Police management

Interview: Vanessa Soames, Graduate Recruitment Director, at Police Now, has spent nearly 18 years working in student recruitment. She joined Police Now two years ago, where she developed a new recruitment campaign to attract diverse graduates into policing, especially graduates who would never have thought of joining the police. She tells Policing Insight about the campaign and why the Police Service needs it.

Opinion: According to Big Brother Watch's report on facial recognition technology, a system deployed by South Wales Police at a football match generated a  92% False Positive Rate. Founder and CEO of facial recognition company Allevate Ltd Carl Gohringer puts the record straight on how the technology works and what the figures mean.

ANALYSIS: The Scottish town of Paisley has experienced troubling increases in violent crime over the past year, prompting a robust response from the local division of Police Scotland. Martin Gallagher and Del Middleton, two of the architects of this response, provide the context and outline of this policing initiative. Dr Colin Atkinson of the University of the West of Scotland reflects upon the impact of this work for local communities and, importantly, for the police service itself.

OPINION: Other European countries face football-related violence - and often respond to it in similar ways to the UK. However, ENABLE, a research project on football policing, is seeking to explore new ways of policing football fans. Ch. Supt. Owen West describes the project's latest visit to see how Swiss police deal with their 'Ultras'.

Opinion: With Facial Recognition Technology (FRT) now increasingly used in law enforcement, Information Commissioner Elizabeth Denham says there are many unanswered questions as to how it is deployed, raising concerns about the lack of transparency and governance around its use.

ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at Amnesty International's Trapped in the Matrix which examines the Metropolitan Police Services' Gangs Violence Matrix which it concludes is unfit for purpose.

ANALYSIS: What kind of structures might help deal with a crisis like the murder of Lee Rigby or the Grenfell Tower disaster? Martin Gallagher, a serving officer with Police Scotland describes Grey Space, a group he set up to monitor community tensions - and how he tested its capacity.

NEW SERIES: Policing Insight has over a thousand in depth articles on a wide range of policing issues. SPOTLIGHT ON is a new series which groups articles under one subject allowing you quick and easy reference when you need it. Articles on the mental well-being of officers and staff are among some of our best-read features so we begin the series with a roundup of articles examining mental ill health among police employees and the service’s response.

OPINION: Not being able to trace the identity of a private landlord can have real consequences for police - and for local residents. Ron Hogg, PCC for Durham, explains why he is backing a Private Member's Bill to make mandatory the registration of private landlords.

NEWS: PLACES ARE FILLING FAST for the first annual "Police Governance" summit, which will take place on Wednesday 6th to Thursday 7th June 2018. In this latest update, we announce new flexible booking options and confirm session timings. Put the dates in your diary today - and book your place now...

ANALYSIS: HMICFRS recently published the annual PEEL performance reports. Despite displaying forces results in the same data tables, there appears to be resistance to facilitating direct comparison of force performance. In the spirit of provoking debate, CoPaCC has converted the PEEL results into a numerical index to identify the front runners and back markers in PEEL performance.

LONG READ: International policing is central to peacebuilding in fragile states, but there has been little opportunity for practitioners to share with each other what they have learned on the ground. Following a workshop last year that brought together experts from the field, Georgina Sinclair of Strategic Expertise International and Rohan Burdett, an independent Security and Justice Development consultant, introduce a series of essays on the subject.

OPINION: International policing missions are complex and challenging, and it is difficult for practitioners to share lessons from the ground. A workshop in Lisbon last year brought together experts from the field. Dr Georgina Sinclair of Strategic Expertise International introduces the background to the workshop, and its outputs - a set of essays that Policing Insight is now serialising.

NEWS: BOOKING IS NOW OPEN for the first annual "Police Governance" summit, which now has an EXCEPTIONAL list of speakers. The Summit will take place on Wednesday 6th to Thursday 7th June 2018. Put the dates in your diary today - and book your place now...

Opinion: CCTV of a mentally ill man being sprayed with capsicum spray, pinned to the ground by six police officers and hit with a baton in Melbourne quickly went viral, appalling many including Dr Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron of the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies who works closely with the Australian police. She asks what can we learn from this.

Opinion: CCTV technology has been in place for many years now so why the need for super recognisers? Former DCI and now CEO of Super Recognisers International Mike Neville explains how super recognisers add value to CCTV imagery, linking crimes and even identifying terror suspects.

ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at the NCA's The Cyber Threat to UK Business 2017-2018 which details significant and emerging threats to cyber-security.

ANALYSIS: The sexual exploitation of children is often divided into online and offline abuse - but are these categories useful? Laura Broome, Dr Cristina Izura, and Prof. Nuria Lorenzo-Dus of Swansea University argue that the distinction is not a helpful one and propose a better method of categorising child sexual abuse.

ANALYSIS: The investigation of modern slavery is hugely complex, often involving several agencies - and recent inspection reports suggest there are still problems with intelligence sharing and joint action plans. Laura Pajón of the University of Derby, and Professor Dave Walsh of De Montfort University, suggest a new way of working.

NEWS: BOOKING IS NOW OPEN for the first annual "Police Governance" summit, which has an OUTSTANDING list of speakers. The Summit will take place on Wednesday 6th to Thursday 7th June 2018. Put the dates in your diary today - and book your place now...

ANALYSIS: British police chiefs are enthusiastic about the benefits of body-worn cameras, so how do they reconcile the cost of adoption and maintenance with the other budgetary pressures they are facing? In an article from the 2017 CoPaCC thematic report 'Body-worn Video in Policing' , former ACC Ian Wiggett looks at the issues.

OPINION: The latest wave of murders in London has caused deep concern, with calls for a police crackdown on the violence. Prof. James Treadwell of Staffordshire University explains why such a crackdown may not work - unless it's backed by more police resources.

INSIGHT: Last week was National Autism Awareness Week during which the National Police Autism Association (NPAA) published a number of powerful blogs dispelling some myths around autism and raising awareness. The blogs reveal how one force has changed its approach to detainees with autism, but also how officers who have been diagnosed with autism manage their lives and their jobs.

OPINION: NPCC Lead on Digital Policing Steve Kavanagh says that with the right IT, police officers and staff should see data as a powerful tool, but how can this be achieved? MASS Head of Law Enforcement Business Development Chris Bacon offers a sustainable way forward.