Crime

OPINION: Police forces and other agencies in Australia are increasing their efforts to tackle ‘crimefluencers’, members of decentralised online crime networks who build their own status through ‘posting and boasting’ about criminal activities, and encourage and coerce others to do the same; Dr Xanthe Weston and Dr Raquel Peel of Central Queensland University, and Dr Joel Robert McGregor of Swinburne University, explore the issue of crimefluencers, and suggest steps that can be taken to tackle the problem.

FEATURE: While the ‘Run, Hide, Tell’ guidance remains necessary life-saving advice for the public in the event of a terrorist attack, it was never designed to be adopted by businesses, who have a direct duty of care to staff and customers; Policing insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the ‘Guide Shelter Report’ model, launched recently by ProtectUK, aimed at ensuring businesses and organisations have a good security culture in place in response to such scenarios.

INNOVATION: A “revolutionary” suite of tech tools developed as part of the Tackling Organised Exploitation (TOEX) programme’s Capabilities Environment is now being made available to all police forces in England and Wales, to assist with complex investigations into child sexual exploitation and abuse as well as other serious crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Victoria Police is making more arrests than at any point in its recorded history; but strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda argues that, as the force is also experiencing record rates of officer burnout, a documented accountability deficit at command level, and a systematic misidentification problem in family violence proceedings, all the evidence points toward the need for a comprehensive reform agenda spanning all three of these interconnected issues.

FEATURE: The UK is winning the tactical battles but “losing the strategic war” in the fight against serious organised crime (SOC), according to a new report from the Coalition for Global Prosperity, which calls for the introduction of a more coherent strategy that approaches SOC as a national security risk, recognises threats from other states including China, Russia and Iran, and focuses on using existing frameworks to move the fight “upstream”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Child criminal exploitation has long been recognised in the UK – particularly the county lines model – and is a focus for a number of European countries, but understanding of the issue is limited in Australia; Dr Susan Baidawi, an Associate Professor at Monash University, warns that far from being an emerging problem, such exploitation is already a defining contemporary youth justice issue, and one which urgently requires data collection, multi-agency collaboration, and a response embedded in child protection.

FEATURE: A new evaluation of the UK Government’s Turnaround Programme, designed to help support more than 20,000 children “on the cusp of the youth justice system”, has hailed the schemes success and recognised the positive impact of closer collaboration between youth offending teams, police and other agencies, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: The Early Awareness of Stalking Intervention (EASI) team now in place in West Midlands Police is leading to an increasing number of stalking protection orders issued, a longer-term approach to supporting victims, and better monitoring and interventions with perpetrators, as Detective Superintendent Adam Jobson, the force’s lead for domestic abuse and stalking, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INNOVATION: While efforts to prevent and detect crime and ensure security are increasingly focused on the digital landscape alongside closer community relations, the mail system still offers opportunities for criminals and bad actors, as the international drug trafficking operation using the Canadian postal service recently uncovered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police demonstrated; safety and security professional Vernon White looks at the challenges of the identifying invisible threats, and the steps being taken to make it possible.

FEATURE: This month sees the launch of a £30m Online Crime Centre combining police, intelligence services, banking, mobile networks and major tech firms in the fight against fraud – a key element in the UK Government’s recently launched Fraud Strategy 2026-2029, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Former British Transport Police officer Rob Glassborow was a member of the County Lines Task Force launched in 2019, which adopted an approach of focusing on juveniles exploited by drug gangs as offenders rather than victims; now a lecturer in policing at Leeds Trinity University, he admits to being “in awe” of how county lines policing has become a specialist area with a clear safeguarding mission, and points to the increased knowledge and expertise as an example of the success of professionalising policing.

ANALYSIS: Research from Operation Soteria has found numerous institutional issues in the policing of rape and serious sexual offences that require urgent attention: in this article, Dr Anna Gekoski, Dr Kari Davies, and Professor Miranda Horvath explore these issues, which include problems relating to staffing, training, and technology.

ANALYSIS: A recent report based on interviews with officers in England and Wales in 2021-22 highlights a number of ‘institutional challenges’ around investigating rape and serious sexual offences; however, Prof Betsy Stanko, Senior Strategic Academic Advisor for Operation Soteria, Chief Constable Sarah Crew, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Adult Sexual Offences, and Detective Chief Superintendent Melissa Laremore, Operation Soteria Delivery Lead, set out the significant progress in addressing these and many other issues over the past five years.

OPINION: Methamphetamine prices in New Zealand have recently fallen significantly, and a similar trend has been seen in Australia; Massey University’s Professor Chris Wilkins, Associate Professor Dr Marta Rychert, and Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr Robin van der Sanden argue that while competition, demand and enforcement may be factors, the most convincing explanation is the growing role played by Mexican cartels in the manufacture and supply of meth and other drugs.

FEATURE: As the European Commission (EC) unveils a new agenda to prevent and counter terrorism, which includes new practical tools for countering the radicalisation of minors, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth suggests that the EC would do well to learn some of the lessons from the implementation of the Prevent Strategy in the UK, including the statutory duties on all schools, colleges and universities to protect children and young adults in their care from adopting extremist and violent ideologies.

ANALYSIS: As policing in England and Wales continues to deal with frequent and often large-scale protest and counter-protest, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has highlighted the “grey area” in which officers now operate; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former Metropolitan Police officer and public order specialist, explains the current complex challenges around tactical and operational public order decisions, and the need for a clearer focus on ‘lawful’ rather than ‘peaceful’ protest.

INTERVIEW: Departing HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about his time in charge of scrutinising police forces, the “national disgrace” of court delays faced by victims, and why he believes the Government’s planned major reforms – including significant new powers for the inspectorate – are a once in a generation opportunity to make communities safer.

OPINION: As transnational criminal networks grow in complexity and reach, the Australian Border Force is evolving from a traditional customs and immigration agency into a sophisticated intelligence-led law enforcement organisation; the results are already visible, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda, but the challenges ahead are formidable – and some of the most significant are not operational at all.

FEATURE: A new report from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research into policing after lockdown and how to rebuild relationships with the “Covid generation” has urged police to introduce “poverty awareness training” for officers to provide a better understanding of inequality’s impact on youth-police relations, and develop stronger partnership and collaborative approaches, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Family violence protection orders can provide a vital safety net for victim-survivors in Australia, preventing further violence from occurring; but University of Melbourne Professor Heather Douglas and PhD Candidate Allanah Colley warn that the differing laws across Australian states can lead to a courts ‘quagmire’, and there is much more work to be done around police enforcement of breaches, culturally-responsive approaches, and support for victim-survivors.

INNOVATION: The latest report from the European Network Against Crime and Terrorism reveals that the UK continues to play a leading role in European Union security research, highlighting the potential for police leaders to work with other partners and stakeholders to access some of the €40 million funding to develop real-world initiatives in the fight against crime and terrorism, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Retail crime in the UK is rising fast, but efforts to tackle it are being held back by a lack of trust. Many retailers no longer believe reporting incidents leads to action, weakening the system. Rebuilding trust through better communication between retailers and policing is essential to improve reporting, strengthen intelligence and deliver better outcomes.

INTERVIEW: Following the launch in England and Wales last year of the first phase of the neighbourhood policing programme training modules, a new tranche of training is now providing officers with the skills and knowledge to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC) in local communities; Chief Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, Head of Uniformed Policing at the College of Policing, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the local impact of SOC, and how the investment in officers will benefit communities.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Matthew Barber, APCC Joint Lead on Serious Violence and PCC for the Thames Valley, highlights the continuing efforts of police and PCCs to tackle knife crime and the importance of partnerships and early intervention to change the culture of knife carrying, and urges the Government to ensure the momentum and progress made to date is not lost with the abolition of PCCs and ongoing police reform.