVATION: Avon and Somerset Police’s Dementia Safeguarding Scheme is using Bluetooth tags and GPS trackers to help those with dementia if they go missing – reducing the amount of police resources deployed on tracing vulnerable people and protecting loved ones – as scheme pioneer Inspector Stuart King told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: The guilty plea and sentencing last month of 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana for the horrific murders of three young girls in Southport in July have prompted fresh debate about whether existing UK terrorism legislation is fit for purpose; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks back at how the current laws came into place, and what changes could mean for the definitions of ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’.

ANALYSIS: Sexual Risk Orders (SROs) can help to reduce sexual harm by offenders by more than 80%, but a lack understanding about their effectiveness and how they can and should be used has led to an inconsistent approach from forces across England and Wales; new research by Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Dan Whitten highlights the potential benefits of greater use of SROs in tackling sexual violence against women and girls, and the steps forces can take to maximise those benefits.

INNOVATION: Project Minerva, a collaboration between Essex Police and Nottingham Trent University, is using data-driven mapping to highlight both offences of violence against women and girls (VAWG) and areas where the fear of crime is greatest, to enable the force and community partners to tackle VAWG more effectively, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The rapid growth in the global use of new synthetic opioids (NSOs) including fentanyl and nitazenes prompted the UK’s National Crime Agency to warn last year that “there has never been a more dangerous time to take [illegal] drugs”; Dr Philip Berry, a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London and expert on the international drugs trade, looks at the background to the growth in NSOs, the nitazene ‘boom’ and the global heroin market, and what lessons the UK and Europe can learn from the US experience.

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INTERVIEW: In just over a year, the UK's Police National Computer is set to be replaced by the new Law Enforcement Data Service; Ian Weinfass spoke to those leading on the project for the Home Office and the police service about what the change will mean for officers, what else needs to happen, and the potential implications of not hitting the target date.

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INNOVATION: Inspired by ‘café scientifiques’, the team from the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) have been working with forces across England and Wales to hold a series of ‘evidence cafés’ – informal gatherings designed to increases two-way dialogue between academics and practitioners and explore how research findings relate to real-world policing practices – as the CPRL’s Dr Keely Duddin, Kendal Wright, Frances Wright and Dr Nicky Miller explain.

FEATURE: A new report from the Northern Ireland Policing Board exploring the relationship between children and young people and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has urged the Service to engage more effectively with youngsters who may often be vulnerable to influence and control from paramilitary and organised crime groups, with the role of neighbourhood officers and a rethink of the use of stop and search among key steps to improve that engagement, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The continuing development of digital and multi-channel public contact is a key issue for policing across England and Wales; in the first in a new series of police technology webinars produced by PolicingTV, Digital Public Contact Programme SRO DCC Simon Megicks, NPCC National Contact Management lead ACC Catherine Akehurst, and Simon Hall, Chair of techUK’s Justice and Emergency Service Interoperability Forum, shared their views on the importance of closer working between forces, budget challenges, and the potential for more effective data sharing.

INNOVATION: Operation Makesafe is the nationwide policing initiative working with hotels and accommodation providers across England and Wales to target and prevent premises being used for child sexual exploitation (CSE); Richard Fewkes, Director of the Hydrant Programme and the CSE Taskforce, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about how the initiative works, and the potential to expand to other sectors including fast-food outlets, taxi companies and vape shops.

ANALYSIS: London Policing College Senior Lecturer and Consultant Dr Chris Allen explores the key terrorism threats facing the UK from ideological, religious and political perpetrators as well as state actors, and looks at the projected trends over the coming 12 months.

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