Police management

FEATURE: COVID-19 lockdowns around the world may have led to a fall in most domestic crime, but transnational drug-trafficking operations and other organised crime groups have been quick to adapt and overcome, leading to potentially bigger profits and a new criminal world order, warns Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

INNOVATION: Big data can provide powerful insights into policing and improve performance, but getting it wrong leads to unreliable conclusions and poor policies. In the second of two articles, Professor Tom Kirchmaier, Director of Policing and Crime at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics (LSE), outlines his team’s work with British policing and some of the important principles of using big data.

Opinion: In Australia, the recent Victorian Royal Commission into Police Management of Informants has highlighted concerns over police accountability, and called for major changes around oversight and transparency; but Professor Jude McCulloch and Professor Michael Maguire, both of Monash University, argue that real progress will require more extensive reform.

FEATURE: With online extremists migrating to increasingly niche platforms, law enforcement is having to work harder to monitor and tackle hate crime and extremist activity; but as online intelligence experts Franck Znaty and Dr Lewys Brace told delegates at this year's NPCC Internet, Intelligence and Investigation conference, targeting such activity may be challenging but can still be successful.

FEATURE: In our continuing series supporting new police degree entry recruits, Policing Insight’s Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly takes a final look at evidence-based policing, and the challenges of taking EBP forwards from research theory to embedded, applied practice within policing organisations.

FEATURE: A series of international workshops focusing on policing in the pandemic have highlighted officer wellbeing, new crime threats and a deluge of lockdown legislation as key concerns emerging from the COVID-19 crisis; ahead of a London Policing College conference next week to discuss the issues, Policing Insight editor Keith Potter talks to College President Rod Jarman about the key themes, and lessons for the future.

OPINION: In the latest in his series of bi-monthly blogs, Superintendent Simon Nelson, President of the Disabled Police Association, looks at UK Disability History Month, how far policing has come in relation to diversability and neurodiversity, and what more still needs to be done.

LONG READ: Modern slavery and human trafficking are transnational crimes that could easily flourish in the COVID-19 pandemic conditions of economic uncertainty and isolation; in this long-read article, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at efforts in the UK and US to tackle this illegal human trade which often targets society’s most vulnerable.

FEATURE: Diversity, equality and inclusion in police recruitment was the key focus for the first @WeCops Twitter chat in November, and with a reach of almost three million – and with contributions from all ranks as well as the Policing Minister – it’s clearly a crucial current topic for policing. @WeCops Supt Katy Barrow-Grint brought together to the main points from the debate in this blog.

OPINION: Former armed forces personnel make up the UK’s largest group of male prisoners by occupation, so what more can be done to support ex-service mean and women in the CJS? Sarah Grand-Clément, senior analyst at RAND Europe and one of the authors of a new report into the issue, believes there are more steps that police and government can take to provide targeted support to those from a military background.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: University of Buckingham is launching a new PG Cert and Master’s programme in Transnational Organised Crime. The programmes are aimed at the next generation of police and law enforcement leaders, including officers, detectives and analysts, as well as those looking to gain a qualification that would enable them to build long-term careers in law enforcement, security and intelligence.

INTERVIEW: Incorporating new technology, collaborating with partners and maintaining social legitimacy are just some of the challenges facing Chile’s PDI in the future, explains Director General Héctor Espinosa, in the second half of his two-part interview with Policing Insight.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff from Victoria Police in Australia, 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: Policing has had a tough 12 months; but if the challenges are difficult now, what scenarios will law enforcement agencies face in 10 or 20 years time? Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro spoke to Odette Meli of the Australian Federal Police about her work on futures thinking and forward planning for policing.

FEATURE: When a convicted rapist admitted that he planned to hunt down and attack the same woman again once he was released from prison, defensive profiling helped to protect his terrified victim; Policing Insight Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports from the first day of the UK’s Internet Intelligence and Investigations Conference on this invaluable internet-based approach to safeguarding victims and witnesses.

ANALYSIS: Police use of stop and search has been widely scrutinised and regularly debated; but as Dr Mike Rowe of the University of Liverpool and Dr Geoff Pearson of the University of Manchester discovered during a seven-year study of two police forces, ‘stop and accounts’ and vehicle stops receive much less attention, yet can be just as damaging if used disproportionately.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Harder to say and even harder to achieve, interoperability has long been the bugbear of many industries with policing perhaps at the top of the tree. Boyd Mulvey discusses what can be done to drive integration and interoperability forward for a more joined up approach to policing.

INTERVIEW: Chilean policing and society in general have undergone significant changes since the 1990s, and the country’s PDI police force is now regarded by citizens as one of the country’s must trusted and reliable institutions; in this two-part interview, Policing Insight spoke to PDI Director General Héctor Espinosa about the work of the force, the challenges it faces – nationally and internationally – and what the future may hold.

OPINION: In recent years major changes to policing have included a transformation of recruitment practises that have changed the workforce demographic; Ian Lithgow, IBM’s Partner responsible for Talent and Transformation, explains how a more strategic approach to workforce planning can make a difference.

OPINION: The UK’s N8 Policing Research Partnership will be holding a two-day conference next week, focusing on the Policing Vulnerabilities and the Future of Police/Academic Partnerships; in the first in a series of articles around the event, Prof Gloria Laycock, Chair of the N8 PRP Advisory Board, highlights the importance of police and research collaborations in the COVID-19 pandemic age.

OPINION: In the second in a series of articles focusing on wellbeing and mental health, police leader turned development coach Gareth Davies explores the issue of self-compassion, and how it can play a crucial role in reducing anxiety and depression while increasing motivation and happiness.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Police services face the challenge of a growing multitude of communications channels used by the public, with engagements across social media, web and voice channels. Steve Norris, Police Market Director for Salesforce UK, discusses how these touchpoints can be married together for greater efficiency and insight.

OPINION: New research suggests the unique nature of the COVID-19 pandemic has left policing struggling to make the most effective use of social media; crisis communications expert Amanda Coleman believes that the wide range of social media platforms could be used not just to engage the public, but to target and tackle crime.

INTERVIEW: On the eve of his departure as Chief Constable of South Wales Police, before taking up his new post as Assistant Commissioner at the Met, Matt Jukes spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the challenges of policing the pandemic, the importance of preparation and communication, and the ‘hidden heroes’ of the policing effort.