Police management

OPINION: Steve Ainsworth, Director of Operational Safety at Northgate Public Services, believes public concern over the ethical use of AFR is blocking it from being seen as a force for good, and sets his sights on debunking facial recognition technology’s Big Brother image.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Together with the Metropolitan Police Service (Met Police), Babcock and its university partners have welcomed the first cohort of 196 new officer recruits who are embarking on the Met Police’s new Police Education Qualification Framework (PEQF) training programmes, which began on 25 January 2021

Analysis: Hateful extremism must be addressed before it manifests itself as violent extremism – as unfolded in the 2019 Christchurch massacre in New Zealand – argues Professor Greg Barton, whose analysis of the Australian response to extremism calls for groups espousing hate that do not reach the threshold of criminality to be tackled, and new ways for police to record complaints that capture hate motivations.

INTERVIEW: An Garda Síochána's new Deputy Commissioner Shawna Coxon welcomes the extra scrutiny she will attract as an outsider joining the top team of the force from Toronto next month. Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons talked to her about her role and how her change management experience and ability to think differently stand to benefit her new colleagues and the Irish community.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, former Baltimore City Police Deputy Commissioner Tony Barksdale highlights the urgent need for policing to be able to confront the violence that is devastating some of the most vulnerable sections of the community.

FEATURE: The National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS) has launched the Trouble with the Law campaign, urging police and crime commissioner candidates to make an election commitment to protect and empower care-experienced children and young people; Joshua Williams, NYAS Public Affairs Officer and Jennifer Downie, NYAS Policy and Research Officer, explain why it’s important to keep care-experienced young people out of the criminal justice system.

ANALYSIS: In their second Policy Briefing on the impact of COVID-19 on child exploitation through country lines drug dealing, the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab, in partnership with the De Montford University School of Law, highlight the ability of county lines drug networks to adapt to lockdown conditions, and the effect of pandemic restrictions on the safeguarding and vulnerability of children and young people.

ANALYSIS: Policing in the UK is witnessing a ‘steep and troubling’ rise in the number of officers resigning early in service, citing poor leadership and management, organisational injustice and exhausting working patterns among the reasons for leaving: Dr Sarah Charman – a panellist at this week's Police Foundation workforce conference – and Dr Stephanie Bennett, both of the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth, explore the key reasons why officers leave mid-service.

INNOVATION: Among a number of key issues covered at this month’s UK Police Digital Summit was the importance of agile, cloud-based services for frontline officers; Simon Hall, CEO of PoliceBox, believes the move to adaptable, police-specific solutions is crucial for future policing.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: As one of the UK's leading control room software experts, APD Communications has been working hard behind the scenes on developing new technologies to help against the fight of the ever-increasing demands experienced with the control room.

INNOVATION: Digital transformation within policing and the criminal justice system has gathered pace in recent years, and the pandemic in particular has been a key driver; but Raj Singh, CEO of digital transformation specialists Innotatio, warns that successive waves of future transformation will bring with them fresh challenges.

Announcement: A record number of offices of police and crime commissioners (OPCCs) have received the CoPaCC Open and Transparent Quality Mark for 2021, demonstrating impressive improvements in information transparency delivered via OPCC websites; Bernard Rix, CoPaCC Chief Executive and Publisher of Policing Insight, provides details of the OPCCs recognised for meeting the statutory requirements on openness and transparency.

Job advertisement: Police Lecturer vacancies at Babcock International for their new flagship contract partnering with several Higher Education Institutes across London to deliver the new Metropolitan Police Service Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) framework.

ANALYSIS: In the final part of their trilogy of articles on Canadian policing, Keith Taylor and Dr Barbara Herring of consultants perivale+taylor explore some of the developments and often unique challenges faced by the country’s law enforcement agencies in relation to diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism.

FEATURE: The recent Frontline Fulfilment online event attracted an audience and speakers from around the world; Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse, one of the organisers of the event, looks at some of the key issues covered, including mental fitness and resilience, leadership, and personal development.

ANALYSIS: Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr-Munro explores the growing efforts to understand and acknowledge the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on adult behaviour, and adopt a public health policing approach.

OPINION: Applying and enforcing COVID-19 legislation has been a difficult balancing act for many police forces, but in Northern Ireland the added context of sectarian conflict and discrimination has proved particularly challenging; Dr Kevin Hearty of Queen’s University Belfast believes the recent actions of the Police Service of Northern Ireland could reopen long-standing divisions.

INTERVIEW: In January, Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) published its COVID-19 inspection of fire and rescue services across England and Wales. Catherine Levin talks to two police, fire and crime commissioners to see whether having oversight of both police and fire makes a difference when it comes to responding to a global pandemic.

OPINION: Digital information is now all pervasive in society, and effective gathering and collating of that information as evidence is a challenge for policing; senior policing advisor Dr Steve Watts, a former chief officer in the UK, believes more forces could be reaping the benefits of digital evidence management systems.

FEATURE: The Police Foundation’s Strategic Review of Policing is exploring the sort of UK police service stakeholders need and expect over the coming years; ahead of next week’s conference on The Future Police Workforce, Foundation Director Rick Muir highlights some of the key questions that need to be considered.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: One response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been the encouragement of more contactless payment, and with it the increases in transaction limits; but in this latest article from the UCL COVID-19 series, Professor Graham Farrell (University of Leeds) and Professor Nick Tilley (UCL) warn that such moves could lead to a rise in thefts of credit and debit cards and have a lasting effect on crime rates.

OPINION: Statistics show that incidents of domestic violence increase significantly in the aftermath of natural disasters; Professor Jennifer Boddy and Researcher Celeste Harris of Queensland’s Griffith University set out how and why violence prevention should be a crucial part of emergency response.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Denise Rodriguez, a leading expert on collaborative reform, police accountability and community engagement, explains why improved police-community relations is crucial to reducing levels of violence.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The National Policing Digital Strategy 2020-2030 recommends that forces take a cloud-first approach to applications and data. Join this webinar on 24th February 2021 to learn more about the police assured mission accelerator developed by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Police ICT Company, and the National Police Technology Council. which helps forces to migrate workloads and deploy services quickly and securely to the cloud.