Technology and equipment

FEATURE: The latest report from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security has highlighted the need for ‘co-ordinated international action’ to tackle cybercriminals’ aggressive use of ransomware – often with the backing of state actors – that has ‘devastating’ and ‘profound’ effects, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: The Internet of Things, that network of products and objects using digital communications to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems, is becoming increasingly common in our everyday world; but Dr Lennon Chang of Monash University believes it also represents a significant opportunity for cyber criminals to carry out a much wider range of both cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled crimes.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Ian Stanier, Visiting Lecturer at Buckingham University’s Centre for Security and Intelligence, about the importance of CHIS and HUMINT, expanding the capability and capacity of UK covert investigations, and the FIREPLACES informant motivation model.

INNOVATION: Artificial intelligence and machine learning have the potential to revolutionise identification processes for law enforcement; but if they are to be reliable and trusted, those commissioning their use must ensure concerns around gender dimension bias have been addressed from the outset, says Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth.

FEATURE: San Diego Police Department regularly held 170 community meetings every month to encourage public engagement, but when the pandemic arrived, citizen contact moved from face-to-face to online; now the force is hoping a new web-based survey approach will increase public reach and ensure the department’s policing priorities reflect those of the community, as Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend reports.

ANALYSIS: Europe’s migrant crisis took a tragic turn this month, with the death of 27 people attempting to cross the Channel from France to the UK; with a significant rise in illegal EU border crossings over the past two years, the Frontex agency has found itself increasingly in the frontline of a political and humanitarian crisis, which has brought its own challenges for the organisation, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: The Biden administration’s recent ban on the use of Pegasus spyware in the US represents a strong international statement on human rights and democratic freedoms; but analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute believes it raises serious questions for Australian policing, and the swathe of legislation giving law enforcement new powers to access individuals’ data in the name of tackling ‘exceptional’ or ‘unprecedented’ threats.

INTERVIEW: Police can easily find themselves on the wrong end of a social media storm, either from online trolls or as a result of edited footage; but for recently appointed West Mercia Chief Constable Pippa Mills, Twitter provides an opportunity to engage with the public, praise staff and support colleagues, as she explained to Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons.

INNOVATION: Investigating domestic abuse takes up a significant proportion of police time and resources, yet successful prosecutions and criminal convictions remain at an unacceptably low level; Simon Franc, Founder and CEO of Anatomap, believes a new free app can empower victims of domestic abuse and other violent offences to improve the quality of evidence in such cases, leading to better outcomes for both victims and police.

ANALYSIS: The introduction of body-worn cameras among US police forces and the subsequent improvement in evidential quality has helped to reduce the racial disparity in the response to complaints about police misconduct, according to new research by Professors Suat Cubukcu, Erdal Tekin, Nusret Sahin and Volkan Topalli.

FEATURE: The police use of Taser has been a topic of much debate, with widening training and deployment, the intense scrutiny, and a lack of understanding about less lethal weapons among both the media and the public some of the key issues; many of those points were raised during a recent #WeCops debate on less lethal weapons, which is summarised in this article by PC Francesca Tamblyn, Taser Lead Instructor for Dorset Police and one of the hosts of the debate.

FEATURE: The increasing use of drones in conflict situations by military and terrorists organisations has also served to highlight the threat posed to public safety more widely, and police are likely to be in the frontline response to that threat; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the legislative and regulatory framework put in place to enable officers to tackle the drone danger.

FEATURE: Against a background of major inequality based on geography, gender, ethnicity, disability and faith, Pakistan remains a country with significant ties to the UK, and a diaspora of 1.7 million Pakistani residents across the country look to the UK Government for leadership in developing systems for a future when Pakistan no longer needs British support: Policing Insight contributor Gareth Bryon takes a look at some of the work that has taken place in support of criminal justice by the UK in recent years.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Policing could already benefit from the significant advances available in modern technology, according to Allan Fairley of Accenture UK – but he believes the real barriers to progress are politics and personal agendas, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

ANALYSIS: With an increasingly complex crime landscape, police agencies are adopting more data-driven approaches – but what is the crime analysts’ view of the data they are working with? Saskatoon Police Service Divisional Crime Analyst John Ng* worked with Ontario Tech University Associate Professors Dr Christopher O’Connor and Dr Tyler Frederick, and PhD candidate Dallas Hill, to explore Canadian crime analysts’ perspectives on the quality, collection and use of police data.

Round-table: Representatives from UK policing, stakeholders and suppliers praised the “miracle job” done by the service in response to the pandemic, and urged police leaders and the Government to ensure the momentum of transformational IT change continues post-Covid, as they debated the key policing ICT issues at a round-table discussion organised by Policing Insight Events in association with Virgin Media Business.

FEATURE: Pandemic lockdowns and remote working have fuelled a significant growth in cyber crime, according to Europol’s latest Internet Organised Crime Threat Assessment, with fraud and grooming – including the distribution of explicit self-generated material – presenting major challenges for investigators; Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons looks at the key threats highlighted in the report, and what steps policing can take to mitigate them.

FEATURE: Previous incarnations of online learning in policing left many underwhelmed and uninspired, with stories of officers struggling to absorb information or simply clicking through pages as fast as possible to complete a module; in the first of a new series of articles on continuing professional development, Dr Matthew Jones of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning sets out to dispel some long-held myths and explore the new world of blended learning.

OPINION: While there was a familiar ring to much of the UK Government’s recently unveiled ‘Beating Crime Plan’, continuing pressure on resources (both human financial) means delivering a new-look local policing approach is still a major challenge; Steve Ainsworth, Executive Director of NEC Software Solutions UK, believes technology can lead to more effective targeting of offences and offenders, and give young-in-service officers the vital knowledge they need to succeed.

FEATURE: With the site of a new National Cyber Force now confirmed – along with the centre’s role in “offensive cyber operations” – the UK has reinforced its position as a leading player in global cyber security; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at plans for the NCF, the country’s continuing efforts to build cyber capacity, and the opportunities for developing new uses of artificial intelligence within those disruptive technologies.

ANALYSIS: High-harm domestic abuse offenders are likely to have a criminal record and several police interactions before they are first reported for partner violence – and a small number go on to cause disproportionate harm – so could algorithms and machine learning help to target them early? This was one of the key questions considered by New South Wales Police Superintendent Andrew Hurst at last week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing conference.

FEATURE: The process of replacing the UK’s increasingly outdated Airwave communications network with a new Emergency Services Network (ESN) has been plagued by overruns and soaring additional costs; now the Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into the Motorola-owned Airwave, amid concerns that the company is cashing in on the delays, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: The rapid advance of biometric technology is generating new identification and surveillance opportunities for the police and security sectors, alongside growing concern about oversight; Jessica Figueras, Vice-Chair of the UK Cyber Security Council (writing here in a private capacity) believes that improved ethical governance will be crucial as the use of biometrics expands – and the lack of ‘algorithmic inspection’ skills required to provide that governance could slow the pace of adoption.

INNOVATION: With pressure on police call handlers back up to levels not seen for many years, Steve Little from Frazer-Nash Consultancy assesses the options facing police leaders: either keep recruiting more staff in an ‘arms race’ that they can never win, or follow other sectors and turn to AI solutions that will deliver an automated experience for the citizen.