National security and policing agencies

ANALYSIS: The pandemic presented new challenges for policing across the world, along with valuable lessons around the response; latest research by Dr Manja Nikolovska and Professor Shane D Johnson of the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL reveals what law enforcement stakeholders thought worked well in relation to Covid-19 (and what didn’t), and how these might shape the response to future threats such as climate change and the technological advances of crime.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s Chris Allen regularly speaks to leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, as part of our ‘Spotlight on Organised Crime’ series; this week the spotlight turns on Chris, who answers the same questions he poses to others, this time in his role as Senior Police Practice Tutor at Bucks New University and Director of Criminis Training and Consultancy Services.

FEATURE: This week the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation announced that the country’s terror threat level was to be reduced; Dr John Coyne, head of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre, warns that while the move should be welcomed, extremist ideologies still exist in Australia and will need continued careful and close monitoring to prevent any further acts of violence.

OPINION: The ever-complex nature of policing continues to highlight the need for sharing and analysing data, with interoperability crucial to successful technological development; Sebastian Uhlig, Managing Consultant of Informed Solutions, explores the key ingredients required to ensure that digital transformation is accelerated and de-risked to improve the working lives of police officers, and enhance their service to the public.

ANALYSIS: The emergency service response to disasters – whether manmade incidents such as terrorist attacks, or naturally occurring events including weather crises – has been under scrutiny in the UK and globally in recent years; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at a new European disaster analysis model that will be unveiled this week, which aims to increase learning and share best practice with a view to improving future responses.

FEATURE: An 800-strong UK policing team has been assembled to offer rapid response support to British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean in the event of powerful hurricanes hitting the island communities in the future, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: This week’s publication of both the Crime Survey for England and Wales and the latest Police Recorded Crime (PRC) statistics offers the first comparable crime figures to before the pandemic; Meghan Elkin, joint head of crime statistics at the Office for National Statistics, explains how these latest figures can help to explain whether Covid has led to any sustained impacts on levels of crime, and how survey methods may also influence the data.

FEATURE: With the growing threat from cybercrime, policing is looking to build ever stronger partnerships to mitigate risk and improve learning and understanding; Detective Superintendent Nick Bell, CEO of the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group (NCRCG) and National Policing Director for the Cyber Resilience Centres, reports on the work of the NCRCG and the key themes explored at its inaugural summit earlier this month.

INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential gateway for drug traffickers between Europe and Morocco, with smugglers able to cross the 14km between Gibraltar and Africa by fast boat in just 15 minutes; narcotics and human trafficking are among the demanding and complex challenges faced every week by Royal Gibraltar Police’s Marine Unit, as Chief Inspector Sean Perera explained to Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar in this first of two articles.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the second in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the European Network of Cybersecurity Centres and Competence Hub for Innovation and Operations (ECHO), and its efforts to strengthen the EU’s cyber defences.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with a series of awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the first in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the history of the campaign, its successes to date, and the risks and threats it is hoping to address in 2022.

OPINION: In what are widely recognised as difficult times for policing, new technology could help to transform service delivery and performance, but is still often regarded as a problem rather than an opportunity; Martin Taylor of cloud communications specialists Content Guru believes the successful implementation of that technology – particularly in relation to omnichannel public contact – could achieve real transformative benefits for both police and the public.

INTERVIEW: A report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA) has revealed significant growth in gun homicides and a proliferation of firearms, part-funded by Covid support fraud; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to MCCA Executive Director Laura Cooper about the findings of the report, the threats posed by ghost guns and irresponsible owners, and why police arresting their way out of the crisis is unsustainable.

FEATURE: New Government provisions to safeguard funding for EU-supported research projects include a guarantee scheme to allow UK organisations to apply for this year’s Horizon Europe Security for Civil Society programme – which could be good news for policing agencies with project proposals to tackle drug trafficking, as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff at Hampshire Constabulary, who now have FREE access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many other UK and international police forces with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

OPINION: In the US, like other countries, identity theft is a burgeoning crime, but the nature of the offence and the difficulty in dealing with criminal activity that may traverse different national and international jurisdictions can mean that responses are inconsistent, and victims feel unsupported; David Smith, an independent consultant for the SmartCard Institute, looks at some of the steps policing and lawmakers can take to improve that response.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff at Hertfordshire Constabulary, who now have FREE access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many other UK and international police forces with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

OPINION: Among the many reasons given for the ‘unacceptable’ levels of police detections of acquisitive crime in England and Wales, effective investigative technology (or the lack of it) has a key part to play; Iain Donnelly, a former digital investigations and intelligence force lead and now advisor to technology companies working with policing, believes a lack of understanding among senior leaders, a default of dealing with large corporates, and the overfocus on digital forensics are among the key issues.

OPINION: A recent joint speech by the heads of MI5 and the FBI highlighted the IP threat posed internationally by China; Dr Ben Stevens and Dr Gatra Priyandita of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believe that, with Australian organisations under threat from state-sponsored IP theft, the Government’s recently elevated cybersecurity focus should be expanded to include a commission to examine the theft of Australian IP.

FEATURE: Data is widely recognised as a key enabler in policing’s digital transformation, but the quality of that data is crucial, especially when it comes to location; Phill Ridley of 1Spatial, Durham Chief Constable Jo Farrell, and Teresa Ashforth, PND Data Quality & Standards Lead at the Home Office, highlight the benefits that can be achieved through the use of UPRNs, and the steps that all forces can take to improve their data quality.

ANALYSIS: The CIA’s assassination earlier this month of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri – regarded as the ‘operational brains’ behind the 9/11 attacks – marked another stage in the ongoing international effort to prevent terrorist atrocities; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the impact of al-Qaeda and 9/11 on shaping the UK’s current counter-terror landscape.

ANALYSIS: The recent Spanish seizure of a number of underwater ‘narco drones’ capable of carrying around 200kgs of drug while being operated remotely has highlighted the growth in one narcotics trafficking method; Professor Natalie Klein of UNSW Sydney and Dr Rob McLaughlin of the Australian National University believe both Australian and international law will need to be updated to be able to act effectively against those using such techniques.

ANALYSIS: While the latest US drone strike highlighted the continuing physical global terrorist threat, extremist organisations are increasingly launching their own websites to spread their views and propaganda, and recruit new members; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the online threat posed by terrorists, and the work of Tech Against Terrorism to try and counter that threat.

FEATURE: With an increasing array of contact channels and growing complexity of calls, emergency service control rooms are facing a “data tsunami”; the solution, says David Jackson, Director of Business Engagement at the Police Digital Service, is the increased use of technology to identify relevant and useful data, and to monitor the impact of potentially traumatic contact on call handlers, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr-Munro reports.