National security and policing agencies - United Kingdom

SPOTLIGHT ON THE WINNERS: A highly complex digital forensic investigation by a UK police team, which helped to crack a global cyber attack against thousands of targets including Sony’s Playstation network, was recognised as a winner at the recent inaugural World Class Policing Awards sponsored by Accenture. In the fifth of twelve articles focusing on the award-winning nominations, Keith Potter takes a closer look at Operation Polarity.

Interview: The globalisation of crime is impacting on law enforcement agencies across the world. Dr Borislav Mavrov from the European Institute in Bulgaria shares with Policing Insight the challenges faced by Bulgarian agencies, what measures are being taken and how UK policing can help.

ANNOUNCEMENT: As official media partner of the World Class Policing Awards 2020, Policing Insight is delighted to announce the nominations for this year's awards are now OPEN!

Advertisement Feature: BAPCO 2020 is a must-attend event for everyone involved in the public safety communications technology sector.

OPINION: The UK's first ever National Policing Digital Strategy was launched at the recent Police ICT Summit. Director of the National Enabling Programmes and Chair of the National Police Technology Council Wayne Parkes explores the reasons for the strategy, its ambitions, and how it can be delivered.

Analysis: This May, in England and Wales, the public will go to the polls to elect their local Police and Crime Commissioner. Professor Peter Joyce and Dr Wendy Laverick examine the lessons to be learnt from the previous two elections in 2012 and 2016 and what prospective candidates are likely to focus on in 2020.

Analysis: As UK police are set to receive new powers to tackle the problem of illegal drone activity, Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth examines the risks drones pose to our safety and security and the wider work happening to counteract them.

Analysis: Last week's police funding settlement - the biggest increase in police funding for a decade - has been welcomed by many in the service. While the headline figures are impressive, former Assistant Chief Constable and now CoPaCC Director Ian Wiggett takes a closer look and finds some questions still need to be answered.

NEWS: The Police ICT Summit is held every year, but this year’s event is set to be a milestone with the publication of the service’s first national digital strategy for policing. Policing Insight reports from the conference.

INSIGHT: This week’s Police ICT Summit will see suppliers, police buyers and stakeholders discuss current challenges and develop solutions. But where are the voices of the end users in this process? And could a greater focus on user experience help to solve existing challenges as well as develop more effective long-term solutions?

OPINION: The annual Police ICT Summit takes place this week in Manchester, bringing together the key players who can together agree and deliver a roadmap for police ICT across England and Wales. Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix calls on those at the Summit to focus on finding common ground, rather than emphasising their differences.

opinion: There are 43 Home Office ‘funded’ police forces in England and Wales out of a total of around 50 law enforcement agencies across the United Kingdom. Darren Scates, Chief Technology Officer for the Metropolitan Police Service, offers his personal view on how to deliver technology more effectively in this distributed environment, and asks: "Can we increase the success rate of projects and programmes?"

Analysis: The widespread bush fires in Australia have focused attention on how emergency services respond to large scale incidents caused by extreme weather. With incidents such as these set to become increasingly common, Policing Insight Contributor Andrew Staniforth looks at how the EU is tackling the threat to public safety posed by climate change.

Analysis: The grooming of children is on the rise across England and Wales. Policing Insight Contributor Andrew Staniforth discusses this disturbing trend and considers how artificial intelligence is leading the fight against online grooming.

Analysis: Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures reveal areas of the North are becoming violent crime hot spots. Policing Insight Contributor Andrew Staniforth argues the rise cannot be entirely attributed to 'county lines' and a major rethink is needed on how forces tackle violent crime locally.

Opinion: With the annual Police ICT Summit approaching in the New Year, Ian Bell, CEO of the Police ICT Company reflects on the progress that has been made since last year's conference and what delegates can look forward to at this year's event.

Opinion: Cybercrime is notoriously difficult to prevent and police. James Slessor, Managing Director of Accenture Public Safety, considers the complexities of digital policing across borders and the effectiveness of the current policing model in combating this.

Analysis: The Security Service faced considerable criticism for its prioritising of intelligence operations prior to the London Bridge attack in 2017. Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth examines the challenges around gathering and interpreting intelligence relating to terror plots.

INTERVIEW: As terrorists continue to hijack social media to recruit and spread propaganda, cyber terrorism expert Professor Stuart Macdonald tells Policing Insight how terrorists are exploiting smaller platforms and the continuing challenges social media companies face in removing online terrorist content.

Announcement: Following rigorous judging of over 100 UK and overseas entries to the inaugural World Class Policing Awards, the shortlist of nominations has now been finalised! See if your force has made the final cut.

insight: As the largest ever haul of heroin is seized in the UK this week, Policing Insight's Keith Potter reports on Deputy Director Investigations at the National Crime Agency Matt Horne's Police Governance Summit presentation on the continuing threat of serious organised crime, hostile states and the importance of a collaborative approach to catching organised criminal groups.

Analysis: A recent Times article revealed the police fail to investigate thousands of crimes reported to Action Fraud. In a co-authored article, West Midlands Assistant Police and Crime Commissioner Waheed Saleem and Policy Officer Brendan Warner-Southwell argue that the lack of governance, scrutiny and accountability surrounding Action Fraud has allowed this to happen.

Analysis: Sopra Steria's Principal Consultant Benjamyn Damazer warns that Windows 7 is not fit for the demands of modern policing. Its more recent successor - Windows 10 - might meet policing requirements, but only if it is properly implemented.

analysis: Following the failure of the European Union Strategy to eradicate human trafficking, Europol has launched a new joint task force. Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth explores the challenges it faces in trying to combat one of the largest international crime industries in the world.