Topical issues

FEATURE: An evaluation of an expanded restorative justice (RJ) approach in the Australian Capital Territory, which includes RJ referrals for suitable family and domestic violence cases as well as sexual violence offences, has seen strong support and satisfaction rates from victims, and a reduction in the number of repeat offences committed by perpetrators, as the Australian Institute of Criminology’s Dr Siobhan Lawler explained to delegates at the recent Global Evidence-Based Policing Conference.

INTERVIEW: Alex Finn, the National Police Chiefs’ Council digital youth engagement lead, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about a UK project to engage young people on social media, and why he thinks it should be rolled out further.

ANALYSIS: In the third in a series of five articles looking at the big debates in police use of facial recognition (FR), extracted from this year’s ‘Facing the future: The rise of facial recognition in policing’ report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explored human involvement in overseeing FR systems – often seen as an essential requirement for a trustworthy use of the technology, but does the human presence really reduce bias?

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FEATURE: With cuckooing – the exploitation of vulnerable people by drug gangs who take over their home – not currently classified by the Home Office as a specific crime, the true scale of the problem in the UK remains unclear; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to North-West Regional County Lines Co-ordinator DI Adam Norton, and Intelligence Analyst and PhD candidate Ruth Lewin, about the nature of the crime, and what more can be done to identify and improve support for victims while also strengthening enforcement.

INTERVIEW: Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board face a unique set of challenges, protecting its communities and securing a border that is also the external border of the European Union; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Hannes Järvine, Strategy Bureau Project Manager in the Board’s Development Department, about the responsibilities of keeping Estonian citizens safe and borders secure, and how collaborative research and innovation are helping to enhance the service’s operational capabilities.

INNOVATION: Immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality are increasingly important in society, as well as transforming how police forces train, adapt, and respond to challenges; Wrexham University Professional Policing Lecturer Darren Jacks – a former police officer with 30 years of experience – believes higher education institutions have a vital role to play in partnering with police to leverage the maximum benefits from these new technologies.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of the upcoming Investigator Wellbeing Week of Action, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sarah-Jayne Bray, Programme Manager for the National Police Chiefs’ Council Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigator Programme, and researchers Dr Liam Curran and Mark Dimelow, about the pressures and stressors facing senior investigating officers (SIOs), and what individuals and forces can do to improve SIO wellbeing.

OPINION: The Australian Federal Police’s recent Operation Kraken targeted organised criminals who were using the Ghost encrypted app, and among those arrested was a senior syndicate member believed to have run a disinformation campaign; Dr John Coyne and Justin Bassi of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warn that, with the demand for disinformation activities growing, the threat posed by fee-for-service organised criminals needs to be addressed.

FEATURE: Speaking at an international workshop hosted by the University of Gothenburg and CRISP, Research Fellow Amir Cahane of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem warned that Israel Police engage in “a disturbing pattern of acquire first and ask questions later” when deploying domestic AI surveillance tools – with “a lack of legal constraints” meaning that court battles over individual cases play an outsized role, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

FEATURE: While law enforcement agencies around the world look at co-responder models and health partnerships to answer the growing demands of those in mental health crisis, new research from the US suggests that teaming up mental health clinicians with police officers to respond to behavioural health-related calls has no better outcome in terms of reducing arrests or improving treatment engagement than simply sending a uniformed officer, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Author, journalist and former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher explores the links between organised crime, terrorism and state-sponsored violence – from Indian-backed assassination attempts on Canadian soil, to firebombs in UK and European warehouses, and the efforts of Irish crime groups and Northern Irish paramilitaries to cultivate links with Russia and Iran.

FEATURE: The recent Safety of Our Cities conference in Ontario, Canada, highlighted the continuing debate between closer collaboration with other agencies or tougher enforcement of existing legislation as the way forward to cutting crime and ensuring the safety of urban communities; Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood looks at some of the key points put forward by chiefs and politicians from various jurisdictions.

FEATURE: In the second article in a new chapter of The Police Student series, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O'Reilly explores the role of policing within the wider criminal justice system, including the craft of policing, the importance and impact of discretion, and policing's relationship with the Crown Prosecution Service.

INTERVIEW: With almost half of police forces in England and Wales having adopted and implemented the Operation Soteria model to tackle rape and serious sexual offences, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to City University of London Professor Katrin Hohl and Avon and Somerset Chief Constable Sarah Crew about the continuing roll out of the programme, the expansion of the approach to address domestic abuse, and concerns that an end to funding could threaten the progress already made.

FEATURE: A new Queensland Police Service (QPS) approach to responding to volume crimes which focuses on attendance by scenes of crime officers has seen an increase in evidence obtained from the scene while saving more than 180,000 hours for general duties officers, as QPS Senior Sergeants Lisa Weller and Josh White explained to delegates at the recent Global Evidence-Based Policing Conference.

ANALYSIS: The National Cabinet of the Australian Government has set out a $4.7 billion package of measures to tackle the “national crisis” of gender-based violence that has become “a source of national shame”, after a ‘rapid review’ of the potential prevention measures to end domestic, family and sexual violence highlighted not only a problem of “overwhelming” scale and complexity, but also “many areas ripe for meaningful reform”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New research has revealed the extent to which relatives of serving personnel carry the burdens of their loved ones’ public service; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports on the findings of the Open University researchers, whose work was commissioned by Oscar Kilo, the College of Policing’s National Wellbeing Service.

OPINION: New figures have revealed that drug-related deaths in England and Wales have reached record levels, with a significant increase in deaths linked to cocaine use among the worrying figures; Ian Hamilton, Honorary Fellow (Associate Professor) at the University of York, and Professor Harry Sumnall of Liverpool John Moores University, explore the possible reasons behind the latest data, and consider what can be done to address the challenges.

OPINION: Following the recent acquittal of a Metropolitan Police firearms officer charged with the murder of Chris Kaba, former Scottish police officer Graham Goulden, now an active bystander trainer, believes it’s now the time for policing to work closely with other agencies to focus more effectively on violence prevention, in an effort to reduce crime in communities and ensure fewer offers have to make such life-or-death decisions.

FEATURE: As the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), Ireland’s independent policing oversight body, prepares for its transition to the new Fiosrú – Oifig an Ombudsman Póilíneachta, the latest and final GSOC annual report highlights the efforts well underway for a smooth changeover, and the importance of ensuring the Fiosrú has adequate resources – particularly specialist staff – to fulfil its mandate, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: With artificial intelligence (AI) advances hailed widely as a huge opportunity for law enforcement, police now face the challenge of identifying effective AI systems from those that don’t do the job; University of Cambridge PhD candidate Jacob John Verrey, and Chief Inspector Lewis Lincoln-Gordon of the National Police Chiefs’ Council AI Portfolio, argue that adapting and implementing the ‘snake oil filter’ approach used in medicine could offer policing an efficient process for assessing and deploying the right technology.

ANALYSIS: In the second in a two-part series marking the 30th anniversary of the police use of TASER, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explores the current less-lethal weapons marketplace – dominated in the UK by TASER – and looks at concerns about monopoly supply, whether competition is crucial to driving efficiency and technology, and what the less-lethal alternatives could be, drawing on interviews with NPCC less-lethal weapons lead Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, and others.

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