Topical issues

EXCLUSIVE: Earlier this week, the Home Affairs Select Committee published their long-awaited report "Policing for the Future". In this exclusive article for Policing Insight, the Police Foundation's Director, Dr Rick Muir, sets out how and why the Select Committee's report will have a lasting impact.

OPINION: "Technology is changing fast and it’s essential that we keep a handle on the police ICT user experience, so we can better understand the challenges facing users and look for solutions" says Ch. Supt. Paul Griffiths, Vice President of the Police Superintendents Association in his foreword to the CoPaCC Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018 report.

ANALYSIS: Mental health makes up an increasing part of demand on the police service, and various methods are being trialled to try to improve the police response, including triage. In the first of three blogs, Daniel Moloney of the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton examines factors affecting demand.

OPINION: The Government has recently announced a proposal to increase pension costs for employers throughout the public sector. In an exclusive article for Policing Insight, West Midlands PCC David Jamieson looks at how this could affect policing in his force and more widely.

ANALYSIS: The latest in our Report Watch series, which summarises the findings of reports that impact policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction, takes a look at HMICFRS’ Joint Inspection of the Handling of Cases Involving Disability Hate Crime and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, published this month (October 18).

OPINION: The idea of unconscious bias has increasing traction in policing, but what if we're looking in the wrong places? Dr Emma Williams of Canterbury Christ Church University discusses different types of diversity and how internal bias could be affecting both leadership in the police and how certain roles are valued.

ANALYSIS: There have been many more recruits to the police from minority ethnic, female, and gay and lesbian groups in recent decades - but to what extent has their experience mirrored that of their white, male colleagues? Irene Zempi of Nottingham Trent University examined police experiences of bias, prejudice and ‘hate’ inside the police service itself.

EXCLUSIVE: Barrie Sheldon was the Deputy PCC for West Mercia for four years from 2012, during which time the West Mercia Police Alliance with Warwickshire Police was established. He stood as an Independent for PCC in 2016, where he was defeated by the Conservative candidate, John Campion. In this EXCLUSIVE article for Policing Insight, Barrie Sheldon provides his perspective on West Mercia's decision to break up the Alliance.

INSIGHT: Earlier this month, Lancashire Constabulary held a Blue Light Innovation Summit 2018 to explore the role of innovation in policing, but, in an environment of constrained budgets and mounting pressures, can the police service create the right environment to innovate?

Opinion: Earlier in the summer techUK brought together a group of senior police officers, civil servants, and tech industry leaders to explore how technology can best be harnessed to combat fraud. techUK's Henry Rex shares the group's recommendations.

INSIGHT: Published today, the "Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018" report includes articles providing a range of views on the results and what should happen next. Policing Insight's editor, Tina Orr Munro, here acknowledges that some progress on police ICT has been made since last year's survey - but widespread frustrations reveal the police service still has a very long way to go.

ANALYSIS: Policing is undergoing a profound transformation, but are forces ready for the changes they still have to make? Accenture recently surveyed over 300 policing professionals in six countries; Rachel Phillips and James Slessor of Accenture Public Safety explain their findings.

NEW REPORT: The results of this year's Police ICT User survey have now been published, with police officers and staff expressing deep dissatisfaction with ICT provision in their forces. They tell a story of badly specified, out-of-date equipment, slow and unreliable systems with poor integration combined with a lack of suitable training and support.

ANALYSIS: Managing Director of Xnet Carl Roberts has spent a decade working with forces on collaboration projects. Here he outlines the questions forces need to ask themselves before embarking on a project and reveals the areas most likely to yield success. 

Analysis: The OU's Police Learning and Research Group, in partnership with Greater Manchester Police, has commissioned a study into how complex systems thinking can support police policy decision-making. GMP's Programme Director for Information Services Transformation Ch Supt Phil Davies explains how ‘synthetic intelligence’ could be a new frontier for policing.

ANALYSIS: There are growing financial and operational pressures on policing. Senior figures are calling for a new vision, but as the president of the PSA said earlier this month, there is a void at the centre - and no prospect of a Royal Commission to provide answers. The service can, however, start preparing options now. The themes that come up time and again are structure, accountability frameworks, and workforce. What is the service’s own future vision for these?

ANALYSIS: Understanding of evidence-based policing has come a long way, but many police leaders are still looking for a 'silver bullet' - strategies that will just work. Prof. Jerry Ratcliffe of Temple University explains why the silver bullets don't exist, but that EBP is still a valuable tool.

OPINION: With the College of Policing's Continuing Professional Development week coming up in November, Rich Honess of Canterbury Christ Church University surveys the landscape of policing CPD, and asks what police officers would really like to see provided - and how.

Analysis: Following concerns over the impact collaborations and alliances were having on superintendents' health and well-being, the Police Superintendents' Association conducted a survey. Vice President Paul Griffiths outlined the results at this year's conference that revealed - despite the toll on well-being - superintendents overwhelmingly back force amalgamations.

ANALYSIS: With the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal becoming more likely, the Institute for Government recently published a timely report on the need for ongoing security co-operation. Maddy Thimont Jack of the IfG explains the report's findings.

ANALYSIS: Recent events have highlighted the need to approach radicalisation not just as a security issue but also as a social and psychological one. Professor Babak Akhgar FBCS, Director of CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research) at Sheffield Hallam University, explains how the MINDb4ACT project is addressing these concerns.

INSIGHT: The latest in our SPOTLIGHT ON series focuses on the barriers to chief constable recruitment. Following the issuing of a statement by the National Police Chiefs Council, the College of Policing and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners on the challenge of chief officer recruitment, we revisit a range of expert articles that explore the subject in more depth.

INSIGHT: The Dutch National Police issued its officers and staff with 63,000 smartphones. The move opened up opportunities to complete tasks more quickly, but also to do things differently. Commissaris van politie and Mobile Programme Manager Edwin Delwel says mobile technology can be a game-changer for policing, if implemented well.

INSIGHT: At this year's Police Superintendents Association annual conference, Association President Gavin Thomas painted a picture of a service struggling to stay afloat where even neighbourhood policing, the bedrock of policing, is 'largely broken'. Former GMP Assistant Chief Constable Ian Wiggett attended this year's conference where the view was too much has been asked of too little.