HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS)

FEATURE: A recent report into police performance by the Social Market Foundation thinktank has highlighted that “subpar leadership and management” across police forces in England and Wales is one of the driving factors behind deteriorating assessments in areas such as criminal investigation and outcomes which, alongside the continuing mismatch between police demand and capacity, are damaging public trust and confidence, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Policing in the UK is currently waiting expectantly for the soon-to-be-published police reform white paper; in the first of a two-part article on reform – and why bigger isn’t better, culture trumps structure, and technology won’t save us without transformation – organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson explores the performance myths that need to be dispelled, the real story from the PEEL assessment data, and why Positive Deviance methodology could be crucial for police reform.

LONG READ: With policing facing both growing demand and increasingly complex challenges, the role of leadership has never been more crucial; in this long-read article that draws on his own PhD thesis, Dr Aksar Bashir of the Force Contact Training Academy at West Midlands Police explores the concept of IDEA leadership – which fuses inspirational, distributed, ethical, and authentic leadership – as the ideal approach to equip the next generation of police leaders.

OPINION: As policing in England and Wales moves towards meeting the Government’s Neighbourhood Policing commitment, former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology (CILPM), explores how the approach can re-establish trust between modern-day policing and communities, and prevent neighbourhood policing from becoming a white elephant.

FEATURE: Two recent reports into group based child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) in the UK – one by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, the other by the Hydrant Programme – have highlighted a lack of data around CSAE, the need for more consistency around understanding and identification of crimes, and the importance of a “robust national solution” to tackling CSAE, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: As law enforcement around the world prepares to face the challenges of 2026, Editor Keith Potter looks back over the key issues Policing Insight covered in 2025 – from structural reform and the approaches to ongoing and evolving crime threats, to workforce wellbeing, the opportunities from artificial intelligence and new technology, and leadership insights – and how these may affect the next 12 months.

FEATURE: A recent report on police performance in England and Wales, published by the Institute for Government, highlights the “ballooning volumes” of digital evidence and more administrative work being undertaken by officers, and the damaging impact on chiefs officers’ ability to set local priorities amid the continuing delays in publishing the plans for police reform, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Police forces across England and Wales need central support to embed “a more consistent, nationally-led approach” to investigator wellbeing rather than the current ad-hoc activities and initiatives at a local level, as Sarah-Jayne Bray, Programme Manager for the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators portfolio, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: In the latest in The Police Student series focusing on Community and Neighbourhood Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly looks at the background to and emergence of neighbourhood policing, its role in supporting confidence and legitimacy, and why the approach is likely to continue to change in response to political, economic and social pressures.

FEATURE: A recent report into the UK Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee has warned that for the Guarantee to succeed, there will need to be better training for neighbourhood policing recruits, a reduction in officer abstractions from neighbourhood policing teams, and change in the perception of the neighbourhood role to recognise it as a specialism, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Essex Chief Constable BJ Harrington, one of the longer-serving chief constables in England and Wales, spoke recently to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about avoiding “distractions” in delivering policing to the public, facing down criticism in relation to controversial issues such as the Epping asylum protests, and why local control and connections are still more effective in service delivery than “big is beautiful” centralisation.

FEATURE: A recent joint report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate of Probation warns that the inconsistent use of out-of-court disposals for children is creating a “postcode lottery” for justice outcomes, and leaving youngsters likely to become “more deeply involved in offending behaviour”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: This week’s National Audit Office (NAO) report into police productivity in England and Wales highlights a range of barriers to forces improving productivity, the dangers of the current fragmented policing structure, and the risks of a short-term funding approach to long-term service delivery; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to NAO Report Director Oliver Lodge about the implications of the findings, and what forces and the Home Office can do to improve productivity and efficiency.

FEATURE: In the first in a new series of The Police Student focusing on Community and Neighbourhood Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores the development and definition of neighbourhood policing, and considers its importance in building relationships with the community, as well as its role in tackling public concerns about crime and strengthening confidence in policing.

FEATURE: An Inspectorate report into the UK National Crime Agency’s National Data Exploitation Capability (NDEC) is warning that the Agency risks missing vital intelligence due in part to a mounting “technical debt” that means it spends much of its annual IT budget updating hundreds of legacy systems rather than investing in long-term technology solutions, with NDEC staff using outdated and obsolete IT when trying to work on large volumes of data, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With continuing UK protests fuelled by polarised views presenting ongoing problems for policing, former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology (CILPM), explores how CILPM could enhance both the delivery and impact of the new neighbourhood policing focus, and feed into addressing the challenges of policing a fractured society.

INTERVIEW: Merging four separate police functions under one banner, the new National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and Public Protection is part of a UK Government drive to start “treating the epidemic of violence against women and children with the seriousness it deserves”; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to the Centre’s Deputy Director, Assistant Chief Constable Claire Bell, about how it is working so far and what the future holds.

INTERVIEW: The UK’s Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently published new guidance for police forces and other uniformed services on collecting and analysing equality data; EHRC Wales Committee Interim Chair Martyn Jones spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the drivers behind the new guidance, how good data could lead to necessary cultural change, and why police forces need to be aware of their statutory duties around collating and utilising equality data.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Black Police Association (NBPA) is working with academics to design a way to rate forces on issues including trust and representation; the NBPA announced the move at its annual conference this month, where police leaders discussed issues including the exposure of racism at Charing Cross Police Station by the BBC, the Police Race Action Plan, and calls to abolish non-crime hate incidents, as Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports.

INTERVIEW: Greater Manchester Police’s Chief Superintendent Phil Davies leads for the force on data strategy, as well as on data foundations for the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Data and Analytics Board; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the benefits of police borrowing the “digital twin” concept widely used in industry, the need for efficient data quality and management, and how realisation around the importance of data is finally hitting home in policing.

FEATURE: A new report from the National Police Chiefs’ Council on the progress made by forces in England and Wales into responding to and investigating stalking has found that many forces have made significant improvements since launching new actions plans last year, but warns that financial constraints, inexperienced staff and the growing use of technology in stalking are all presenting major challenges for policing, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

PSA CONFERENCE: Recent research among superintending ranks in England and Wales has highlighted worrying levels of poor psychological wellbeing and increasing mental health sick leave; but Police Superintendents’ Association President, Superintendent Nick Smart, warns that while good welfare provision should be the norm, the continuing “austerity” levels of funding mean that support is a “postcode lottery” and the lack of resources is adding to already unmanageable workloads, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: The standard of crime recording for forces across England and Wales has improved significantly over the past decade, according to the latest report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services – but there are still concerns around violent and anti-social crime statistics, over-recording, and the use of N100 reports in relation to unconfirmed rapes and attempted rapes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Despite the Uplift recruitment programme, research suggests the public feel police are still less visible and less responsive, and the Government has now pledged a further 13,000 neighbourhood police officers by 2029; in the last in this current series of articles on workforce development, Ian Wiggett looks at the availability of the workforce, the way it is deployed, and why ultimately what will matter is whether the public notices the difference.