ANALYSIS: The latest in our Report Watch series, summarises the findings of a report by HMICFRS’ Policing and Mental Health Report, Picking Up the Pieces, published last month (Nov 27). We look at the impact on policing, recommendations as well as stakeholder and media reactions.
ANALYSIS: Vast, viable and virtual: cyberspace is a new continent that cybercriminals are only just beginning to exploit. Policing Insight contributor and Senior Research Fellow at CENTRIC Andrew Staniforth explores the areas most at risk and the need for unprecedented cooperation to combat cybercrime.
LONG READ: With the contraction of police budgets, neighbourhood policing has come under pressure in many areas. However, new College of Policing guidelines suggest it may yet stage a recovery. Andy Higgins of the Police Foundation describes a day with one of South Yorkshire's neighbourhood policing teams, and what it signals about the future of neighbourhood policing.
INTERVIEW: New Zealand's crime rate has decreased drastically in recent years after the police commissioner shifted the focus from prosecution to prevention. Mary Calam, a senior expert in McKinsey’s London office, and Roland Dillon, an associate partner in McKinsey's Melbourne office, interviewed New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush on how the force achieved this remarkable transformation.
ANALYSIS: A new organised crime strategy was launched by the government in early November. However, Anna Sergi, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Essex, warns that seeing organised crime as a national security threat is a poor way of understanding its social and economic roots.
13th November 2018
New Report: In the latest report from the CoPaCC National Police ICT User Survey 2018, officers and staff share the challenges they face in managing digital evidence. A story of unreliable and incompatible systems, insufficient data bandwidth forcing the use of physical media plus a shortage of skills and resources, all against a backdrop of ever increasing volumes of evidence required for disclosure. Read the results and analyses here in the CoPaCC Digital Evidence Management: User Perspectives Report.
Project Galileo: Project Galileo represents a fundamental rethink of how we can make a difference to tackling harm on our roads. The fourth instalment in the Galileo series sees Conrad Evans, a partner at The Digital Quarter, talk about how we must harness the power of digital technology to reduce risk on the road and bring communities together to create the changes they want to see on our roads.
ANALYSIS: In some communities in Scotland, serious and organised crime is seen as a route to easy money and expensive cars. Associate Director of the Scottish Criminal Justice Research Centre Dr Alistair Fraser argues this is far from the reality and it's time to take a fresh approach to tackling organised crime.
ANALYSIS: Why is it that some people thrive in conditions of uncertainty, but and others become extremely stressed? Dr Ian Hesketh, Wellbeing Lead for the College of Policing, and Chief Constable Andy Rhodes, NPCC Lead for Wellbeing and Engagement, put forward a short 'resilience prescription', suggesting the key characteristics of a mindset that can improve the ability to cope with a policing environment
OPINION: In the recent CoPaCC Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018 report officers and staff express dissatisfaction with equipment, training and support that is preventing them
from policing to the best of their ability. Simon Kempton, Deputy National Treasurer and National Board Member of the Police Federation of England & Wales, gives his view on the report findings.
ANALYSIS: 'County lines' drug dealing is a growing problem in the UK's small towns. However, it's also creating a hierarchy of exploitation - with its teenage drug dealers themselves near the bottom. Grace Robinson of Edge Hill University; James Densley of Metropolitan State University, and Robert McLean of Northumbria University explain the 'indentured labour' of the drugs trade.
ANALYSIS: In the final part of his series on mental health street triage, Daniel Moloney of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton explains why collecting good data is so vital to understanding outcomes.
OPINION: Alan Beckley was a police officer in the UK for 30 years, before moving to Australia to teach and conduct research on policing and law enforcement, most recently as a Research Fellow at Western Sydney University. In this, the first of a regular series of articles for Policing Insight, he provides an Australian perspective on the Home Affairs Select Committee's recent report, "Policing for the Future".
OPINION: A lack of integration and interoperability between ICT systems coupled with outdated hardware continue to hamper Scottish police officers but, in his foreword to CoPaCC's Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018 report, President of the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents Ch Supt Ivor Marshall says the recently agreed £298 million for ICT investment is an opportunity to create a system fit for purpose.
ANALYSIS: In the second of three blogs on mental health triage, Daniel Moloney of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton explores how good practice and effective policies are developed on the ground
OPINION: "Technology is changing fast and it’s essential that we keep a handle on the police ICT user experience, so we can better understand the challenges facing users and look for solutions" says Ch. Supt. Paul Griffiths, Vice President of the Police Superintendents Association in his foreword to the CoPaCC Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018 report.
ANALYSIS: Mental health makes up an increasing part of demand on the police service, and various methods are being trialled to try to improve the police response, including triage. In the first of three blogs, Daniel Moloney of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton examines factors affecting demand.
Opinion: Four years ago, US State Troopers in Connecticut were trained and licensed to carry Naloxone Hydrochloride which can reverse opoid overdoses. The move is thought to have saved 268 lives. Former Detective Sergeant and now chairman of LEAP UK Neil Woods explains why it's time police officers in the UK are trained and equipped to carry Naloxone.
OPINION: The idea of unconscious bias has increasing traction in policing, but what if we're looking in the wrong places? Dr Emma Williams of Canterbury Christ Church University discusses different types of diversity and how internal bias could be affecting both leadership in the police and how certain roles are valued.
INSIGHT: Earlier this month, Lancashire Constabulary held a Blue Light Innovation Summit 2018 to explore the role of innovation in policing, but, in an environment of constrained budgets and mounting pressures, can the police service create the right environment to innovate?
OPINION: The task of policing has become increasingly regulated over recent decades, largely for well-understood reasons. But has this regulation stifled creativity, autonomy, and the development of 'natural' police officers? Serving officer Martin Gallagher makes the case for a bit more chaos.
