Operational policing

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: BOOKING IS OPEN for the first annual "Police Governance" summit, which will take place on Wednesday 3rd to Thursday 4th July 2019. Put the dates in your diary today - and book your place now! CoPaCC Chief Executive and Policing Insight Publisher, Bernard Rix, sets out why you should attend...

INSIGHT: The Police Foundation's recent report, Data-driven Policing and Public Value, highlights the fundamental importance of data to service delivery. Catherine Levin explores the findings of the report, including the benefits of identifying common areas of interest around data between police and fire.

OPINION: British policing has included volunteers for nearly 200 years - but what can it learn from others, and vice versa? A new research partnership between the UK and Japan will explore the possibilities: Matthew Callender, Laura Knight, Iain Britton, Kimihiro Hino and Mamoru Amemiya explain.

INTERVIEW: The terror attack in New Zealand has exposed fault lines in the prevention of extreme right-wing related terrorism. Ahead of the forthcoming review of the UK’s Prevent strategy, researcher Neda Richards talks to Policing Insight about the findings of her unique research analysing preventative counter-terrorism policing and the impact of community engagement on public cooperation.

OPINION: How can police forces integrate EBP into their daily working practices? Insp. Roger Pegram, GMP EBP Tactical Lead and Vice Chair of the Society of Evidence-Based Policing (SEBP), discusses the aims, ambition and approach to delivering change at the frontline.

Opinion: Automatic facial recognition (AFR) systems can provide new ways to protect the public, but public support and reassurance rests on a transparent and robust regulatory framework governing its use, says Surveillance Camera Commissioner Tony Porter.

OPINION: Policing is under pressure, meaning that officers push themselves to the limit. But is this wise? Serving officer Colin Paine argues that police cannot afford to see taking breaks as a luxury, but instead need to see them as a central part of serving the public.

ANALYSIS: The police are about receive extensive new powers when provisions contained in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which received Royal Assent in February, come into force. Policing Insight contributor and Senior Research Fellow at CENTRIC Andrew Staniforth explores the implications of the new Act for policing.

Opinion: There has been a 40 per cent decline in intelligence analysts since 2010. Former GMP Assistant Chief Constable and now CoPaCC Director Ian Wiggett attended the National Intelligence Conference in Cardiff where he found local intelligence provision is coming under increasing pressure.

INNOVATION: Automatic Number Plate Recognition is already used to detect various crimes, but Birmingham University researchers have found that combining ANPR data with data on serial sex offences can generate vital new leads for investigators. Forensic Psychologist Professor Jessica Woodhams shares the findings of this award-winning* research.

OPINION: The emergence of County Lines demonstrates that criminals can operate beyond their usual geographical limits. However, police ICT struggles to do the same. Richard Helson, Customer Relationship Director at Chorus Intelligence calls for police to improve their agility by integrating better on a force-to-force basis.

ANALYSIS: Football violence hasn't gone away. But what do we know about the strategies that work to prevent and respond to it? Lucy Strang of RAND Europe reports on a new study into what works.

OPINION: The Prime Minister has said that there is no connection between rising knife crime and falling police numbers. Former Chief Superintendent John Sutherland says she is wrong; and that she has been wrong about policing at almost every point along the way.

OPINION: The one voice that isn't heard in national debates about policing and crime is that of ordinary officers. Doctoral researcher Ashley Kilgallon of the University of Leeds describes this 'disqualified knowledge' and calls for incorporating it into a more informed debate about the complex problems of policing.

ANALYSIS: The latest in our Report Watch series summarises the findings of the fourth report by HMICFRS which is an update on the police response to domestic abuse (February 2019). We look at key points for policing as well as stakeholder and media reactions.

OPINION: Former Deputy Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police and now an independent advisor on police and technology Paul Kennedy unpacks the challenges of digital evidence and asks if solution lies in greater automation through robotics.

OPINION: The prospect of a no-deal Brexit is still looming, with the risk of the police being seriously overstretched dealing with its consequences. James Treadwell of Staffordshire University and John Lamb of Birmingham City University explore how the armed forces could step in to take up some of the burden - and the risks of such a move.

Interview: Police Now's training credentials are well established, having trained hundreds of young graduates in neighbourhood policing roles since 2015. Now the Home Office is looking to the organisation to help solve the shortage of detectives, estimated to be around 5,000. Is Police Now up to the task?

Analysis: The Prevent Strategy was updated and republished last year, as part of the counter-terrorism strategy (CONTEST), but Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth explains that its failure to identify individuals vulnerable to radicalisation is why an independent review of Prevent is contained in the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.

OPINION: What lessons can international military command offer to policing? Serving officer Martin Gallagher reports from a personal conversation with Gen. David Petraeus.

INTERVIEW: Child death is such a complex area of policing that it has its own sub group within the NPCC Homicide Working Group. As it prepares for its annual conference, NPCC lead on child death Det Chief Supt Eamonn Bridger explains the challenges of investigating this difficult area of policing.

Analysis: The Data Protection Act 2018 is a game-changer in how data is handled, but has law enforcement risen to the challenge? In the first of a new series, Owen Sayers, an enterprise architect, privacy and security specialist with thirty years experience in the CJS, outlines the issues surrounding the Act and whether law enforcement is fully prepared for them.

INNOVATION: When knife crime occurs, video evidence can often hold vital clues but identifying them in amongst volumes of footage is a time-consuming job. Policing Insight contributor and Senior Research Fellow at CENTRIC Andrew Staniforth reports on a project aimed at speeding up the process.

LONG READ: The deaths of six young people from drug overdoses at music festivals in Australia in the last five months has shone a light on the risk of taking drugs at these events. Former UK police officer and now Research Fellow at Western Sydney University Alan Beckley examines the issues and considers whether pill-testing offers the solution.