Technology and equipment

LONG READ: UK Home Secretary Priti Patel has authorised the police use of Taser 7, which manufacturers describe as the safest, most tested use of force option, intended to ‘make the bullet obsolete’; but critics argue the more powerful double-cartridge device has increased risks of injury for targets and bystanders. Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the kit and listens to the arguments around the latest conducted energy device.

FEATURE: A new report by the C19 National Foresight Group warns that the psychological impact of a coronavirus second wave could compound already high levels of police officer mental health problems and pose a challenge to sufferers and the service for the next decade, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: In our continuing series aimed at supporting the new police degree entry recruits, Policing Insight's Academic Editor Dr Carina O'Reilly looks at how research interventions can be undermined unless we take a scientific approach right from the beginning.

INTERVIEW: In the fourth in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Policing Insight talks to President of the College and former Met Police DAC Rod Jarman – and poses five key questions on the police-public relationship – ahead of his workshops on the issue later this week.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest article from the UCL COVID-19 series, Graham Farrell and Emily Sheard from the University of Leeds discuss how the new legislation on mandatory face masks could inadvertently be aiding criminal behaviour.

OPINION: In the third in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, independent cyber and security consultant Graeme McGowan explains why the move of millions of employees to remote online working in response to the coronavirus could lead to a cybercrime legacy of that lasts long after any lockdown is over.

ANALYSIS: The recent Scottish Biometrics Commissioner Act was drafted in part to answer public concerns about collecting and retaining biometric samples; but the legislation, and corresponding laws in England and Wales, place Scottish samples on UK databases in a legislative and regulatory limbo, as Post-Doctoral Researcher Karen Richmond of the University of Copenhagen explains.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest article from the UCL series, Graham Farrell from the University of Leeds and Shane D Johnson from the Dawes Centre for Future Crime at UCL discuss how a COVID-19 vaccine may trigger a crime wave on a global scale.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has affected all areas of society, and in turn, all facets of policing. In the first in a series of articles linked to this month's Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, former officer and current police trainer Martin Edwards shares his experiences of delivering police education in the COVID-19 era.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest in the series of COVID-19 briefing papers published by UCL’s Jill Dando Institute, Professor Graham Farrell of the University of Leeds highlights the changing nature of pandemic crime, from furlough fraud and fake PPE to cybercrime and civil law breaches.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, chief technical officer at 7Technologies, examines the potential uses of new technology in border control and missing person identification, and how intelligent technologies could help to combat modern slavery.

ANALYSIS: There have been widespread calls for police reform in the United States, but what shape should that reform take, and how effective can it be? Professor Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University looks at what steps have been taken so far, what has – and hasn’t – worked, and the opportunities for further evidence-based reform.

INTERVIEW: Dubai Police recently became the first force to win seven IACP awards in one year, recognised for its work in areas ranging from forensics and research to victims’ services and highway safety. Policing Insight spoke to Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, about the force’s success, its efforts to tackle challenges such as COVID-19 and transnational crime, and how high-tech and happiness are crucial elements of the force's long-term strategy.

OPINION: Congregations and places of worship from a number of religions are increasingly being targeted across Europe by a range of individuals and groups including far-right activists, extreme anarchists and libertarians; Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth looks at the scale of the problem, and the European Commission response.

OPINION: While there are undoubtedly resource and technology costs attached to the police use of social media, the contribution it can make to the delivery of policing in both physical and digital spaces needs to be understood and acknowledged, says Dr Liam Ralph, Research Fellow at Northumbria University.

ANALYSIS: The benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for policing are increasingly recognised and discussed, but what about the criminal threats from such technology? Keith Potter looks at a new report from UCL’s Dawes Centre for Future Crime which highlights some of the main risks to the public from AI-related criminal activity.

OPINION: In the third in a series of three articles on law enforcement and digital technology, Ian Stevenson, Chair of the Online Safety Technology Industry Association (OSTIA) and CEO and co-founder of Cyan Forensics, considers some of the key questions and challenges around innovation and technology in policing.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Data is now at the heart of every investigation, but as well as offering opportunity to improve the service for victims of crime, it can also hinder it. In this article, Boyd Mulvey, CEO and Founder of Chorus, talks about the data challenges currently facing law enforcement and how Chorus believe they have developed a new Intelligence Suite to help overcome them.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, chief technical officer at Seven Technologies Group, explains how facial recognition could help to reduce bias and protect innocent members of the public, while ensuring the guilty are brought to justice.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: Mohammed Almazrouei from the UCL Jill Dando Institute, Nicola Georgiou from the UCL Centre for Forensic Sciences and Moa Lidén from the Abu Dhabi Police Forensic Evidence Laboratory collaborate to consider how the role of the forensic pathologist has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

OPINION: The widespread availability of E-scooters on the roads of British towns and cities is causing increasing controversy and producing polarised reactions. Charlie Norman of DriveTech examines the issues for policing that E-scooters present.

ANALYSIS: Noise pollution concerns and complaints in relation to police helicopters are mounting, but while drones are seen as an attractive and effective alternative they have their limitations, as Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth explains.

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest article from the UCL Jill Dando Institute series on COVID-19, Jason Roach from the University of Huddersfield and Ken Pease from Derby University examine self-selection policing (SSP) during the pandemic and how successful this style of policing response has been at detecting and identifying offenders.

ANALYSIS: The latest assessment of the new Single Online Home platform shows the digital contact channel has eased the pressure on police resources while speeding up the service to the public, and redirecting thousands of enquiries to more appropriate agencies, writes Keith Potter