OPINION: With the COVID-19 lockdown pushing the Crown Court backlog of cases to 54,000 and rising, finding ways to safely speed up the delivery of justice are crucial; Dr Johann Grundlingh, CEO of SFR Medical, believes streamlining the medical evidence process could bring real benefits.

FEATURE: The Coronavirus pandemic has put huge pressures on the criminal justice system, and could have an impact on the courts and policing for many years to come; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons looks at two recent reports that both warn of critical risks and the need for a radical overhaul.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has called for an extraordinary response from law enforcement; but Dr Wendy Laverick and Professor Peter Joyce believe the increasing politicisation of policing during the pandemic, the sidelining of PCCs and introduction of tougher powers could threaten police legitimacy once the crisis is over.

OPINION: Many sections of the media have been quick to blame ‘covidiots’ for the spread of COVID-19, and equally quick to back a police crackdown; but former chief superintendent Owen West, a Research Fellow at Keele University, says the evidence suggests the media narrative is false, and that the 'get tough' approach is part of a wider politicisation of policing that could do long-term damage to the police-public relationship.

OPINION: COVID-19 has undoubtedly placed significant pressures on UK policing, but the unique environment, coupled with advances in technology and continuing recruitment efforts, have also created potential benefits; Boyd Mulvey, founder and CEO of Chorus Intelligence Ltd, explores the threats and opportunities presented by the pandemic.

FEATURE: The most recent @WeCops Twitter chat focused on domestic abuse and the impact of COVID-19, exploring issue around how the pandemic has changed the reporting and response, how partners and support agencies have coped, and what lessons police have learned; Thames Valley Police Superintendent and WeCops team member Katy Barrow-Grint pulls together the key points from the debate.

FEATURE: Speaking at the recent London Policing College’s Police in the time of Pandemic conference, National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Martin Hewitt outlined the sometimes ‘tense and difficult’ relationship between police and the UK Government during the COVID-19 crisis, and praised the efforts of officers and staff; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: With a force area covering 2.5 million square kilometres – the world's largest non-federated jurisdiction – Western Australia Police face unique challenges, and enforcing COVID-19 restrictions was certainly one of them; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to WA Deputy Commissioner Gary Dreibergs about the pioneering, police-led app that made all the difference.

OPINION: The UK’s N8 Policing Research Partnership will be holding a two-day conference next week, focusing on the Policing Vulnerabilities and the Future of Police/Academic Partnerships; in the first in a series of articles around the event, Prof Gloria Laycock, Chair of the N8 PRP Advisory Board, highlights the importance of police and research collaborations in the COVID-19 pandemic age.

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.

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.

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.

ANALYSIS: How does policing affect people’s willingness to comply with COVID-19 restrictions, and does the public support the actions police may have to take? Having surveyed public opinion across 10 British cities at regular intervals during the pandemic, Dr Arabella Kyprianides, Dr Julia Yesberg, Dr Zoe Hobson and Prof Ben Bradford of UCL, Prof Jonathan Jackson and Dr Krisztián Pósch (LSE), and Dr Reka Solymosi of the University of Manchester discuss the findings of the Policing the Pandemic study.

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.

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.

FEATURE: A new report by the C19 National Foresight Group warns that the psychological impact of a coronavirus second wave could compound already high levels of police officer mental health problems and pose a challenge to sufferers and the service for the next decade, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: In the fourth in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Policing Insight talks to President of the College and former Met Police DAC Rod Jarman – and poses five key questions on the police-public relationship – ahead of his workshops on the issue later this week.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of society, and all facets of policing; in the second in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Polly Harrar, Joint Chair of the Met’s Harmful Practices Working Group and Founder of national BAME specialist charity The Sharan Project, shares her experiences of the policing response to harmful practices in the COVID-19 era.

INTERVIEW: The COVID-19 pandemic should act as a catalyst for policing transformation, says Andrew Newsham, PwC National Lead for Policing – but greater collaboration, enhanced sharing of good practice and a clear, unified message on funding will be crucial to enable the service to meet the post-lockdown policing challenges.

OPINION: Monash University Emeritus Professor Jude McCulloch believes that a bill being considered by Australia's Victorian Parliament as part of legislation to tackle COVID-19 would provide police and other ‘authorised officers’ with unprecedented, extraordinary powers, and rely too heavily on a punitive approach to controlling the coronavirus, with limited checks and balances.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: Mohammed Almazrouei from the UCL Jill Dando Institute, Nicola Georgiou from the UCL Centre for Forensic Sciences and Moa Lidén from the Abu Dhabi Police Forensic Evidence Laboratory collaborate to consider how the role of the forensic pathologist has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest article from the UCL Jill Dando Institute series on COVID-19, Jason Roach from the University of Huddersfield and Ken Pease from Derby University examine self-selection policing (SSP) during the pandemic and how successful this style of policing response has been at detecting and identifying offenders.

OPINION: The challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic have stretched emergency services around the globe in strikingly similar ways; Oscar Bachs, from Barcelona technology company Unblur, describes how innovations such as AI and situational awareness software could be used to enhance the safety and effectiveness of blue light workers.