United States

OPINION: Steve Ainsworth, Director of Operational Safety at Northgate Public Services, believes public concern over the ethical use of AFR is blocking it from being seen as a force for good, and sets his sights on debunking facial recognition technology’s Big Brother image.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner Tony Barksdale highlights the urgent need for policing to be able to confront the violence that is devastating some of the most vulnerable sections of the community.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Professor Gary Cordner, former Maryland police chief and Academic Director of the Baltimore Police Department Police Academy, explains how better police education and training can contribute to reducing violence.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Denise Rodriguez, a leading expert on collaborative reform, police accountability and community engagement, explains why improved police-community relations is crucial to reducing levels of violence.

ANALYSIS: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Professors Jerry Ratcliffe and Evan Sorg – both former police officers – argue that effective use of foot patrol could be the key to re-engaging with communities and reducing violence.

ANALYSIS: Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines how the pandemic has forced drug traffickers to change tried and tested smuggling routes, and explores how this will impact on the new transit countries as well as the wider European cocaine trade.

FEATURE: Against a backdrop of unprecedented rising violence in 2020 – with murders across the biggest 65 cities in the US increasing collectively by a third – Professor Peter Moskos, a former Baltimore police officer, launched the Violence Reduction Project; in this first in a series of essays from practitioners, experts and academics, he highlights the aims of the Project, and the need for urgent action.

OPINION: Debates around ‘warrior cop’ masculinity and excessive use of force in policing have continued in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests; but suggestions that simply hiring more women will change police culture are flawed, says Harvard Masters candidate Diane Liang.

FEATURE: The illegal trade in wildlife and plants threatens some of the world's most vulnerable and endangered species; but tackling this illicit activity can also help law enforcement agencies in the fight against other serious and organised international crime, as freelance journalist and specialist scientific and environmental writer Georgina Kenyon explains.

OPINION: Coverage of protesters storming the Capitol Building in Washington DC was watched around the world, with many questioning the ease with which rioters gained entry to the heart of federal government; Tom Nolan, Associate Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College, Boston, believes the events of the day will be viewed by many experts as ‘an international embarrassment for American law enforcement’.

FEATURE: It’s been a tough year for policing – and for communities generally – around the world, but as Christmas approaches, the police family are digging deep to help each other as well as those less fortunate; Australian-based nurse and mental health champion Melissa Gole highlights some of the many fundraising efforts that those within policing can support this festive season.

FEATURE: A review of 30 research studies into the effects of body-worn cameras on the behaviour of both officers and the public suggests that there is ’substantial uncertainty’ regarding the potential benefits of the new technology, other than in reducing unwarranted complaints against police, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: On Tuesday 15th December at 11am EST / 4pm GMT / 5pm CET, NICE will be hosting a Global Digital Transformation of Policing and Criminal Justice Virtual Roundtable. It will be joined by senior Police and Criminal Justice representatives from the UK and the US who will each provide insight into their digital transformation journeys, during this free-to-attend event.

OPINION: When a community’s belief that police will be fair and respectful diminishes, so too does the legitimacy of policing itself, and the result can be slide into broken relations and the ‘harder' use of police powers; criminologist Professor Mike Hough of Birkbeck, University of London explores how procedural justice theory can explain these interactions – and hopefully offer a route back to more effective community relations.

LONG READ: Modern slavery and human trafficking are transnational crimes that could easily flourish in the COVID-19 pandemic conditions of economic uncertainty and isolation; in this long-read article, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at efforts in the UK and US to tackle this illegal human trade which often targets society’s most vulnerable.

FEATURE: Online child sexual exploitation is a growing crime with horrific consequences around the world, but a global task force led by the FBI is making significant inroads, catching offenders and rescuing children; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports from the UK’s Internet Intelligence and Investigations Conference on the success of the VCACITF.

OPINION: The American presidential election was fought against a backdrop of protest, division and unrest, with law and order and policing more politicised than at any time since the 1960s; Professor Temitope Oriola of the University of Alberta believes legislation is needed to prevent a repeat of similar politicisation in the future.

FEATURE: The social and economic conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled a surge in human trafficking in many countries; Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth reports on one US initiative which has brought together a range of covert intelligence and overt investigative agencies to tackle the issue – with impressive results.

OPINION: The UN reports a 320% increase in right-wing terrorism globally in the five years prior to 2020; as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic provides a fertile breeding ground for fanaticism, Sean Spence, doctorate student in security risk management at the University of Portsmouth, explains why any current 'fifth wave' of terrorism is likely to come from the far right.

OPINION: The cumulative trauma suffered by police and other first responders regularly exposed to serious injury, death and immediate threat can cause high levels of PTSD as well as depression, anxiety, stress, and suicidal thoughts; but as psychiatrist Professor Arash Javanbakht explains, help is out there – and first responders and their families deserve to be happy.

ANALYSIS: There have been widespread calls for police reform in the United States, but what shape should that reform take, and how effective can it be? Professor Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University looks at what steps have been taken so far, what has – and hasn’t – worked, and the opportunities for further evidence-based reform.

ANALYSIS: While a significant proportion of the American public are calling for police reform, more than half of all major crime in the US still goes unreported, and police only make an arrest in around one in five of those cases; Professor Shima Baughman of the University of Utah argues that truly improving policing will require those two gaps to be addressed.

FEATURE: An industry body for security professionals has drawn up a blueprint for the lawful use of facial recognition technology; but, as Sarah Gibbons reports, thousands of leading international academics are warning that the algorithms and data used in such systems inevitably reinforce racial bias and prejudice.

Analysis: The militarisation of police departments in the United States has been a feature of domestic law enforcement since 2001. Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology at Emmanuel College Tom Nolan examines the impact of this approach on civil disorder.