Rape

UK PCC ELECTIONS 2021: As the dust slowly settles on the 2021 police and crime commissioner (PCC) elections, and those in post start to implement their manifestos, Professor Peter Joyce (Wrexham Glyndŵr University) and Dr Wendy Laverick (University of Hull) take a closer look at the election process – who fought on what issues, how the parties fared, the profiles of those now in office, and what the challenges will be for PCCs going forwards.

ANALYSIS: The results of a recent survey of New Zealand Police Association members have confirmed high levels of post-traumatic stress (PTS) among both serving and former and serving officers, and underlined the need for greater support and services for those experiencing the effects of PTS.

INNOVATION: With increasing pressure on policing restricting opportunities for research and innovation, a new EU funding programme – to which UK forces still have access – could offer fresh avenues for transformation and change that will enable law enforcement to tackle existing and emerging threats, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INNOVATION: Sniffer dogs are already used by police forces to detect everything from drugs and guns to cash and dead bodies; now police in Derbyshire are pioneering the work of a new breed of forensic dogs that can sniff out tiny traces of semen to support investigations into sexual offences, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Events that occurred on London’s Clapham Common last weekend received widespread international media coverage, much of which has focused on the nature of policing and querying its appropriateness; Professor Peter Joyce and Dr Wendy Laverick examine some of the key issues regarding the manner in which the event was managed by the Metropolitan Police Service.

OPINION: As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, former police officer Dr Sarah Jane Fox, now a member of the Institute of Policing at Staffordshire University, highlights the key role that women already play in policing – and the efforts to address the gender imbalance in police services around the globe, as well as in wider society.

ANALYSIS: A wide range of measures were introduced across the criminal justice system in the UK to reduce the spread of the coronavirus, including greater use of remote legal advice for those in police custody; but as Penelope Gibbs, Director of Transform Justice explains, a new report highlights both the lack of meaningful monitoring of such measures, and their potential to compromise justice and jeopardise fairness.

OPINION: Levels of violent crime across America saw an unprecedented increase in 2020; in this latest essay from the Violence Reduction Project, Professor Gary Cordner, former Maryland police chief and Academic Director of the Baltimore Police Department Police Academy, explains how better police education and training can contribute to reducing violence.

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.

OPINION: With the COVID-19 lockdown pushing the Crown Court backlog of cases to 54,000 and rising, finding ways to safely speed up the delivery of justice are crucial; Dr Johann Grundlingh, CEO of SFR Medical, believes streamlining the medical evidence process could bring real benefits.

OPINION: Debates around ‘warrior cop’ masculinity and excessive use of force in policing have continued in the wake of the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests; but suggestions that simply hiring more women will change police culture are flawed, says Harvard Masters candidate Diane Liang.

FEATURE: The work of modern slavery support charity Justice and Care with victims at home and abroad is helping those who have been trafficked to engage more easily with police, leading in turn to more targeted action against organised crime; now the charity is hoping to expand its Victim Navigator programme to more forces, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The launch of the Government's Serious Violence Strategy in 2018 was overshadowed by leaked Home Office documents suggesting police cuts contributed to the rise in violent crime; almost three years later, and after a lengthy legal battle, the Home Office has finally released those documents, as former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw explains.

OPINION: The balance between professional judgement in policing and following an ethical framework is a delicate one. However, Dr Emma Williams argues that too much focus on consistent professional standards can not only stifle discretion, but can lead to moral distress when officers find that guidance challenges their own moral judgements.

OPINION: For those still having to deal with the pandemic and police the latest round of COVID-19 restrictions, festive good wishes seem strangely out of place; perhaps, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter suggests, the best we can hope for is a lockdown-induced, crime-free Christmas, and – when it finally arrives – a well-deserved break.

OPINION: Being a police officer was Sam Smith’s dream job, but when his mental health began to suffer as a result of his career choice, the lack of resilience training and minimal support meant the dream turned sour; now the former Hertfordshire PC has launched the Green Ribbon Policing campaign, calling for a mandatory national standard for mental health within policing.

FEATURE: London Policing College’s recent Policing in the Time of Pandemic conference included a focus on COVID-19’s impact on domestic abuse and harmful practices; Polly Harrar, founder of The Sharan Project and Joint Chair of the London Harmful Practices Working Group, highlights the key messages from the workshops held ahead of the conference, and the lessons for policing moving forwards.

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: 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.

FEATURE: In the second of two articles exploring crime harm indexes, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the rationale behind the Cambridge index, and how the approach as been adopted in other countries including Sweden and Australia.

OPINION: Around 120 million Nigerians have access to the internet, with more than half using at least one social media platform, but police in Lagos have yet to maximise the potential of digital communications to fight crime; criminologist Dr Usman Ojedokun explores why, and what more could be done to engage with the public.

FEATURE: In the first of two articles exploring crime harm indexes, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the thinking behind the concept, and the latest calls for resources to be prioritised around a harm-based framework as part of the new approach to policing after the pandemic.

FEATURE: A study by the Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales into rape survivors’ experiences of the criminal justice system has found that only one in seven felt that victims could get justice by reporting the crime to police; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at some of the key findings from the report.

ANALYSIS: Cases of sexual misconduct by police officers are still relatively rare, but such an abuse of position can have serious implications for the public’s view of policing, and the trust of the police as an institution; PhD researcher and serving police officer Fay Sweeting explores the scale of the problem, and what forces could be doing better to tackle the issue.