Operational policing

INNOVATION: A collaborative white paper published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and contact management specialists Content Guru is encouraging UK forces to “think big” in grasping the “a generational opportunity to genuinely transform public contact” offered by the police reform white paper, with a move towards a ‘one standard, one platform, one contact’ approach offering greater consistency, improved service and significant efficiency savings, as Policing insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new report into improving collaboration between police forces and women’s centres highlights that while there are a range of issues including cultural tensions, practical challenges and funding instability that can undermine joint working, relationship building and improving awareness and understanding can help to build trust and ultimately improve outcomes for both individuals and communities, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: In the first of three articles exploring UK policing’s ‘software archipelago’ – the interlocking landscape of platforms, systems, tools and infrastructure – organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson looks at the growing focus on organisations developing their own software using AI prompts, and why issues such as the regulatory complexity of policing systems means that in most (but not) all cases, buying rather than building is still the best option.

FEATURE: The UK is winning the tactical battles but “losing the strategic war” in the fight against serious organised crime (SOC), according to a new report from the Coalition for Global Prosperity, which calls for the introduction of a more coherent strategy that approaches SOC as a national security risk, recognises threats from other states including China, Russia and Iran, and focuses on using existing frameworks to move the fight “upstream”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Child criminal exploitation has long been recognised in the UK – particularly the county lines model – and is a focus for a number of European countries, but understanding of the issue is limited in Australia; Dr Susan Baidawi, an Associate Professor at Monash University, warns that far from being an emerging problem, such exploitation is already a defining contemporary youth justice issue, and one which urgently requires data collection, multi-agency collaboration, and a response embedded in child protection.

FEATURE: Despite campaign groups continuing to voice concerns about potential bias in the use of facial recognition technology (FRT), UK policing is pushing ahead with adopting the technology, with backing from the Government; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at one of the most recent examples of FRT failure, and highlights a new European initiative to enhance objectivity, neutrality, and fairness in the pursuit of justice, particularly in relation to digital technologies.  

FEATURE: A new evaluation of the UK Government’s Turnaround Programme, designed to help support more than 20,000 children “on the cusp of the youth justice system”, has hailed the schemes success and recognised the positive impact of closer collaboration between youth offending teams, police and other agencies, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: The Early Awareness of Stalking Intervention (EASI) team now in place in West Midlands Police is leading to an increasing number of stalking protection orders issued, a longer-term approach to supporting victims, and better monitoring and interventions with perpetrators, as Detective Superintendent Adam Jobson, the force’s lead for domestic abuse and stalking, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INNOVATION: While efforts to prevent and detect crime and ensure security are increasingly focused on the digital landscape alongside closer community relations, the mail system still offers opportunities for criminals and bad actors, as the international drug trafficking operation using the Canadian postal service recently uncovered by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police demonstrated; safety and security professional Vernon White looks at the challenges of the identifying invisible threats, and the steps being taken to make it possible.

FEATURE: This month sees the launch of a £30m Online Crime Centre combining police, intelligence services, banking, mobile networks and major tech firms in the fight against fraud – a key element in the UK Government’s recently launched Fraud Strategy 2026-2029, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Former British Transport Police officer Rob Glassborow was a member of the County Lines Task Force launched in 2019, which adopted an approach of focusing on juveniles exploited by drug gangs as offenders rather than victims; now a lecturer in policing at Leeds Trinity University, he admits to being “in awe” of how county lines policing has become a specialist area with a clear safeguarding mission, and points to the increased knowledge and expertise as an example of the success of professionalising policing.

ANALYSIS: Research from Operation Soteria has found numerous institutional issues in the policing of rape and serious sexual offences that require urgent attention: in this article, Dr Anna Gekoski, Dr Kari Davies, and Professor Miranda Horvath explore these issues, which include problems relating to staffing, training, and technology.

ANALYSIS: A recent report based on interviews with officers in England and Wales in 2021-22 highlights a number of ‘institutional challenges’ around investigating rape and serious sexual offences; however, Prof Betsy Stanko, Senior Strategic Academic Advisor for Operation Soteria, Chief Constable Sarah Crew, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Adult Sexual Offences, and Detective Chief Superintendent Melissa Laremore, Operation Soteria Delivery Lead, set out the significant progress in addressing these and many other issues over the past five years.

FEATURE: A new mental health response and support system based on joint working between An Garda Síochána and the Health Service Executive, which involves officers with specialist mental health training working alongside clinicians and the creation of a community-based forum for referrals, could be rolled out nationally after a pilot of the Community Access Support Team (CAST) initiative in Limerick saw a significant drop in detentions of those in crisis, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Methamphetamine prices in New Zealand have recently fallen significantly, and a similar trend has been seen in Australia; Massey University’s Professor Chris Wilkins, Associate Professor Dr Marta Rychert, and Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr Robin van der Sanden argue that while competition, demand and enforcement may be factors, the most convincing explanation is the growing role played by Mexican cartels in the manufacture and supply of meth and other drugs.

FEATURE: As the European Commission (EC) unveils a new agenda to prevent and counter terrorism, which includes new practical tools for countering the radicalisation of minors, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth suggests that the EC would do well to learn some of the lessons from the implementation of the Prevent Strategy in the UK, including the statutory duties on all schools, colleges and universities to protect children and young adults in their care from adopting extremist and violent ideologies.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: To understand how criminal networks operate, intelligence needs to connect across cases, sources and time. Fragmented data, isolated tools and repeated manual effort make that difficult in practice. This article explores five structural blockers and how addressing them helps build a clearer, more complete and continuously evolving intelligence picture.

ANALYSIS: As policing in England and Wales continues to deal with frequent and often large-scale protest and counter-protest, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has highlighted the “grey area” in which officers now operate; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former Metropolitan Police officer and public order specialist, explains the current complex challenges around tactical and operational public order decisions, and the need for a clearer focus on ‘lawful’ rather than ‘peaceful’ protest.

INTERVIEW: Departing HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Andy Cooke spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about his time in charge of scrutinising police forces, the “national disgrace” of court delays faced by victims, and why he believes the Government’s planned major reforms – including significant new powers for the inspectorate – are a once in a generation opportunity to make communities safer.

OPINION: As transnational criminal networks grow in complexity and reach, the Australian Border Force is evolving from a traditional customs and immigration agency into a sophisticated intelligence-led law enforcement organisation; the results are already visible, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda, but the challenges ahead are formidable – and some of the most significant are not operational at all.

FEATURE: A second report into the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by police in Canada, published by the University of British Columbia’s AI & Criminal Justice Initiative, highlights a lack of cohesion over governance arrangements for adoption and deployment of the new technology, and urges police to take a ‘steady, cautious approach’ that incorporates comprehensive standards, legal safeguards, robust independent oversight, and democratic accountability, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Until UK policing learns to look after its workforce better, the communities it serves will never really be safe, warns Graham Goulden, a former officer with a 30-year career and now a strong advocate for safe and supportive workplaces, who argues that the active bystander approach could help to change policing culture to provide the support that officers and staff need, and the service communities deserve.

FEATURE: A new report from the Scottish Institute for Policing Research into policing after lockdown and how to rebuild relationships with the “Covid generation” has urged police to introduce “poverty awareness training” for officers to provide a better understanding of inequality’s impact on youth-police relations, and develop stronger partnership and collaborative approaches, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Family violence protection orders can provide a vital safety net for victim-survivors in Australia, preventing further violence from occurring; but University of Melbourne Professor Heather Douglas and PhD Candidate Allanah Colley warn that the differing laws across Australian states can lead to a courts ‘quagmire’, and there is much more work to be done around police enforcement of breaches, culturally-responsive approaches, and support for victim-survivors.