Operational policing

ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at Suzy Lamplugh Trust's report on the policies and practices surrounding the licensing of taxi and private vehicle hire drivers, raising concerns that current regulations are putting passengers at risk.

ANALYSIS: Has Police Now lived up to its promise? The London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) last month published its evaluation of the Met's first Police Now cohort. Gavin Hales of The Police Foundation examines the evidence.

ANALYSIS: Direct Entry is highly contentious among serving officers. Emma Williams and Jennifer Norman of Canterbury Christ Church University and Dr Fran Boag-Munroe of the Police Federation of England and Wales explore the results of the PFEW’s Annual Pay and Morale Survey 2017 to explain why that is - and warn that DE could pose real risks to the professionalisation agenda.

Opinion: The number of unauthorised encampments in the West Midlands has more than doubled in the last five years. Inevitably, community tension has escalated too. This has meant, in the last two years alone, calls to the police related to unauthorised encampments have doubled. West Midlands PCC David Jamieson and Policy Officer Ben Twomey believe it is time to strengthen the law.

OPINION: Artificial intelligence could be a huge boon to policing and public safety - but it must be used responsibly and win public trust. James Slessor, Managing Director of Accenture Public Safety, reflects on the possibilities.

ANALYSIS: At a time of constrained resources, one source of potential information on violent crime has yet to be fully exploited by police forces - that from ambulances. Alex Sutherland and Lucy Strang of RAND Europe explore the opportunities that this kind of data could offer.

INTERVIEW: Support worker Matt Hazelwood has just joined North Wales Police's modern slavery unit, making him the first support worker in the UK to be based within a police modern slavery unit. He tells Policing Insight about his new role and how it can improve the response to modern day slavery.

ANALYSIS: An increasing number of terrorist attacks on the West are being perpetrated by 'lone wolves'. But where does their allegiance to wider groups come from, and how close are these ties? Serving officer Martin Gallagher examines the phenomenon.

OPINION: Sarah-Jane Lennie was a successful and well-respected DI - until one day she couldn't do it any more. Now on a career break and studying for a PhD at Manchester Met, she tells her story and invites serving officers to take part in her research into the psychological consequences of the emotional work of policing.

Opinion: When Lincolnshire Police's annual Drink Drive campaigns failed to have an impact on the public and the media and with drink and drug driving on the rise, the force took the step of naming those charged to reignite interest and dissuade future offending. But was this the right approach? Cate Moore, Independent Chair Lincolnshire Police Ethics Panel, explores the issues.

ANALYSIS: CoPaCC's thematic report 'Police ICT: User perspectives' revealed users had similar perceptions of their ICT, but there were wide variations in terms of levels of satisfaction. Ian Wiggett takes a closer look at the findings of the survey to discover why. 

ANALYSIS: Police targets have been the subject of considerable criticism, not least for their unintended consequences. Alex Sutherland of RAND Europe and Matthew Davies explore the case of first time entrants to the youth justice system.

Analysis: The police use of social media has seen a massive surge in recent years and has given forces, teams and individuals the opportunity to engage with their local communities and beyond in a way never before experienced. It hasn’t always been been a smooth road and there have been some complications engendered by the open and public nature of the medium, says Cheshire Police's Neil Dewson-Smyth who looks at how forces can improve their performance.

ANALYSIS: The Police Foundation's in-depth, five year exploration of local policing, Police Effectiveness in a Changing World, has recently come to an end. Here, Andy Higgins of the Foundation explores the key themes that have emerged from the study.

OPINION: The effects of austerity mean that the pace of innovation in policing may be slowing - but the demand for it is not. In the first of a series, serving officer Gareth Stubbs looks at technology in policing, and argues that innovation isn't a luxury, but a necessity, and one that requires real investment.

ANALYSIS: Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of working in cross-force collaborations, there remain many obstacles to effective collaborative endeavours between forces. Dr Xavier L”Hoiry of Sheffield University explores the obstacles and proposes ways of overcoming them.

BOOK REVIEW: A new book, 'What Matters in Policing,' by Maurice Punch, Auke van Dijk and Frank Hoogewoning, argues that the complexity of modern policing needs a new, comprehensive way of defining what is really important in policing, and how police leadership needs to adapt. Policing Insight's editor Carina O'Reilly reviews the book.

LONG READ: Has the pendulum swung too far towards leadership in policing at the expense of management? Serving officer Jim Gale argues that it has, and that this presents real long-term reputational and strategic risks to the service.

ANALYSIS: The recent NCA report on County Lines highlighted the disturbing trend of children being targeted to work for drugs' gangs. In the second of two articles, highlighting those children most at risk and the work underway to tackle the problem, Tina Orr-Munro interviews Andy Passingham and Paul Maslin, co-founders of www.safeguardinghub.com and experienced police officers specialising in safeguarding.

INSIGHT: Recording footage is the easy step, what comes next is much harder. All that data must be securely stored and managed – that's where digital asset and evidence management systems come into play. In this article from the CoPaCC thematic report 'Body-worn Video in Policing', Stephen Roberts looks at how police forces are meeting the challenge.

ANALYSIS: Body-worn video is one of the most significant emerging technologies in policing, but robust analysis of its effects has been limited. Elizabeth Linos, Joanne Reinhard, Simon Ruda and Michael Sanders of the Behavioural Insights Team report the results of a large-scale randomised control trial in one UK police force.

ANALYSIS: The recent National Crime Agency report on County Lines highlighted the disturbing trend of children being targeted to work for drugs' gangs. In the first of two articles, examining the nature of County Lines, Tina Orr-Munro interviews Andy Passingham and Paul Maslin, co-founders of www.safeguardinghub.com and experienced police officers specialising in safeguarding.

Opinion: Smart data analysis technology has existed for many years so why haven't forces made the most of it? Clare Elford, Managing Director of Clue which provides investigative software, explores the challenges faced by forces and offers a solution.

2017 Review: It's been an eventful year at the academic end of policing, particularly for the College of Policing. Carina O'Reilly, Editor of Policing Insight, reviews the year's events and looks forward to 2018.