Police management

OPINION: The recent tragic shootings in Plymouth, and the concerns over how gunman Jake Davison came to be in possession of a licensed shotgun, have prompted calls for a more thorough vetting of applicants and licence holders in the UK, including their online activity; but former Chief Constable Stuart Hyde believes we need more than just social media monitoring, and a move to a national licensing regime may be the way forward.

FEATURE: Over the last 40 years American crime rates have fallen significantly – yet so too have levels of trust and confidence in policing; speaking at this year’s Australia and New Zealand Society for Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Professor Tom Tyler, Founding Director of Yale Law School’s Justice Collaboratory, outlined the opportunity for a new approach to US policing, and how evidence could be used to support that shift, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports

ANALYSIS: Almost two years after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to recruit an 'Uplift' of 20,000 additional police officers, latest workforce figures show that the officer headcount has increased significantly; but in this first in a series of articles looking at the changing police workforce, Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett explains why a return to 2010 staffing levels will need to be more than just a numbers game, and how Government attempts to 'level up' could still leave a landscape of inequality.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: With the new MSc in Covert Investigation and Specialist Intelligence, Liverpool John Moores University has designed an innovative postgraduate programme that will give students a solid understanding of the many challenges and opportunities facing the intelligence and covert investigative community today.

FEATURE: Speaking at the launch of this year’s Australia and New Zealand Society for Evidence-Based Policing Annual Conference, Society President Supt David Cowan encouraged officers and staff to lead evidence-based policing “that will make a difference”, and highlighted the “slowly shifting relationship” between policing and academia, reports Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: The resurgence in outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in Australia and around the world has highlighted the need for a better understanding of their criminal activities; Dr Christopher Dowling of the Australian Institute of Criminology – a speaker at this week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference – outlines the work of the Serious and Organised Crime Research Laboratory, and its crime science approach to the criminal activity of OMCGs.

ANALYSIS: The recent upsurge in gang membership and conflict in New Zealand has prompted a fresh focus on their criminal activity; but ahead of this week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Dr Jarrod Gilbert of the University of Canterbury warns that equating patched gangs with organised crime ignores the evidence, and will result in law enforcement and socio-economic approaches to gang issues that are unlikely to be effective.

OPINION: The UK Government’s Beating Crime Plan unveiled last month gives police forces the option to permanently relax the rules around Section 60 stop and search; but Anglia Ruskin University Researcher Winifred Agnew-Pauley, and University of Kent PhD candidate Bisola Akintoye, argue that Section 60 is ineffective in reducing crime, and that the Government’s own assessment of the changes recognises they are likely to disproportionately affect black and minority ethnic people.

FEATURE: The volume and accessibility of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has increased considerably in recent years, prompting concerns from police, legislators and the public; ahead of next week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Dr Rick Brown, Deputy Director of the Australian Institute of Criminology, outlines some of the key research and initiatives already underway to reduce CSAM in the future.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix’s Policing Friendship Tour recently caught up with Ian Bell, CEO of the Police Digital Service (PDS), for a stroll around the urban landscape of Wembley; after 18 months of rapid technological change in policing and across the public sector – driven in large part by the pandemic – Mr Bell spoke about the challenges of COVID-19, the development of the PDS and the National Policing Digital Strategy, and the organisation’s aims and ambitions move forwards.

FEATURE: Targeting family violence and gender-driven crimes is a challenge for law enforcement around the world; ahead of next week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Lauren Callaway, Assistant Commissioner of Family Violence Command for Victoria Police, outlines some of the key steps taken by the force – both in its approach to crimes in the community, and in tackling issues within the organisation – to make people safer.

ANALYSIS: A network of programmes seek to provide pathways out of criminal behaviour for at-risk youth in New York City; Greg Berman, former Director of New York’s Center for Court Innovation, looks at both the challenges and the potential of the Cure Violence approach, and underlines the importance of empirical research in establishing if, why and how the various programmes achieve their aims.

INTERVIEW: Professor Paul Taylor, who became the UK’s first Police Chief Scientific Adviser in May, believes policing leaders recognise that science and technology will be crucial to the service going forwards; he spoke to Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons about what his role will be, the importance of partnerships with education and industry, and how the National Crime Laboratory will drive evidence-based good practice in communities across the country.

FEATURE: The rape and murder of Sarah Everard in the UK has been a wake-up call to the wider issue of violence against women and girls, a problem that has resonated with female communities globally; former Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Bryon looks at both the legislative and law enforcement responses in the UK and the US, as well as moves to tackle the subjugation of women and reinforce women’s rights around the world.

OPINION: Last month Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled the UK Government’s new ‘Beating Crime Plan’ – not in parliament or at a press launch, but in a Sunday newspaper column; Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett examines the lack of consultation, paucity of new ideas and absence of additional funding in the plan, and considers whether tone and public perception have become much more important than evidence-based actions and initiatives.

OPINION: Police canteens have largely disappeared from the police estate, and with them the opportunity to socialise, offer emotional support, and share hopes and fears; Liverpool John Moores University Lecturer Nick Kealey, and Open University Lecturer Dr Sean Bell – both former Merseyside Police officers – argue that reinstating police canteen or night-kitchen facilities could be an important step in improving mental health support and reducing stigma.

Insight: An offender desistance programme centred on taking a public health approach to policing suggests that it can reduce the risk of offending by 30% over a significant follow-up period which could have far-reaching benefits for how policing resources are used. Working with offenders rather than simply processing them was a key driver for the project, as Detective Superintendent Kevin Weir and Durham PCC's Policy and Commissioning Officer Stephanie Kilili report.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: BAPCO has announced the conference programme for its 2021 annual Conference & Exhibition, supported by media partner Policing Insight and taking place 12-13 October in Coventry, UK

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix’s Policing Friendship Tour recently caught up with Andy Marsh, Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset, for a stroll around Bristol ahead of his retirement from the service in July; following a busy year for the Constabulary, which included the BLM protests and the Kill the Bill riots, Mr Marsh talked to Bernard about the challenges over the past 12 months, the changes during his 34 years in policing, and the work of the COPS charity.

FEATURE: As a former Chief Constable of Lancashire and National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for wellbeing, Andy Rhodes understands the stresses and demands of policing, as well as the danger that the poorly managed introduction of new technology, and lack of ongoing and training and support, can add to rather than reduce those pressures; here he teams up with Me Learning’s Shirley Berry to highlight four key lessons for putting people first when embarking on digital transformation.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Registration has opened for Critical Communications World 2021, supported by media partner Policing Insight. The event is taking place at the IFEMA in Madrid, from November 3-5 this year.

FEATURE: Alongside the COVID-19 health crisis, devastating natural disasters and criminal threats ranging from cyber attacks to terrorism have left policing and protective forces around the world – including the UK – at full stretch; now a call for evidence to develop a new UK National Resilience Strategy is underway, and as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explains, input from the country’s emergency responders will be vital.

OPINION: Australia’s female prison population has increased significantly, with First Nations women disproportionately affected, as laws and measures introduced to protect women and children from male violence have led to more females being jailed; Monash University Associate Professor Silke Meyer believes it’s time to invest more in primary prevention to end violence against women.

ANALYSIS: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020, and remain worryingly high in 2021; in this last in a series of essays from the Violence Reduction Project, former Newark Police officer Prof Jon Shane of John Jay College of Criminal Justice outlines the thinking behind situational crime prevention, and how addressing the physical and social environment can help to reduce crime, aggression, and disorder.