Topical issues

OPINION: Despite an estimated 4.8 million people being forced into the sex trade each year, surveys indicate just 4% of law enforcement personnel believe human trafficking is a problem in their community; research by Dr Dara Mojtahedi, University of Huddersfield Associate Professor in Forensic and Investigative Psychology, found that myths around the scale of the issue and perceptions of victims are damaging those victims and creating barriers to tackling the problem, and suggests steps to dispel those myths.

FEATURE: A recent report into the UK Government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee has warned that for the Guarantee to succeed, there will need to be better training for neighbourhood policing recruits, a reduction in officer abstractions from neighbourhood policing teams, and change in the perception of the neighbourhood role to recognise it as a specialism, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The latest review from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warns that the “opaque” nature of computer technology is leaving both state and organisational systems vulnerable to cyber-attack; the review also set out the steps that organisations can take to increase system transparency and reduce risks, as well as highlighting the range of initiatives the NCSC is currently delivering to improve resilience and target cybercriminals, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Policing is looking to technology to establish new channels for public contact, but the impact on public-police encounters has until now been little studied; a three-year research project by SIPR Director Professor Liz Aston, Senior Criminology Lecturer Dr Helen Wells, Criminology Lecturer Dr Estelle Clayton, UCL Professor Ben Bradford, and Criminology Professor Megan O’Neill, has highlighted valuable learning on a range of issues including accessibility, the importance of human interaction, and confidence in policing.

OPINION: Artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasing role in policing – both in tackling crime and improving efficiency – with suggestions that it could also be key to improving public trust and confidence; but Leeds Trinity University Associate Professor Jonathan Jackson and PCDA Programme Lead Katie Oxley argue that while AI may offer valuable advantages, public trust and confidence also depend on the quality of interaction with individual officers, so ‘street craft’ and communication skills remain crucial.

FEATURE: Following this month’s EMPACT day of action across Europe to tackle human trafficking, co-ordinated by Europol, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores the scale of the problem as well as the efforts of EU members to combat labour exploitation, and takes a closer look at the background and vital role that Europol now plays in leading and supporting operations to target and investigate transnational European crime.

INTERVIEW: With retail crime reaching “unprecedented levels”, Superintendent Lisa Maslen, the lead of the National Business Crime Centre, is looking to build a repository of best practice and urging forces to “borrow with pride” in an effort to tackle offending that is “organised, prolific and impactive on us all”, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Despite a continuing focus on diversity and inclusion across policing, specialist units in particular remain stubbornly homogeneous; new research within tactical and firearms teams by Dr Ashleigh Bennett, an occupational psychologist with extensive experience in policing and the public sector, highlights the significant cultural barriers officers encounter within these teams, and suggests steps forces should be taking to ensure inclusion becomes simply a matter of how policing operates.

INTERVIEW: Essex Chief Constable BJ Harrington, one of the longer-serving chief constables in England and Wales, spoke recently to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about avoiding “distractions” in delivering policing to the public, facing down criticism in relation to controversial issues such as the Epping asylum protests, and why local control and connections are still more effective in service delivery than “big is beautiful” centralisation.

OPINION: Following the announcement by UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood last week of the abolition of police and crime commissioners as a “failed experiment”, Ron Winch, Associate Professor in Policing at Birmingham City University, considers whether this current decision could indicate a more radical reform agenda to be unveiled in the forthcoming policing white paper, including the replacement of the 43-force model with the introduction of ‘mega-forces’.

ANALYSIS: Following last month’s announcement by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood of a review of the UK legislation around demonstrations and assemblies, Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former Metropolitan Police officer and public order specialist, looks at the background to the current Public Order Act 1986, the finer details of the legislation, and the challenges it presents for the policing of protests that the review will hopefully address.

OPINION: Police forces globally face continuing modernisation challenges – with technology a key element in driving change – but the employee experience is often neglected in the transformation process; Phillip Bland, Global Government Advisor at experience management specialists Qualtrics, sets out how forces can ensure the frontline employee voice is heard, measured and acted upon in the police modernisation process.

FEATURE: Criminal justice campaign group Revolving Doors is calling for a new cross-departmental government diversion framework across the UK to tackle the “revolving door cohort” – low-level offenders who repeatedly come into contact with the justice system because of unmet health and social needs, generating a total socio-economic cost of more than £5bn each year, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A recent joint report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and HM Inspectorate of Probation warns that the inconsistent use of out-of-court disposals for children is creating a “postcode lottery” for justice outcomes, and leaving youngsters likely to become “more deeply involved in offending behaviour”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Research from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) is spearheading survivor-informed change throughout operational policing and the criminal courts; NAPAC Chief Executive Gabrielle Shaw outlines how the research offers an alternative approach to justice which looks beyond criminal conviction, prioritising support for survivors and building a system that provides accessible routes to both formal and personal justice outcomes.

FEATURE: With the frequency and severity of wildfires increasing across Europe, a series of innovative new projects has been launched to strengthen wildfire management and readiness, offering valuable guidance to fire services, other first responders, and police and fire commissioners alike, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: Recent headlines around the Pacific island nations’ role in drug production and trafficking have seen comparisons made with Latin America’s cartel-dominated countries; but John Coyne, Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, warns that the reality is much more nuanced, and that the way to tackle the ‘smugglers haven’ is through continued partnership and collaboration between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific islands.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Bedfordshire PCC John Tizard, the APCC’s Joint Lead on Performance, Data and New Tech Ethics, looks at the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and technology in policing, and highlights the steps he has taken in his own force around accountability and governance, which could help achieve the APCC’s aim of a roadmap towards a strong ethical governance framework with PCCs at the centre.

FEATURE: The recent Building Bridges evidence-based policing conference in Ontario showcased efforts by policing to correct the mismatch between how crime is experienced and how it is measured, with a harm-focused framework pioneered by Barrie Police Service and London Police Service’s new gamification approach to hot-sport policing leading the way, as Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood reports.

OPINION: While gender inequality in policing and the damage caused by a misogynistic culture have featured regularly in reports, research and media discourse, attempts to tackle the problem appear to have had little success; Nicola Harrison, a former police officer and Senior lecturer in Policing and Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University, argues that to address these issues, culture change cannot be mandated but must be cultivated from the ground up.

FEATURE: Recent US research in five communities in Chicago has highlighted the “vicious circle” of poor homicide clearance rates and negative community perceptions of police effectiveness which has shaped community co-operation, suggesting that “improving both real and perceived police efficacy could enhance homicide clearance outcomes”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Today’s law enforcement leaders are pressured to do more with less – all while managing new waves of crime, volumes of complex data and growing demands for public transparency. That’s why departments across the globe are turning to evidence-based policing powered by data and AI, to improve decision making, build trust and work more efficiently.

OPINION: Developing an effective response to modern slavery requires an understanding of the extent of the issue, but estimates for the number of UK victims vary considerably; Professor Todd Landman and policy engagement and impact lead Vicky Brotherton of the University of Nottingham-based Rights Lab believe a change to the way data is recorded would provide a more accurate estimate that is likely to be much higher than current figures.

OPINION: Former West Midlands Sergeant Phil Cleary, co-founder of SmartWater and now a published novelist, shares one officer’s account of how underfunded services, not indifference, may have shaped the failures around the UK child grooming scandal that are now widely condemned, explores what could have been done differently, and suggests steps the current Government could take to reset the child protection and safeguarding response.