Regulatory/inspection agencies

FEATURE: A recent joint inspection on case building across England and Wales, undertaken by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, has highlighted continuing challenges around communications between the police and CPS, a lack of ‘fit for purpose’ IT, and the need for a new over-arching national criminal justice system strategy, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: More than 140 potential chief officers in England and Wales have now passed through the College of Policing’s Executive Leaders Programme, the replacement for the Strategic Command Course, where activities include placements at non-policing organisations; the reformed process has seen a rise in women taking the course, but is far from hitting one of its main aims, as Ian Weinfass reports.

INTERVIEW: Following the recent launch of a new Mental Health Crisis Line offering around the clock support to police officers and staff in England and Wales who are experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal thoughts, Andy Rhodes – Service Director for Oscar Kilo, which has commissioned the service – spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the reasons behind the launch, how the line will operate, and why he was “worried but proud” to do something positive about saving lives.

INTERVIEW: New discipline regulations implemented in An Garda Síochána as part of the reform of the service under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 will mean Gardaí are “treated differently from every other employee in the state”, says Garda Representative Association General Secretary Ronan Slevin, who fears members could face “far more serious sanctions for far more minor breaches”, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FREE SUBSCRIBER ACCESS: Policing Insight welcomes officers and staff from Canada's York Regional Police, who now have FREE subscriber access with the start of a new organisation wide subscription. They join a community of readers from many other UK and international police, government, academic, criminal justice and emergency services organisations with an interest in progressive policing. Read on to find out how to use your FREE subscriber access.

FEATURE: A new Professionalising Investigations Programme launched by the College of Policing (CoP) is now being trialled by 13 forces across England and Wales, with a view to improving outcomes for victims, introducing national first-line supervisor standards, and equipping sergeants and police staff with enhanced skills, as CoP Crime & Criminal Justice Delivery lead Chief Superintendent Jamie Daniels told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Baroness Casey’s latest review was pounced upon as proof the authorities have suppressed uncomfortable truths around the ethnicity of grooming gangs, and while her findings don’t quite confirm that, she is critical of the lack of action to protect vulnerable girls during the past decade; the Government has committed to implement her recommendations – but Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett examines whether they will really make a difference.

INNOVATION: The College of Policing’s Chief Superintendent Jamie Daniels is calling on police forces across England and Wales to put forward investigations highlighting best practice and innovation as part of a College initiative to create a “national investigation bank” that will improve learning and outcomes while also recognising the stand-out work of officers, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Avon and Somerset PCC Clare Moody, the APCC’s joint lead on victims and violence against women and girls (VAWG), sets out some of the latest developments in the continuing efforts to significantly reduce VAWG, support victims, and find solutions to a society-wide problem – while reiterating calls for stable, long-term funding to get the job done.

INTERVIEW: Craig Naylor tells Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland’s plans for the next three years – including a focus on police-perpetrated domestic abuse and institutional discrimination – and how the inspectorate is bringing about change.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this month’s Global Societies of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, Policing Insight’s Keith Potter talked to conference speaker Prof Ben Bradford, Director of UCL’s Centre for Global City Policing, about the findings from recent research into the UK public’s trust and confidence in policing, why the decline shouldn’t be seen as catastrophic – yet – and what forces and policing more widely can do to reverse some of that decline.

INNOVATION: An updated National Policing Digital Strategy for forces across the UK has called for greater government investment in new policing technology, a commitment from forces to modernise “local ways of working” and follow the blueprints set out nationally, and a push for “capturing, cleaning, managing, using, and sharing data at all levels” if the service is to grasp the “once-in-a generation opportunity to deliver significant, tangible change” offered by technology advances, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

LONG READ: The riots that affected many English cities last summer following the Southport murders highlighted the increasing difficulty for policing globally in responding to social media disinformation; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend, a communications specialist, looks at the challenges that have faced police in the UK, Canada, Australia and the US in the response to digital communications, as well as efforts to use online platforms to better engage communities and build trust.

FEATURE: A new National Police Chiefs’ Council Mental Health and Policing Strategy will place the Right Care, Right Person approach at the centre of the policing response to those in mental health crisis, with renewed emphasis on tackling disproportionality and measures to improve data capture also key elements of the as yet unpublished document, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr Munro reports.

FEATURE: Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Dr Brian Plastow has set out a range of steps Police Scotland should take to gain the maximum benefit from new technology that will “transform society and policing” – including backing greater investment in live facial recognition, particularly in the fight to prevent violence against women and girls – as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

ANALYSIS: After the tragic murder of a 19-year-old woman in 2022, Essex Police set about changing how it assesses known and suspected perpetrators of domestic violence and developed an approach to stop them that had been “stolen with pride” from tackling gangs; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish and Detective Constable Robert Kedar about their work.

FEATURE: A Home Office-commissioned evaluation of the UK police use of naloxone highlights that not only is the opioid overdose reversal medication a potential life-saver, but its wider carriage by officers could help to build more trust and stronger relationships with drug-using communities – if challenges can be addressed around training and data collection, collaboration with healthcare agencies on handover and aftercare, and officers’ own stigma around drug users, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: With this week’s official launch of the Neighbourhood Policing Programme (NPP) career pathway across England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Chief Superintendent Andy Sidebotham, Head of Uniformed Policing at the College of Policing, about the reasons for introducing the NPP, the make-up of the training modules, and what the new programme aims to achieve.

INNOVATION: An artificial intelligence (AI) model is currently being developed by Cheshire Constabulary in conjunction with two universities to spot stalking behaviour and identify offending patterns earlier in investigations; Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons how the new technology will be used, the training process for the AI algorithm, and the potential opportunities to expand its use into other threatening behaviour offences related to violence against women and girls.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Metropolitan Police Service Director of Data Aimee Smith and Deputy Director of Data Samantha Laskey about how they overcame a traditional culture and delays to develop policing’s first open data strategy.

King's Birthday Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise the policing and public safety recipients of the UK and overseas 2025 King's Birthday Honours. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service.

FEATURE: The first spotlight report from the Ontario Inspector General of Policing Ryan Teschner looking at the policing of protests and major events has highlighted the changing shapes, frequency and complexity of demonstrations, as well as a policing model that puts too much demand on specific services, leaving officers facing significant fatigue and adding to recruitment challenges for the specialised role, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into the UK police response to organised immigration crime (OIC) has called for greater collaboration between forces, better intelligence gathering and sharing, and for OIC to become a higher law enforcement priority in order to tackle the organised crime groups involved, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Humberside Police has become a story of turnaround success, from being the first UK force to be rated ‘inadequate’ to becoming graded in most areas as ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’, and technology has played key part in the transformation; Police Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to the force’s Chief Digital and Innovation Officer Scot Dunn about the role artificial intelligence has played in that journey, the importance of focusing new tech on supporting victims, and the difference a national policing centre could make.