Topical issues

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest opportunities for police researchers and innovators under the Horizon Europe programme, which includes funding specifically to explore the ability to mitigate new threats and to adapt investigation strategies in the ‘Internet of Things’ era.

INTERVIEW: Having had her own battles with anxiety and mental health, Police Scotland’s Sgt Laura Gibson embarked on a Churchill Fellowship study to explore the efforts made by law enforcement agencies in the US to better prepare recruits for the psychological impact of the job, as well as to understand more about why officers do take their own lives – lessons she believes could have real benefits in the UK, as she told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

REPORT LAUNCH: Policing Insight launches a new thematic report – Facing the future: the rise of facial recognition in policing. The report aims to be a one-stop shop for everything you need to know about facial recognition; with contributions from 34 expert stakeholders from around the world, we explain the technology and highlight the big debates around its use.

ANALYSIS: In this second article of a two-part series about the modern ransomware threat, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland examines how law enforcement tries to respond to this challenge and what role policing should play, drawing on exclusive interviews with the National Crime Agency, the National Cyber Security Centre and other experts. 

FEATURE: A new report from the Childlight campaign group has highlighted the staggering scale of online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) – with estimates that at least 300 million children a year are victims – and has urged governments, health experts and law enforcement to tackle OCSEA as “a global health pandemic”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Australia is looking to create a $400 million training facility in Brisbane for Pacific islands police officers, to strengthen the country’s role as the main security partner in the Pacific; but Professor Danielle Watson of the Queensland University of Technology argues that closer partnerships and investing in training provision within the island communities would be a more sustainable and effective option.

ANALYSIS: A new report from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties claims that Ireland’s An Garda Síochána has yet to make significant progress on addressing a number of human rights concerns highlighted six years ago; but the force has strenuously defended its approach, pointing to a number of developments around cultural awareness, community and diversity as evidence that human rights remain at the heart of the Garda’s role, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New research by Deakin University PhD Candidate Jess Woolley has highlighted how some perpetrators of family violence are weaponising suicide threats, leading to concerns among police officers that addressing the mental health of the perpetrator as a priority can subsequently leave victim-survivors at risk and without adequate protection.

ANALYSIS: Young male drivers are four times more likely than older drivers to be killed or seriously injured on the roads in the UK, and road traffic crashes are the leading cause of death among 17-24-year-olds; Police Foundation Researcher Ruth Halkon explains why her organisation has joined forces with several others to push for the next government to adopt a public health approach to road death reduction, including graduated licences and improved driver education.

FEATURE: With 2024 marking the 25th anniversary of the launch of Europol, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the organisation’s efforts to support member states in the fight against key crime threats, and in particular the work of the Innovation Lab in identifying and developing new technologies, and promoting partnerships and regulatory standards.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: This year's Global Collaboration of Evidence Based Policing , supported by media partner Policing Insight, runs from 2nd to 4th September in Melbourne, Australia and is followed by the UK Society of Evidence Based Policing annual conference 11th to 12th September. Mark Evans highlights the themes with the Australia & New Zealand Society of Evidence Based Policing (ANZSEBP) President Dave Cowan and UK Society of Evidence Based Policing (SEBP) Chair Alex Murray.

ANALYSIS: In the first in a two-part series about the modern ransomware threat, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explores the development and defining features of this complex crime type – including the effect of bitcoin, the potential impact of artificial intelligence, and the role of Russia – drawing on exclusive interviews with the National Crime Agency, the National Cyber Security Centre and other experts.

ANALYSIS: Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, the National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG), has expressed concerns at the “huge shortfall” in wider public sector efforts to combat VAWG in the UK due to a lack of response from government and the Policing Minister over approach, Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass can reveal.

ANALYSIS: Police in New Zealand – as with many other jurisdictions – are facing significant growth in callouts to mental health incidents, and are considering various approaches; new research by Auckland University of Technology Associate Professor Katey Thom, and Sarah Gordon, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Otago, suggests that shifting to a trauma-informed support system could improve responses and reduce police involvement.

INNOVATION: An 18-month sleep, fatigue and recovery biometrics pilot programme run in Merseyside Police by the UK’s National Police Wellbeing Service and Liverpool John Moore’s University has received funding to undertake an evaluation of the benefits of wearable technology, with a view to rolling out a toolkit across the service, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The significant health impacts of cybercrime, particularly psychosocial crimes, have a disproportionate negative effect on the wellbeing of women and girls, explains international policing consultant and GLEPHA Fellow Dr Melissa Jardine – and preventing and successfully responding to many of those crimes will take the multi-agency approaches and collective actions already evident in good public health policing.

INNOVATION: With UK police forces working hard and looking at innovative approaches to improve the victim experience and enhance public trust and confidence, Jamie Robinson and Saman Ridha of Capgemini Invent look at the latest digitally-driven communications portals being pioneered by Thames Valley Police and others to create a more effective victim-centric approach.

FEATURE: Environmental crimes such as large-scale dumping, illegal waste sites, and illegal export of waste have become one of the fastest growth areas for organised crime groups; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the scale of the problem, and efforts by countries across Europe to tackle the threat using the latest technologies including artificial intelligence.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Philip Lukens explores the potential for improving officer safety, wellbeing and performance though the use of AI systems to detect fatigue in police drivers.

LONG READ: The response to those in mental health crisis has been a major concern for many in policing, with the growing view that uniformed officers are not the most appropriate to deploy to many mental health-related calls; as UK policing continues to adopt the Right Care, Right Person approach, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons takes a closer look at efforts by police forces in Australia and New Zealand to address the challenge.

INTERVIEW: As collaboration between law enforcement agencies becomes increasingly critical to combat cyber threats, Luísa Proença, Deputy National Director of the Portuguese Judicial Police, spoke exclusively to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth about the importance of research and innovation, and how their participation in the European NOTIONES network is bringing law enforcement agencies together to improve intelligence functions.

OPINION: The Ontario Special Investigations Unit (SIU) is considered to be a pioneer in Canadian police oversight; but University of Guelph Associate Professor Kate Puddister, and Brock University Assistant Professor Danielle McNabb, argue that the SIU’s mandate is too narrow to be effective, and point to alternative approaches which are able to consider all types of complaints against police, as well as reviewing police policy, to prevent misconduct in the first place.

ANALYSIS: Europol has identified 821 criminal networks with 25,000 members from 112 different nationalities which carry the biggest threat both inside the EU and internationally – based on the fact they are agile, borderless, controlling and destructive – and has called for “a culture of proactive international police co-operation” to tackle the threat, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new series of online ‘wellness cafés’ organised by the Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators sub-group of the National Police Chiefs’ Council is offering wellbeing support to secondary investigators and analysts at risk of traumatic stress and burnout because of the material they handle; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to initiative leader Dr Fazeelat Duran and fellow researcher Dr Amy Burrell about the significant and often overlooked risks facing staff.