FEATURE: From criminal networks creating their own welfare systems, to new financial scams, corruption, and transnational counterfeiting of PPE on a huge scale, Covid led to new opportunities and ways of working for organised crime (OC); Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at some of the criminal tools and techniques adopted by OC in response to the pandemic, highlighted during the 24-hour Conference on Global Organised Crime.

ANALYSIS: This week’s publication of both the Crime Survey for England and Wales and the latest Police Recorded Crime (PRC) statistics offers the first comparable crime figures to before the pandemic; Meghan Elkin, joint head of crime statistics at the Office for National Statistics, explains how these latest figures can help to explain whether Covid has led to any sustained impacts on levels of crime, and how survey methods may also influence the data.

ANALYSIS: As well as changing society, the Covid pandemic has changed crime, as the disarray caused by rapidly introduced polices at national and international levels has presented all sorts of opportunities for criminals; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen examines one particular growth area of illicit activity – the sale of counterfeit COVID-19 passports.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: Contactless card payment limits increased in the UK to £100 in October, seemingly largely in an effort to increase consumer spending and help stimulate economic recovery; but in this latest article from the UCL COVID-19 series, Professor Graham Farrell (University of Leeds) and Professor Nick Tilley (UCL) argue that a Tap-and-PIN approach would help to prevent crime, and potentially deter a large cohort of young offenders from becoming career criminals.

FEATURE: Pandemic lockdowns and remote working have fuelled a significant growth in cyber crime, according to Europol’s latest Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment, with fraud and grooming – including the distribution of explicit self-generated material – presenting major challenges for investigators; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons looks at the key threats highlighted in the report, and what steps policing can take to mitigate them.

FEATURE: The illegal trafficking of wild animals feeds a major global market, and involves a huge range of species; now a new series of briefings on this illicit trade – starting with a focus on live cheetahs and African Elephant ivory – is highlighting the challenges of tackling animal trafficking as well as how routes and markets have responded to COVID-19, as Policing Insight’s Chris Allen reports.

ANALYSIS: The Covid pandemic and multiple lockdowns have not prompted a “significant increase” in domestic homicide deaths, according to a new police and government report published last month; but the research does raise several areas of concern, including domestic abuse risks associated with lifting lockdowns, and the “entrenched and enduring” nature of the problem, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports.

ANALYSIS: While many businesses and communities struggled to overcome the challenges presented by the pandemic, COVID-19 also offered opportunities for fraudsters and cybercriminals to target both vulnerable individuals and financial support packages offered by governments around the world; Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at some of the steps being taken – and the early successes – in the fight against COVID-19 fraud.

FEATURE: In 2014, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner became the world’s first online safety regulator; Julie Inman-Grant, who took up the Commissioner’s post in 2017, believes that the organisation’s model of protection, prevention, and proactive and systemic change – backed this year by new online safety legislation – has helped to create a successful blueprint that other countries are now looking to follow.

FEATURE: While COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns significantly impacted on criminal activity in many areas, the latest Europol report confirms that migrant smuggling and human trafficking quickly adapted to a new normal; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen looks at the scale of the problem, efforts to target smuggling and trafficking operations, and the trade-off between the right to privacy and the criminal exploitation of encrypted communications channels.

FEATURE: The various COVID-19 lockdowns have prompted criminal activity to move increasingly online, with illicit financial transactions following suit; ahead of next week’s We Fight Fraud online conference, Dr Nicola Harding outlines the findings of a new white paper which reveal how low-level criminal commerce is increasingly becoming part of the cashless society.

ANALYSIS: With countries across Europe engaged in their own efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, the latest Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment from Europol suggests COVID-19 could be a key driver in future organised crime, alongside geopolitical changes and the online criminal economy, reports Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: One response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the encouragement of more contactless payment, and with it the increases in transaction limits; but in this latest article from the UCL COVID-19 series, Professor Graham Farrell (University of Leeds) and Professor Nick Tilley (UCL) warn that such moves could lead to a rise in thefts of credit and debit cards and have a lasting effect on crime rates.

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.

ANALYSIS: Many police and support agencies have spoken of the rise in domestic abuse cases due to the COVID-19 lockdown, but empirical evidence has been lacking; now new research by Dr Katrin Hohl of City, University of London and Dr Kelly Johnson of Durham University has revealed both the scale and complex nature of the pandemic’s impact on domestic abuse, and the need for police to prepare for a post-lockdown surge in reporting.

FEATURE: London Policing College’s recent Policing in the Time of Pandemic conference included a focus on COVID-19’s impact on domestic abuse and harmful practices; Polly Harrar, founder of The Sharan Project and Joint Chair of the London Harmful Practices Working Group, highlights the key messages from the workshops held ahead of the conference, and the lessons for policing moving forwards.

FEATURE: The pandemic lockdown may have led to a drop in many categories of crime, but it also introduced the right conditions for a significant increase in the risk of online radicalisation at a time when, as Met Police DAC Lucy D’Orsi explained, UK counter-terror investigations are already at their highest level; Policing Insight’s Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports.

FEATURE: COVID-19 lockdowns around the world may have led to a fall in most domestic crime, but transnational drug-trafficking operations and other organised crime groups have been quick to adapt and overcome, leading to potentially bigger profits and a new criminal world order, warns Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

FEATURE: A series of international workshops focusing on policing in the pandemic have highlighted officer wellbeing, new crime threats and a deluge of lockdown legislation as key concerns emerging from the COVID-19 crisis; ahead of a London Policing College conference next week to discuss the issues, Policing Insight editor Keith Potter talks to College President Rod Jarman about the key themes, and lessons for the future.

ANALYSIS: Within days of the COVID-19 lockdown being announced in the UK, crime analysts were making predictions about its impact on criminal behaviour; so were they right? Professor Graham Farrell, Dr Sam Langton and Data Scientist Anthony Dixon of the School of Law at the University of Leeds examine the crime figures and trends from the first six months of the pandemic.

OPINION: In the third in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, independent cyber and security consultant Graeme McGowan explains why the move of millions of employees to remote online working in response to the coronavirus could lead to a cybercrime legacy of that lasts long after any lockdown is over.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest article from the UCL series, Graham Farrell from the University of Leeds and Shane D Johnson from the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL discuss how a COVID-19 vaccine may trigger a crime wave on a global scale.