Operational policing

FEATURE: Law enforcement around the world has relied increasingly on DNA as a crucial tool in solving crime; but without specific production standards to protect against the contamination of crime scenes, killers could have escaped justice while innocent people faced conviction and even execution, as Will Paton, Marketing Manager for scene-of-crime technology specialists RollsTechGlobal, explains.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Policing is changing, and nearly every job now has a digital element attached to it. Like most police forces around the world, Nottinghamshire Police is experiencing a massive increase in digital evidence. To provide the best possible service to victims of crime, as well as businesses and communities, Nottinghamshire needed a better way to manage it. NICE Investigate is helping Nottinghamshire modernise its approach, to reduce the risk to victims and become a more efficient and agile force.

OPINION: Measures around UK public order policing that were defeated in the Police, Courts, Crime and Sentencing Bill are now making their way through Parliament in the Public Order Bill, prompting impassioned debate along the way; Senior Policing Lecturer Owen West, a former chief superintendent and public order policing specialist, argues that while the proposals may enthuse government supporters, they are not in the interest of the public or the police service.

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.

INNOVATION: From sexual abuse to modern slavery and county lines, tackling child exploitation is a complex challenge, and one where information sharing, identification and intervention are crucial; Dr Hayley Watson and Stephen Anning of Trilateral Research explain how a new ethical artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed in collaboration with Lincolnshire Police is analysing big data to provide early indicators of those children most vulnerable to potential exploitation.

FEATURE: New Kenyan President William Ruto has already ordered a police unit suspected of extrajudicial killings to be disbanded; but East Africa crime, justice and policing specialist Professor Naomi van Stapele argues that, far from representing genuine reform, the move simply allows the new leader to bring in his own trusted officers in a country where police killings are systemic.

OPINION: Police officers are regularly expected to use their discretion, policing skills and street craft to achieve the best outcomes for communities and the wider public; but Policing Lecturer and former police sergeant Barrie Archer fears that finding ways to ‘get the job done’ and make a broken system work can lead to noble cause corruption – or worse.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: What should your force expect from a digital evidence management system? Learn how evolving digital evidence management can tame the tidal wave of data and future-proof your organisation.

ANALYSIS: In this latest article in a series on 21st century community engagement, Intensive Engagement Managing Director Richard James (a former police territorial commander), Stephen Carr, Transformation Strategy Lead for the Home Office, and Police Foundation Research Director Andy Higgins build on the findings of the recent Strategic Review of Policing to explore local policing and leadership through the themes of people, problems and places.

FEATURE: Yesterday was the final day of the EU’s European Cybersecurity Month, a four-week long initiative of awareness-raising and learning opportunities across Europe; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the current cybersecurity landscape, the potential threats for the public and some of the probable challenges for law enforcement moving forwards.

OPINION: While law enforcement has increasingly acknowledged that improving trust and building relationships with communities are key to successful policing, the skills necessary to establish those relationships are often overlooked in police training or dismissed as ‘common sense’; former Arlington County Master Police Officer Dimitrios Mastoras argues that structured training for officers in building relationships with stakeholders could deliver significant benefits for both policing and the public.

INTERVIEW: The Straits of Gibraltar are a potential illicit gateway between Europe and Africa, but it’s not just drugs and people smugglers keeping the Royal Gibraltar Police Marine Unit busy; in this second in a two-part series on the Unit’s work, Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar spoke to Chief Inspector Sean Perera about the unique challenges of policing the Iberian Peninsula and this incredibly busy stretch of water, where tackling traffickers, counter-terrorism and environmental emergencies are all part of the job.

ANALYSIS: Teaching methods are constantly evolving, driven in part by the emergence of new technology, and virtual reality (VR) is one of the latest learning tools; Claire Smith, a former police officer and now a Teaching Fellow at the University of Portsmouth, outlines the findings of a recent pilot study into how VR could be used to improve learning for the UK’s new student officers.

FEATURE: As the awareness-raising events and learning opportunities as part of the EU’s European Cybersecurity Month begin to draw to a close, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest funded research initiatives designed to promote co-operation and collaboration across the continent, in an effort to enhance cybersecurity and protect the increasing number of crucial connected digital systems and networks.

OPINION: Amid the current UK political chaos, one clearly emerging scenario is that further public spending cuts are now probable, with policing likely to be back in the firing line; Tom Gash, Managing Director of strategy consultancy Leapwise and former Director of Research at the Institute for Government, looks at how policing can navigate this harsh reality, and the current window of opportunity to prepare a case for protection from cuts and drive productivity improvements locally and nationally.

FEATURE: A new report from Europol has highlighted some of the policing and legislation challenges posed by the emergence of the metaverse, and warned that failing to ‘stay abreast’ of the new technology will leave law enforcement playing catch-up in the same way it has been forced to do with digitally enabled crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

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.

ANALYSIS: In this second article in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at police staff and police community support officer numbers, and the overall resource picture; while the public and politicians focus on the amount of police officers, forces are complex organisations, and overall capacity and capability depends on the combined staffing picture.

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: While the benefits and negative consequences of the police use of stop and search are frequently debated, the increased use of community scrutiny panels has been put forward as one measure to improve both monitoring and understanding of this policing tool; the panels were the focus of a recent @WeCops Twitter Chat, which has been summarised here by team member and West Mercia Sergeant Kerri Monaghan.

FEATURE: The EU’s European Cybersecurity Month is now underway, with awareness-raising events and learning opportunities scheduled throughout October; in the latest in a series of articles, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the new Cyber Crime Driver project, a collaboration by European law enforcement agencies to understand the factors that determine cybercrime behaviours, especially in young people.

OPINION: Recent protest activities in the UK – in particular those by the Just Stop Oil group – have prompted much debate about the effectiveness of the police response to such actions; Graham Wettone, who spent much of his policing career managing public order policing, highlights some key challenges in responding to the current protests, and why it may be time for a more robust approach to those groups unwilling to engage.

OPINION: Last month’s violent confrontations between groups of Hindu and Muslim men in Leicester seem to take many in the English city (including police) by surprise; however, Professor Chris Allen of the University of Leicester believes that rushing through a proposed review into the violence risks a failure to recognise that neither Muslim nor Hindu communities are one-dimensional or singular, and that not all the problems they experience are based in religion.

INTERVIEW: With the continuing global focus on improving public trust and confidence in policing, the issue of ethics in law enforcement has been central to many discussions; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Michael Josephson and Jim Dugan of the Josephson Institute of Ethics about their work with policing, the changing perceptions of ethical behaviour, and the challenges created by an exodus of senior leaders.