Operational policing

FEATURE: A collaborative approach between police, prison and probation services to the threat posed by organised crime groups in prisons was one of the more innovative measures within the Government’s 2018 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy; new research with police officers and prison staff on Humberside offers the first evaluation of the approach, highlighting the ‘cultural shift’ driven by this multi-agency response, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: A ‘whole of government approach’ to human trafficking in Australia, which combines awareness raising with a focus on support for victims and an understanding of their complex needs, has led to a significant increase in the number of victims identified across a wide range of modern slavery-related crimes including forced marriage, forced labour, sexual exploitation and organ trafficking, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The violence that erupted this month between members of the Muslim and Hindu communities in Leicester took many community leaders by surprise, and has prompted concerns that disorder could spread to other parts of the UK; the confrontations suggest such faith-based tensions could be a worrying development, says Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth, but a new EU project has been launched to target religion-based community conflicts.

OPINION: The changing nature of crime, the advances of new technology, and the debates around training and wellbeing are representative of just some of the contemporary challenges facing policing in England and Wales; Jonathan Jackson, Senior Teaching Fellow in Policing and Security at Birmingham City University, explores some of those key challenges, and what steps the service could be taking to address them.

ANALYSIS: New research has highlighted the need for a fresh approach to the risk assessment and management of registered sex offenders (RSOs), based on rapport rather than traditional investigative interviewing techniques; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dr Leona Mydlowski about her review findings, the recommendations for a rethink of training, and why the focus should move from previous offences to what RSOs need to prevent future reoffending.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: NEW DATE FOR WEBINAR: Currently a high number of business crimes go unreported due to the protracted nature of reporting and sharing securely the related (often CCTV) evidence. The NICE Investigate solution addresses this issue by allowing businesses to, voluntarily, pre-register their cameras, via the ‘Business Portal’, to their local police force – to find out how, join our webinar on the new date of Tuesday, 4th October at 14:00 BST / 9:00am EDT

FEATURE: Improving mental health and wellbeing for police, as well as the response to those in mental health crisis, is a key concern for law enforcement globally; Jacqueline Durand, Acting Director (Strategy) at the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), looks at what is being done in both countries to support officers, as well as efforts to respond collaboratively with paramedics and mental health to those community members in crisis.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The violence against women and girls delivery framework, which launched in December 2021, sets out how policing will radically improve its response to violent and sexual crimes, and build trust and confidence. The WEPROTECT instant victim referral service enables officers to provide faster access to civil legal support and court orders to help protect victims from further abuse.

ANALYSIS: New research into the experiences of youngsters involved in county lines drugs in the UK has found that a lack of effective safeguarding or guidance, a focus on enforcement rather than prevention, and a shortfall in police resources is leaving vulnerable youngsters at growing risk of criminal exploitation by organised gangs, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The campaign to raise the age of criminal responsibility in Australia from 10 to 14 continues to gather pace; but Dr Terry Goldsworthy, a former police officer and now Associate Professor at Bond University, argues that incarceration of youth offenders is a sentencing outcome rather than a determination of criminal responsibility, and raising the age of responsibility will do little to address the underlying causes of youth crime.

OPINION: This month saw the appointment of a new Commissioner and Acting Deputy Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Service, the UK’s biggest police force; Martyn Underhill, a former Met police officer who served as Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012-2021, believes the new leadership team will have to make some swift and fairly radical changes to address the key challenges affecting public confidence and performance in the force.

FEATURE: Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, countries across Europe and further afield have opened their doors to more than seven million refugees fleeing the conflict; but a new report warns that as the war continues and refugees remain in their new host countries, tensions could increase at community level, creating potential challenges for law enforcement, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: As UK policing once again faces criticism for its response to anti-monarchy protests – with officers accused of creating a ‘police state’ if they take action, and being ‘woke’ if they don’t – Senior Policing Lecturer Owen West, a former chief superintendent, argues that it’s time for policing leadership to fill the vacuum in the public debate by defending and promoting the values of the service, or risk a further loss of public trust and confidence.

INTERVIEW: With police officers across the country facing unprecedented pressure and demand, Thames Valley Police is looking to support its frontline by introducing a Behavioural Science Unit; Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar spoke to Superintendent Felicity Parker about the scale of the project and how it could reshape UK policing in the future.

OPINION: The recent death of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in a shooting in Liverpool has highlighted the city’s continuing struggle with gangs, guns and violent crime; Dr Robert Hesketh, Policing Studies lecturer at Liverpool John Moores University, believes a continuing pattern of social exclusion and poverty is leading to organised crime and violence on Merseyside and elsewhere, but that preventative policing could be a step towards solving the problems.

ANALYSIS: The Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) programme developed in the US was originally a post-arrest initiative, but has evolved to incorporate referrals from “any concerned individual”; with more than 60 schemes now operating or under development in the US, as well as a South African programme and interest from the UK, the LEAD approach is gaining traction and delivering results, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr-Munro reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: This year, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Homicide Working Group will be returning to The Queens Hotel, Leeds to host the 2022 National Conference for Senior Investigating Officers running from 31st October to 2nd November. In a world emerging from the Covid pandemic and returning to a new normality, and with early signs of homicide returning to pre-pandemic levels, the focus is on learning from shared investigative experience whilst adopting a reduction and homicide suppression mindset.

ANALYSIS: While there is much talk about ethics in policing, to date it would appear there has been less consideration of how to apply ethical decision-making to practical policing problems; Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Paine and Dr Hannah Maslen of Thames Valley Police outline a new approach by the force which aims to do just that.

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.

OPINION: A year on from taking up her appointment as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead in tackling violence against women and girls, Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth reflects on UK policing’s efforts and achievements over the past 12 months, and the plans for continued progress going forwards.

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.

ANALYSIS: As many as one in three people in Australia, New Zealand and the UK have experienced image-based abuse, yet fewer than half of those who witness it have intervened; research by Dr Asher Flynn of Monash University, Elena Cama of the University of New South Wales, and Dr Adrian Scott of Goldsmiths, University of London explores why people do or don’t intervene in such instances, and the vital role that bystander intervention programs could play in responding to image-based abuse.

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.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO) is launching the International Intelligence Conference 2022 (II2022). AIPIO President Dr Phil Kowalick introduces the conference and invites members and other delegates to take part 23rd to 26th of October 2022 in person and online.