United Kingdom

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Police services face the challenge of a growing multitude of communications channels used by the public, with engagements across social media, web and voice channels. Steve Norris, Police Market Director for Salesforce UK, discusses how these touchpoints can be married together for greater efficiency and insight.

OPINION: New research suggests the unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has left policing struggling to make the most effective use of social media; crisis communications expert Amanda Coleman believes that the wide range of social media platforms could be used not just to engage the public, but to target and tackle crime.

INTERVIEW: On the eve of his departure as Chief Constable of South Wales Police, before taking up his new post as Assistant Commissioner at the Met, Matt Jukes spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the challenges of policing the pandemic, the importance of preparation and communication, and the ‘hidden heroes’ of the policing effort.

OPINION: With policing resources under greater pressure than ever, prioritising police activity has never been more important; Professor Lawrence Sherman, Director of Research, Jerry Lee Centre for Experimental Criminology, at the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Criminology and crime harm index (CHI) pioneer, explains why the concept could be crucial for modern policing, ahead of a free, live CHI webinar tomorrow.

FEATURE: In the second of two articles exploring crime harm indexes, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the rationale behind the Cambridge index, and how the approach as been adopted in other countries including Sweden and Australia.

Job advertisement: Police Lecturer vacancies at Babcock International for their new flagship contract partnering with several Higher Education Institutes across London to deliver the new Metropolitan Police Service Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) framework.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has put significant pressures on policing, which in turn have been significant catalyst for change. In this recently published white paper, former Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey explores how UK policing can use the current appetite for radical change coupled with technological advances to improve performance.

OPINION: Headlines talking about the continuing exodus of exhausted emergency services staff raise few eyebrows, suggesting society has become comfortably numb to the plight of frontline first responders; former officer and now Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse says it’s time the public sector started investing in the person, rather than the post.

FEATURE: In the first of two articles exploring crime harm indexes, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the thinking behind the concept, and the latest calls for resources to be prioritised around a harm-based framework as part of the new approach to policing after the pandemic.

OPINION: Even before COVID-19, the next UK Comprehensive Spending Review was set to be a crucial moment for police funding; but as West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson QPM explains, the future of policing is about much more than budgets, with greater accountability, improved public trust and a clearer understanding of local delivery among the key issues.

FEATURE: With COVID-19 contributing to a court case backlog in the UK that may take years to clear, out-of-court disposals (OOCDs) could offer an alternative to court for low-level offenders, while also providing early, effective interventions; Andrew Inwards of Fujitsu outlines the company’s co-creation work with police forces to develop a fast, effective OOCD app.

INTERVIEW: In the last in the series of articles linked to the Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Policing Insight talks to former senior Met Police officer and crisis management / incident response specialist Roger Gomm – and poses four key questions on police operation and crises – ahead of his workshops on the issue later this week.

OPINION: The growing suicide levels among police officers and emergency response staff highlight the heavy toll on mental health that these roles can take; in the first of a series of articles focusing on issues such as vulnerability, shame, and self-worth, former police leader turned development coach Gareth Davies outlines some of the key steps forces can take to enable officers to ask for help and support.

OPINION: The debate over whether police forces should be ‘defunded’ – or funding reallocated to alternative community resources – has continued on both sides of the Atlantic; police ethics adviser Montell Neufville believes it’s important to understand the existing police and community criminal justice funding landscape, before considering the alternatives.

FEATURE: A study by the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales into rape survivors’ experiences of the criminal justice system has found that only one in seven felt that victims could get justice by reporting the crime to police; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at some of the key findings from the report.

ANALYSIS: Cases of sexual misconduct by police officers are still relatively rare, but such an abuse of position can have serious implications for the public’s view of policing, and the trust of the police as an institution; PhD researcher and serving police officer Fay Sweeting explores the scale of the problem, and what forces could be doing better to tackle the issue.

ANALYSIS: A second report published today by the Institute for Government examining the impact of COVID-19 on public services has highlighted a record backlog of criminal cases and a rapid expansion of the use of remote hearings; Nick Davies, the Institute’s programme director leading its work on public services, outlines the key findings.

OPINION: Not all disability or difference is obvious; for Avon and Somerset Police Inspector Lee Moore, a diagnosis of dyspraxia more than 20 years into his police service explained some of the struggles he had faced from an early age and throughout his career, but also highlighted the positives that difference can bring.

OPINION: With UK probation services due to be renationalised, Steve Ainsworth, Director of Operational Safety at Northgate Public Services, looks at the lessons to be learned from privatising probation that will help shape a service once again poised for change.

OPINION: The latest @WeCops chat tackled the complex subject of stop and search, hosted by an experienced and expert team of officers and attracting contributions from a wide and varied Twitter audience; this blog, written by Sgt Kerri Monaghan, West Mercia Police’s tactical lead for stop and search and use of force, pulls together the key points from the debate.

FEATURE: A new report by Skills for Justice underlines the significant impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the mental and physical health of police and other public sector workers; but there are some positives to be taken from the response to COVID-19.

ANALYSIS: In 2019 the UK Government announced £35 million funding for the launch of 18 new Violence Reduction Units, as part of a wider strategy that included a public health approach to tackling serious violence; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro looks at the first 12 months of VRUs, and the challenges for the future.

ANALYSIS: The rise in ransomware attacks has seen cyber criminals increasingly targeting public sector organisations, where budgetary constraints have led to poor cyber security; Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth looks at the preparations organisations can take to protect themselves, as well as efforts to prevent ransoms being paid by victims.

OPINION: The recent HM Inspectorate report into roads policing underlined the dangers of forces failing to prioritise road safety, with the number of fatalities and serious injuries on our roads starting to rise after years of decline; West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson – a former Transport Road Safety Minister – believes PCCs have a crucial role to play in reprioritising road safety.