Technology and equipment

OPINION: The changing nature of crime, the advances of new technology, and the debates around training and wellbeing are representative of just some of the contemporary challenges facing policing in England and Wales; Jonathan Jackson, Senior Teaching Fellow in Policing and Security at Birmingham City University, explores some of those key challenges, and what steps the service could be taking to address them.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: NEW DATE FOR WEBINAR: Currently a high number of business crimes go unreported due to the protracted nature of reporting and sharing securely the related (often CCTV) evidence. The NICE Investigate solution addresses this issue by allowing businesses to, voluntarily, pre-register their cameras, via the ‘Business Portal’, to their local police force – to find out how, join our webinar on the new date of Tuesday, 4th October at 14:00 BST / 9:00am EDT

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The violence against women and girls delivery framework, which launched in December 2021, sets out how policing will radically improve its response to violent and sexual crimes, and build trust and confidence. The WEPROTECT instant victim referral service enables officers to provide faster access to civil legal support and court orders to help protect victims from further abuse.

INTERVIEW: With police officers across the country facing unprecedented pressure and demand, Thames Valley Police is looking to support its frontline by introducing a Behavioural Science Unit; Policing Insight’s Martin Buhagiar spoke to Superintendent Felicity Parker about the scale of the project and how it could reshape UK policing in the future.

ANALYSIS: The United Nations has recently held its first meetings to develop plans and parameters for a new ‘global instrument’ to tackle cybercrime; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a closer look at the details behind the proposal, and some of the challenges the UN will face in establishing an effective body to target the activities of cyber criminals on the global stage.

OPINION: In what are widely recognised as difficult times for policing, new technology could help to transform service delivery and performance, but is still often regarded as a problem rather than an opportunity; Martin Taylor of cloud communications specialists Content Guru believes the successful implementation of that technology – particularly in relation to omnichannel public contact – could achieve real transformative benefits for both police and the public.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The 2021/22 PEEL assessments of police forces in England & Wales by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have highlighted some exceptional performances but also areas to improve in contact management and providing a service to the victims of crime. Steve Norris explains how the Salesforce solution can equip forces with appropriate technology to improve communication with victims of crime and meet their needs.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Currently a high number of business crimes go unreported due to the protracted nature of reporting and sharing securely the related (often CCTV) evidence. The NICE Investigate solution addresses this issue by allowing businesses to, voluntarily, pre-register their cameras, via the ‘Business Portal’, to their local police force – to find out how, join our webinar Tuesday, 20th September at 14:00 BST / 9:00am EDT

OPINION: The challenges of digital forensic examinations, and the backlog caused by a combination of limited capacity and capability in policing, and the exponential rise in devices requiring examination, have long been a concern for forces, the inspectorate and other stakeholders; Paul Kennedy, of the Accelerating Growth in Policing programme, and Richard Cockerill, Digital Forensics specialist for CACI, believe closer partnership between policing and the private sector could be the key to meeting those challenges.

ANALYSIS: When human remains were found in two suitcases bought in a storage auction in New Zealand it made headline news around the world, but dead bodies are discovered in bags and suitcases with surprising regularity; Dr Paola Magni, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Murdoch University, explains the key role insects can play in determining the details of such deaths, and outlines a ground-breaking experiment underway in Western Australia which will help to solve such crimes.

OPINION: In the US, like other countries, identity theft is a burgeoning crime, but the nature of the offence and the difficulty in dealing with criminal activity that may traverse different national and international jurisdictions can mean that responses are inconsistent, and victims feel unsupported; David Smith, an independent consultant for the SmartCard Institute, looks at some of the steps policing and lawmakers can take to improve that response.

OPINION: The prospect of the increasing police use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly around predictive policing, have prompted concerns over potential bias, and the need for transparency and explainability; Dr Nick Evans of the University of Tasmania believes that with the right safeguards in place, the use of AI could establish built-in objectivity for policing decisions, and potentially greater trust and confidence in police decision-making.

ANALYSIS: A recent research report into the police use of body-worn video, published by the University of Stirling and commissioned by Police Scotland, highlights the opportunities for the service to develop best practice incorporating the experience of other forces, and implement governance and accountability measures that will help to ensure public trust and confidence, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With more than 100 reported in rapes in South Africa every day, sexual violence across the country is seemingly endemic; Professor Amanda Gouws of Stellenbosch University believes that attempts by police and Government to deliver quick fixes – such as the recent ANC policy calling for the chemical castration of rapists – are destined to fail, with long-term cultural and criminal justice measures the only real option.

FEATURE: The launch in March of the Police Foundation’s influential Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales was heralded by many as an opportunity to rethink and reset some of the key policing parameters, aims and approaches; ahead of next month’s conference focusing on the Review, Canterbury Centre for Policing Research Director Dr Martin O’Neill revisits some of those recommendations, and considers a few of the important questions that will be debated over the two days.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: In the first two months of 2022, Hampshire Constabulary collected over 11,000 pieces of digital evidence from businesses and citizens, each typically consuming an hour of an officer’s time. To address these challenges, Hampshire Constabulary and other SERIP forces have deployed the NICE Investigate Digital Evidence Management solution.

OPINION: Among the many reasons given for the ‘unacceptable’ levels of police detections of acquisitive crime in England and Wales, effective investigative technology (or the lack of it) has a key part to play; Iain Donnelly, a former digital investigations and intelligence force lead and now advisor to technology companies working with policing, believes a lack of understanding among senior leaders, a default of dealing with large corporates, and the overfocus on digital forensics are among the key issues.

FEATURE: Data is widely recognised as a key enabler in policing’s digital transformation, but the quality of that data is crucial, especially when it comes to location; Phill Ridley of 1Spatial, Durham Chief Constable Jo Farrell, and Teresa Ashforth, PND Data Quality & Standards Lead at the Home Office, highlight the benefits that can be achieved through the use of UPRNs, and the steps that all forces can take to improve their data quality.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s London Policing College workshop on policing public protest in Germany, keynote speaker Dr Bernd Bürger of the Bavarian Police Institute of Further Education spoke to Policing Insight’s Keith Potter about the importance of communication and negotiation in handling demonstrations, the need for officers and commanders to have expertise and experience, and the benefits of establishing full-time public order policing units.

FEATURE: With more than 240,000 legitimate firearms holders among New Zealand’s five million population, and a large hunting community, previous attempts to tighten firearms licensing have been met with long and loud opposition; but plans for a new gun registry to target firearms criminality have gathered pace in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, and will come into effect next year, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With the cyber threat growing continuously and becoming increasingly aggressive, law enforcement and public authorities will need to raise their investment and expertise in tackling cyber criminals; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the latest funding available from the EU to support improvements in digital investigation tools, techniques, and technologies.

OPINION: With policing seemingly under continuous pressure – financial, political and public – it’s clear that to deliver the best possible service, parts of the job need rethinking, and others a radical overhaul; Iain Donnelly, a former officer and now author, podcaster and policing technical consultant, suggests 10 “relatively quick” fixes which also highlight the need for more common sense in UK policing, especially among senior leaders.

LONG READ: Forensic scientist Stuart Kind, who was brought in by the UK Home Office to help track down the Yorkshire Ripper, is widely recognised as a pioneer of geographic profiling; former Met Police detective Geoff Monaghan and geospatial intelligence specialist Ian Oldfield explore whether the genesis of the geographic profiling concept can be traced back further to a piece of 1920s detective fiction, and the story of a string of animal maimings in Surrey.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Known for its innovative approaches to policing, Northamptonshire Police is always seeking better ways to fight crime and protect people – so they turned to NICE Investigate for digital transformation. Because it sits on top of Northamptonshire Police's other digital evidence systems, NICE Investigate can automate the case building process by searching across connected data sources for evidence. As soon as investigators log in, their digital evidence is waiting in electronic case folders for them. NICE Investigate has also helped the force uncover new lines of enquiry and evidence for complex and serious crimes, which one detective inspector says is “real win-win.”