Coronavirus / COVID-19

OPINION: Bernard Rix, Publisher of Policing Insight, provides a brief overview of policing responses worldwide to Covid-19, and identifies some of the factors that will determine which forces emerge from the pandemic with their reputations enhanced.

INTERVIEW: The lockdown has led to a steep rise in calls to domestic abuse helplines in the UK. While they offer vital support, alternative accommodation is essential to enabling people to escape their situation, but Co-APCC Victims lead on domestic abuse Julia Mulligan says refuges are all but full and more accommodation is urgently needed.

Exclusive interview: Medical hardware is the latest addition to a growing list of areas targeted by criminals during the Covid-19 pandemic. In an exclusive interview INTERPOL's Executive Director Stephen Kavanagh QPM DL gives an update on the emerging threats, the impact on traditional crime and how law enforcement is responding.

Analysis: The latest in our Report Watch series summarises a report by Europol on how criminals are profiteering from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Analysis: As police services across the globe play a vital role in helping to prevent the spread of Covid-19, Dr Zoha Waseem, Research Fellow at the Institute for Global City Policing at UCL, examines the reasons for the 'hard policing' approach taken in some South Asian countries and the growing need to adopt more a compassionate, community-orientated policing response.

Opinion: Figures show 64 per cent of short-term prisoners in the UK re-offend. Director of Operational Safety at Northgate Public Services Steve Ainsworth examines how better information sharing between the police and the probation service has the power to reduce re-offending rates and make communities safer.

Innovation: The rolling out of a new perpetrator programme proven to be successful in reducing domestic violence has been put on hold, due to the outbreal of COVID-19. Policing Insight contributor Sarah Gibbons discusses the Drive programme, the methodology behind it and how it can make a real and sustained difference to victims everywhere.

OPINION: Necessity is, as they say, the mother invention and here Nick Bradley, Managing Director of Enlighten Training and Consultancy describes how the Coronavirus emergency has accelerated the modernisation of training delivery with one large police force.

ANALYSIS : While many commentators are asking how 'organised crime' is adapting to the COVID-19 crisis, Dr Anna Sergi warns that such questions may be missing the point. Rather, we should be looking at variability of organised crime structures and activities, and preparing ourselves for a new research agenda in a changed and unknown landscape.

Opinion: Travelling through France as the lockdown was announced, Tristram Hicks, a former detective superintendent and now a global consultant on organised international crime, money laundering and corruption, gives a personal account of how the French are enforcing the lockdown as the country attempts to counter the spread of Covid-19.

Opinion: A Crest Advisory report has revealed overwhelming support for the UK police's approach to policing the pandemic. Crisis Communication Consultant Amanda Coleman says now is the time to build community involvement into the communication strategy, laying the foundations for how the next generation view the police.

ANALYSIS: As law enforcement across the world adjusts to policing the pandemic, Associate Professor Terry Goldsworthy and Assistant Professor Robyn Lincoln from Bond University explore the role the Australian police forces play in managing this crisis.

Advertisement Feature: Police forces have been given unprecedented powers to help reduce the spread of coronavirus but face challenges in reducing their own risk of infection whilst carrying out their duties. Jamie Wilson of NICE Public Safety explains how using a Digital Evidence Management System can help and invites those concerned to attend a free webinar on Wednesday, 15th April at 10am UK / 11pm CET / 7pm AEST.

ADVERTISEMENT: PolicingPeople is a new technology solution for interim police recruitment, launched today. PolicingPeople Managing Director, Ian Tomson-Smith, explains how this new initiative can help police forces worldwide meet the challenge of Covid-19. Have you got relevant skills and experience? Register your availability now to "Play Your Part".

OPINION: Dr Emma Williams of Canterbury Christ Church University provides her review of the #WeCops Twitter debate last week, examining UK police's response to the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.

Opinion: In her most recent blog, director of Transform Justice Penelope Gibbs considers the issue of police custody for adults who have been arrested and detained and offers suggestions on how to keep this to a minimum during the Covid-19 crisis.

ANALYSIS: Just twelve days ago, Policing Insight established an International Advisory Board (IAB), to help shape our contribution to policing's global response to Coronavirus Covid-19. Here, Policing Insight's Publisher, Bernard Rix, provides an early update on the IAB's work.

OPINION: Deloitte's Public Safety lead in the Gulf region, Andrew Morley, examines how police and other public safety agencies in the Middle East might respond to Covid-19. There are already very significant demands placed upon these agencies in enforcing the critical public health measures introduced to limit the spread of the Covid-19 virus - but is there more?

Analysis: UK police officers have been given unprecedented powers to curtail personal freedoms as the nation attempts to slow the spread of Covid-19. Former Ch Supt Owen West and Dr Matthew Radburn examine the potential for the principles of procedural justice to enable officers to exercise these powers without alienating the populace.

NEWS: The Coronavirus Act 2020 introduces sweeping powers for public services to tackle the pandemic, but has neglected to include Police and Crime Panels, whose role it is to scrutinise Police and Crime Commissioners, among the list of local authority bodies that can still meet to carry out their work. Policing Insight reports.

Analysis: CoPaCC Director and former chief officer Ian Wiggett examines the policing response to the Covid-19 and what the 'new normal' could look like for policing in the weeks to come.

OPINION: Andy Rhodes QPM is the Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary, and the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for well being and staff engagement. Here, he provides his thoughts on the organisational impact of Covid-19 on policing and how leaders can make the coming weeks easier for their staff.

OPINION: Policing Insight's Publisher, Bernard Rix, considers whether the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic will irrevocably damage British policing's "policing by consent" model first set out by Sir Robert Peel in 1829. Can policing emerge all the stronger for the societal challenges the virus will bring?

Analysis: The UK has a wealth of experience in contingency planning, but Covid-19 is unprecedented in terms of scale and complexity. Drawing on interviews with senior contingency planners about the response so far, Professor Clifford Stott and former Chief Superintendent Owen West outline current challenges and offer preliminary recommendations to help navigate the weeks ahead.