Topical issues

INTERVIEW: Last month, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which runs the National Stalking Helpline, secured £4.1m from the Police Transformation Fund, via the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC), to carry out pioneering work with perpetrators of stalking. Tina Orr-Munro speaks to Chief Executive Rachel Griffin about how the project will work.

OPINION: Amid growing demand on policing, how can forces manage the flood of offenders arrested for viewing child abuse material? Nick Alston, Chair of Anglia Ruskin University's Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER), outlines a major conference in November that seeks to find new approaches to investigations and prevention.

ANALYSIS: The latest of a monthly series in which CoPaCC's Sandra Andrews takes a look at some of the most interesting and topical issues that Police and Crime Panels across England and Wales are dealing with. This month, Sandra looks at the use of artificial intelligence, and Durham Constabulary's development of the Harm Assessment Risk Tool (HART).

OPINION: Blockchain and other 'distributed ledger' technologies are best known as the basis of virtual currency Bitcoin, but could they be the solution to data-sharing issues in policing and criminal justice? Rick Muir of the Police Foundation explores the implications.

Insight: West Midlands Police launched Operation Close Pass last year to combat the problem of drivers driving too close to cyclists when overtaking them. A year on, the force has seen a 20 per cent drop in cyclists killed or seriously injured, but, as Policing Insight discovered, it has resulted in other unforeseen benefits.

INSIGHT: Mark Cooper, a former HMIC programme director and OPCC Chief Executive, offers an indispensable insight and guide on how to ensure your force inspection goes as smoothly as possible.

Opinion: Sherry Ralph, Chief Operating Officer for the Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) looks at how some custody suites are failing to cater for women experiencing their period and suggests ways to overcome this.

OPINION: Compstat was revolutionary when it was introduced by Bill Bratton in late 1990s New York. But is it still fit for purpose? Prof. Jerry Ratcliffe of Temple University warns that Compstat has become 'whack-a-mole' policing and suggests that the UK's National Intelligence Model is a good starting point to guide reform.

OPINION: What difference does education really make to serving police officers? Serving officer Gareth Stubbs describes his educational journey and how it's affected the way he thinks, and how he goes about the job.

INTERVIEW: The video-enabled justice project, awarded £11m in Police Transformation Funding, will allow people to give evidence via a network of high-tech video links in police stations and other buildings across London and the South East. Tina Orr-Munro speaks to Project lead Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne and explores the benefits of VEJ and the advantages of having a PCC at the helm of such an ambitious initiative.

INSIGHT: The Home Office’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy was published last year in the hope that police chiefs would read it and disseminate it within their force. Neither of those two things happened, but as the Home Office told senior officers recently crime is changing and crime prevention is changing with it.

Analysis: With the media reporting sharp rises in the number of abandoned 999 calls, former Assistant Chief Constable of GMP Ian Wiggett examines the causes and argues the issue is symptomatic of much wider problems in the call handling and response system.

Opinion: Allan Fairley, UK Police & Justice Managing Director, Accenture looks at the pivotal role of data in technology-enabled policing, and examines how public cloud computing can provide a better way forward.

ANALYSIS: Should the proposed BTP merger with Police Scotland be put on hold? Calls for a delay have increased since a draft HMICS report described the decision to merge the forces as 'entirely political'. Kath Murray looks at the evidence.

ANALYSIS: In the third of a series of special articles examining the progress of Police and Crime Commissioners as they assume joint governance over police and fire services in their areas, Catherine Levin reports on a process losing momentum in the face of obstacles both political and practical.

Insight: Ever felt overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what needs to be done? Jonathan Rees is the owner of Momoho which works with blue light services to develop high-performing teams and individuals. In the first of a series of articles, he examines ways for police leaders to tackle the pressure cooker of modern day policing.

Opinion: Cleveland Police has become the first force to buy in Sopra Steria's Predikt, a web-based police resource and demand modelling  tool. Kathryn Howe, head of public sector marketing for Sopra Steria, explains how PrediKt takes the guesswork out of predicting demand on the service.

OPINION: Police Scotland's Chief Constable, Phil Gormley, was temporarily suspended last week in more bad news for the force. Nick McKerrell of Glasgow Caledonian University looks at the institutional malaise at the heart of Police Scotland and asks if the issues of leadership and accountability are likely to be resolved.

LONG READ: The recent Reform report, 'Bobbies on the Net,' was controversial on many points, especially its recommendation that police without digital skills should be sacked. Blue Lights Digital analyse the report from a digital perspective, and find that many of its 'revolutionary' conclusions are already under way.

POLICING INSIGHT EXCLUSIVE: In our final exclusive extract from "Police Chiefs in the UK: Politicians, HR Managers or Cops?" Dr Mark Roycroft, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of East London, explores the role of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)* through the eyes of Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables.

Opinion: Unauthorised traveller encampments are a challenging issue for most areas. In a co-authored article, West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson and Lead Policy Officer Ben Twomey argue that transit sites may offer a solution. 

Opinion: In 2014, Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis first commissioned a report into incidents police attended that involved someone with a mental illness. Three years on and Staffordshire has made considerable strides in reducing the number of those suffering mental ill health in custody, but there is still much to be done.

Interview: David Lloyd, Police and Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire, has been elected as the Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).  He tells Syreeta Lund what his plans are for the organisation.

ANALYSIS: Crime weighting is increasingly being considered as a way of measuring the harm from crime, not just the volume of it. But numbers alone, even weighted ones, can't tell the full story. Andy Higgins of the Police Foundation explores ways of making crime statistics more rich and useful.