Police forces

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.

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.

FEATURE: The latest HM Inspectorate review of call handling at Police Scotland – a function that’s been the subject of five reports since the tragic deaths of two members of the public in 2015 – has highlighted impressive progress in the service’s contact model, but has called for better links with other public sector agencies to ease the response burden on policing, as Policing Insight’s Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: 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 Tuesday, 20th September at 14:00 BST / 9:00am EDT

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff at Hampshire Constabulary, who now have FREE access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many other UK and international police forces with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

ANALYSIS: Long-established in America, the focused deterrence approach to tackling violent crime has in some instances reduced offences by a third, but has had limited trials in the UK; now a £6 million pilot project involving four English police forces as well as partner agencies and violence reduction units has been launched to evaluate the potential of the initiative, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: The prospect of the increasing police use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly around predictive policing, have prompted concerns over potential bias, and the need for transparency and explainability; Dr Nick Evans of the University of Tasmania believes that with the right safeguards in place, the use of AI could establish built-in objectivity for policing decisions, and potentially greater trust and confidence in police decision-making.

FEATURE: A recent research collaboration agreement between the UK’s National Crime Agency and Cranfield University could exploit defence research expertise to tackle policing challenges such as organised and transnational crime, and the dark net; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at this latest research partnership, as well as the key to sustaining successful collaborations such as the N8 Policing Research Partnership.

ANALYSIS: A recent research report into the police use of body-worn video, published by the University of Stirling and commissioned by Police Scotland, highlights the opportunities for the service to develop best practice incorporating the experience of other forces, and implement governance and accountability measures that will help to ensure public trust and confidence, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on violence against women and girls (VAWG), has warned that long-lasting change can’t be achieved by police alone and will take more than a decade; in an interview with PolicingTV she also highlighted the ‘difficult conversations’ that police leaders need to have around inappropriate behaviour, and the potential of Operation Soteria to improve the rate of rape convictions, as Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: As successful private sector organisations look to develop customer service models built on a rapid and efficient response, UK policing is finding itself struggling with delays in service, lengthy backlogs, and in some cases no response at all; Devon and Cornwall Acting Superintendent Stephen Lenney argues that by changing to a ‘today’s policing today’ approach, forces could improve service, reduce costs and waste, and increase public confidence.

INTERVIEW: A recent survey highlighted issues around harassment and a “toxic” working environment for some members of the Toronto Police Service, as well as opportunities to address those issues and rebuild trust within the organisation; Toronto Police Association President Jon Reid spoke to Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons about the findings of the survey, the challenges for both uniform and civilian staff, and the importance of creating a safe and comfortable workplace.

OPINION: With more than 100 reported in rapes in South Africa every day, sexual violence across the country is seemingly endemic; Professor Amanda Gouws of Stellenbosch University believes that attempts by police and Government to deliver quick fixes – such as the recent ANC policy calling for the chemical castration of rapists – are destined to fail, with long-term cultural and criminal justice measures the only real option.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Presented by the Australian and New Zealand Police Commissioners and supported by Policing Insight as Global Media Partner, this 2-day ANZPAA Police Conference 2022 (PC22) will demonstrate how innovation can be used to ‘navigate the next generation of policing’.

INTERVIEW: Having policed the city for more than 30 years, San Antonio Police Department Assistant Chief Karen Falks has seen huge changes to the community and the policing role; she talked to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the importance of open data in gaining public trust, the challenges of the ever-changing criminal landscape, and the millennial view of policing careers.

FEATURE: The launch in March of the Police Foundation’s influential Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales was heralded by many as an opportunity to rethink and reset some of the key policing parameters, aims and approaches; ahead of next month’s conference focusing on the Review, Canterbury Centre for Policing Research Director Dr Martin O’Neill revisits some of those recommendations, and considers a few of the important questions that will be debated over the two days.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: In the first two months of 2022, Hampshire Constabulary collected over 11,000 pieces of digital evidence from businesses and citizens, each typically consuming an hour of an officer’s time. To address these challenges, Hampshire Constabulary and other SERIP forces have deployed the NICE Investigate Digital Evidence Management solution.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff at Hertfordshire Constabulary, who now have FREE access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of officers and staff from many other UK and international police forces with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

INTERVIEW: It’s rare – if not unique – that a chief officer gets to build a sizeable new police department from scratch, setting out their vision, choosing their team, and implementing the latest processes and technologies; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Chief Norm Lipinski of Canada’s new Surrey Police Service about the combination of community focus and business acumen that he believes can build ‘a top-tier organization’.

OPINION: A recent joint speech by the heads of MI5 and the FBI highlighted the IP threat posed internationally by China; Dr Ben Stevens and Dr Gatra Priyandita of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believe that, with Australian organisations under threat from state-sponsored IP theft, the Government’s recently elevated cybersecurity focus should be expanded to include a commission to examine the theft of Australian IP.

FEATURE: Data is widely recognised as a key enabler in policing’s digital transformation, but the quality of that data is crucial, especially when it comes to location; Phill Ridley of 1Spatial, Durham Chief Constable Jo Farrell, and Teresa Ashforth, PND Data Quality & Standards Lead at the Home Office, highlight the benefits that can be achieved through the use of UPRNs, and the steps that all forces can take to improve their data quality.

OPINION: The recent case of Child Q has highlighted the use of strip searches by police, particularly in relation to searches of children and the disproportionate use of the process involving Black, Asian and minority ethnic people; Matteo Tiratelli, Political Sociology Lecturer at UCL, believes the lack of accurate data around strip-searches in the UK underlines the need for a much wider debate about the issue.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s London Policing College workshop on policing public protest in Germany, keynote speaker Dr Bernd Bürger of the Bavarian Police Institute of Further Education spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the importance of communication and negotiation in handling demonstrations, the need for officers and commanders to have expertise and experience, and the benefits of establishing full-time public order policing units.