Opinion: To coincide with National Mental Health Awareness Week, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner and national mental health lead for Police and Crime Commissioners Matthew Scott details some of the work going on nationally and in Kent to try to reduce the time police officers are spending dealing with cases involving mental health.
LONG READ: International policing in a post-conflict scenario presents huge challenges. Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Manuel Lobato Barradas, a Riot and Crowd Control Unit Commander in the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) in Portugal, describes the difficulties of translating knowledge to the local context of East Timor.
ANALYSIS: What kind of structures might help deal with a crisis like the murder of Lee Rigby or the Grenfell Tower disaster? Martin Gallagher, a serving officer with Police Scotland describes Grey Space, a group he set up to monitor community tensions - and how he tested its capacity.
14th May 2018
NEW SERIES: Policing Insight has over a thousand in depth articles on a wide range of policing issues. SPOTLIGHT ON is a new series which groups articles under one subject allowing you quick and easy reference when you need it. Articles on the mental well-being of officers and staff are among some of our best-read features so we begin the series with a roundup of articles examining mental ill health among police employees and the service’s response.
8th May 2018
INTERVIEW: Director of Staff Absence Solutions Ltd Mark Eastwood has worked in the rail industry for many years treating employees following traumatic rail-related incidents. Now working with police forces, Mr Eastwood tells Policing Insight how, with the right support, officers and staff can recover from psychological and physiological conditions caused by work.
ANALYSIS: Recent high profile rape cases and other serious crime trials collapsing due to issues around the examination and disclosure of digital evidence have sent shock waves across the criminal justice system. Policy Advisor and Co-chair of the Independent Digital Ethics Panel for Policing Giles Herdale outlines the benefits of E-disclosure tools and the need for standards.
ANALYSIS: How can police forces ensure deaf people can access their frontline services? Robert Skinner of Heriot Watt University explains his research into how video-mediated interpreting (VMI) services can be used to aid access to Police Scotland.
OPINION: The murder of Stephen Lawrence 25 years ago changed Britain - and British policing - for good. Benjamin Bowling, Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, King's College London, recalls the case, and reflects on the challenges still facing policing today.
Analysis: Vigilant Research's latest report launched this week examines the current police technology futures landscape and offers a set of objectives towards a centralised police technology futures capability. In the first of three articles, Director of Vigilant Research Stephen Roberts explores the current state of police technology futures operations.
ANALYSIS: HMICFRS recently published the annual PEEL performance reports. Despite displaying forces results in the same data tables, there appears to be resistance to facilitating direct comparison of force performance. In the spirit of provoking debate, CoPaCC has converted the PEEL results into a numerical index to identify the front runners and back markers in PEEL performance.
LONG READ: International policing is central to peacebuilding in fragile states, but there has been little opportunity for practitioners to share with each other what they have learned on the ground. Following a workshop last year that brought together experts from the field, Georgina Sinclair of Strategic Expertise International and Rohan Burdett, an independent Security and Justice Development consultant, introduce a series of essays on the subject.
OPINION: International policing missions are complex and challenging, and it is difficult for practitioners to share lessons from the ground. A workshop in Lisbon last year brought together experts from the field. Dr Georgina Sinclair of Strategic Expertise International introduces the background to the workshop, and its outputs - a set of essays that Policing Insight is now serialising.
Opinion: CCTV of a mentally ill man being sprayed with capsicum spray, pinned to the ground by six police officers and hit with a baton in Melbourne quickly went viral, appalling many including Dr Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron of the Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies who works closely with the Australian police. She asks what can we learn from this.
Opinion: When others run away from danger, police officers are expected to run towards it. In her blog, Janine Jury, a Counselling and Wellbeing Manager working within the emergency services, examines how police officers respond to stress caused by their job.
OPINION: Policing is a service that should be held to the highest standards, but constant attacks from the media and politicians reflect a shallow understanding of the job. Ashley Kilgallon, a doctoral researcher at the University of Leeds, warns that such simplistic critiques are legitimising the destruction of a public service.
ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at the NCA's The Cyber Threat to UK Business 2017-2018 which details significant and emerging threats to cyber-security.
ANALYSIS: PEEL's latest report on police effectiveness suggests that neighbourhood policing in the UK is not quite as endangered as the previous year. However, Andy Higgins of the Police Foundation warns that local policing is not out of the woods quite yet.
ANALYSIS: The sexual exploitation of children is often divided into online and offline abuse - but are these categories useful? Laura Broome, Dr Cristina Izura, and Prof. Nuria Lorenzo-Dus of Swansea University argue that the distinction is not a helpful one and propose a better method of categorising child sexual abuse.
ANALYSIS: The investigation of modern slavery is hugely complex, often involving several agencies - and recent inspection reports suggest there are still problems with intelligence sharing and joint action plans. Laura Pajón of the University of Derby, and Professor Dave Walsh of De Montfort University, suggest a new way of working.
OPINION: Following HMICFRS' observation that forces are not prioritising crime prevention, Evan Morris MBE, former Head of Community Safety for Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Chief Fire Officers' Association lead on Ageing Safely Strategy suggests a multi-agency, intelligence-led demand reduction strategy based on WHO Injury Surveillance data could offer a way forward.
OPINION: NPCC Lead on Digital Policing Steve Kavanagh says that with the right IT, police officers and staff should see data as a powerful tool, but how can this be achieved? MASS Head of Law Enforcement Business Development Chris Bacon offers a sustainable way forward.
ANALYSIS: In their latest research report, Crest Advisory examines how Police and Crime Commissioners are in a prime position to provide the energy and impetus to improve the criminal justice system at a local level, helping to build safer communities. Crest Managing Director Harvey outlines its findings.
ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at HMICFRS Peel Effectiveness 2017 which gives a national overview of effectiveness in the police service.
