Leadership

INTERVIEW: With a string background in education and academia, Durham Regional Police Service Director of Strategy, Research and Organisational Performance Dr Vidal Chavannes one of Canada’s leading advocates of evidence-based policing; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the importance of data-driven criminal justice, the challenges around addressing disproportionality, and the need to ensure that the data published and used within policing is given adequate context.

ANALYSIS: With police officers in the UK and Ireland operating under immense pressures, University of the West of England Senior Lecturers Dr Cody Porter and Dr Paul Gavin share findings from their recent research projects into specific sources of stress and its profound impacts on officers’ mental health in both jurisdictions, and call for a shift in the way mental health is treated – “not as an afterthought, but as an operational priority”.

INTERVIEW: Marking his first full year in post, Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing Ryan Teschner has launched a new three-year strategy for policing in the province, along with a promise to be a ‘right-touch regulator’ who will propel Ontario to become a global centre of excellence; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the aim of the strategy, his ambitions for the service, and how his role and the new organisation he leads has been welcomed by police agencies across the province.

FEATURE: A new report into the “effectiveness and efficiency” of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), published by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, warns that budgetary constraints have led to the lowest number of officers in the PSNI’s history, hampering the best efforts of the chief constable, his officers and staff to provide a high-quality service and build trust with communities, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A report on police investigations into crime in England and Wales, published recently by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, warns that overstretched officers, increased time pressures and a lack of experience are inhibiting the ability of officers and staff to develop an “investigative mindset” and hampering the quality and effectiveness of investigations, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Three years after completing his 10-year term as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in England and Wales, Sir Tom Winsor spoke to Policing Insight about the new financial challenges facing policing, the improper political pressure put on officers, the “chilling effect” of PCC oversight on recruiting and retaining chief constables, and the need for a “network code” which would bind chiefs and PCCs to comply with majority decisions voted for by them and their colleagues.

OPINION: Data-driven evidence-based policing has the potential to enhance both public safety and community trust; however, Dr Vidal Chavannes, Director of Strategy, Research and Organizational Performance at Durham Regional Police Service, warns that without community-centric data governance, where policing co-creates data policies with those communities most affected by them, such an approach risks becoming “another mechanism for control rather than a tool for genuine reform”.

OPINION: In the second in a regular series of articles and opinion pieces from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, Chair of the APCC, looks at the measures included in the Crime and Policing Bill currently progressing through Parliament, and the steps that PCCs, PFCCs and deputy mayors will play in helping to ensure those changes are delivered for the benefit of local communities.

INTERVIEW: A review of the connections between sexual exposure and contact sexual offending is calling for non-contact sexual offences to be handled by police with the same focus and response as rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO), as the impact on victims is still significant, and many of those offenders who go on to commit RASSO have previously carried out non-contact sexual offences, as London Metropolitan University Professor Dr Fiona Vera-Grey (one of the report’s authors) told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: With just over a year to go until the end of National Police Chiefs’ Council funding for the Police Race Action Plan, Ian Weinfass looks at what chief constables across England and Wales hope it can achieve, and speaks to the chair of its independent scrutiny board and the head of the National Black Police Association about what else needs to be done.

OPINION: Police legitimacy is essential in ensuring public trust and confidence, and ethical decision-making and the use of discretion are key issues in reinforcing that legitimacy with the public; University of Portsmouth PhD Researcher and former police officer David Knowles explores why an understanding of theories and philosophies of ethical decision-making should be included within police education, and how it could benefit officers while enabling improved use of the national decision model.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of International Women’s Day, International Association of Women Police (IAWP) President Julia Jaeger spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the continuing problems of misogyny and discrimination in the workplace, the need to revisit the gender agenda, and the work that will be going on at the IAWP annual conference later this year to advance gender equality.

INTERVIEW: As he approaches the first-year anniversary of taking up the top job with Saskatoon Police Service, Chief Cameron McBride spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about his 28 years with the Service, the inward focus on wellness and support for officers, the importance of community engagement, and the social, technological and retention challenges facing modern policing.

INTERVIEW: Since taking up her post as Iceland’s National Police Commissioner five years ago, Sigríður Björk Guðjónsdóttir has made significant strides in addressing gender inequality within the force, and in the service it provides; she spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need to keep pushing for greater gender equality, the new approaches to responding to domestic violence, and why appointing senior leaders from outside of policing helps to change potentially damaging cultures.

INTERVIEW: Just over two years after taking up her post as the first female officer to lead Tasmania Police, Commissioner Donna Adams spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the innovative changes to recruitment and retention, the dangers of “scope creep” across the service, and the need to learn from the past while looking to the future in order to build trust in the force.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports on what was discussed at a first-of-a-kind international symposium on boosting trust and confidence in policing, including new research on winning public support and the importance of listening to communities.

INTERVIEW: During a 32-year career in policing, Chief Dale McFee of Edmonton Police Service has blended an entrepreneurial spirit with a commitment to innovation and reform, building a reputation as a successful “change leader”; as he prepares to retire later this year, he spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend and reflected on his achievements, leadership philosophy, and the challenges facing modern policing.

FEATURE: A new Police Foundation report into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in policing across England and Wales has called for improved data literacy – particularly at senior leadership levels – alongside national frameworks for digital technology delivery, data standardisation and the ethical use of AI, to ensure forces leverage maximum potential from the new tech while improving service to the public, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INTERVIEW: Former New York Police Department Chief of Department Terry Monahan, who was a police officer in the city for 39 years, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about how a new neighbourhood policing model and a genuine approach to listening to the community led to record low levels of crime and homicide, and how a famous picture of him taking a knee with Black Lives Matters protesters came about.

FEATURE: A recent report published by Peel Police Service Board and drawn from a series of community consultations has highlighted a range of steps that the Service can take to address “systemic” challenges around governance, discrimination and racism, including better training on cultural sensitivities and bias, greater diversity within the Service, and improved recognition and reporting mechanisms for hate crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: Inspired by ‘café scientifiques’, the team from the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) have been working with forces across England and Wales to hold a series of ‘evidence cafés’ – informal gatherings designed to increases two-way dialogue between academics and practitioners and explore how research findings relate to real-world policing practices – as the CPRL’s Dr Keely Duddin, Kendal Wright, Frances Wright and Dr Nicky Miller explain.

FEATURE: A new report from the Northern Ireland Policing Board exploring the relationship between children and young people and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has urged the Service to engage more effectively with youngsters who may often be vulnerable to influence and control from paramilitary and organised crime groups, with the role of neighbourhood officers and a rethink of the use of stop and search among key steps to improve that engagement, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: A life-saving biometric monitoring system introduced into custody cells in Regina Police Service is among a range of innovative strategies being implemented across the service, as Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend discovered when she spoke to Chief Farooq Sheikh and Staff Sergeant Pierre Beauchesne.

FEATURE: A new report by the Queensland Human Rights Commission warns that Queensland Police Service must address issues of “systemic” discrimination and inequality that have become “deeply entrenched” in its culture if the organisation is to recruit and retain the talent it needs to deliver the level of service required in modern policing, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.