Topical issues

INTERVIEW: Kurtis Christoforides, CEO of police recruitment and training charity Police Now, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the importance of attracting the “broadest and best” range of talent through a variety of entry routes, the new recruitment programme for specialist counter-terror detectives, and the need for all officers to be supported to ensure a representative service.

INTERVIEW: Former national police lead for child protection Simon Bailey tells Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass how technological advances and chief executives focusing on profit are making it harder to keep young people safe online, and why he has founded the Excellence in Online Protection Awards to honour those working in the field.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Dr Mariola Marzouk, co-founder of trade-based money laundering (TBML) specialists Vortex Risk, about the dangers of failing to understand the practicalities of TBML, going back to the drawing board to tackle money laundering, and why celebrating the successes against ‘stupid’ money launderers is a false reality.

FEATURE: The early findings of a joint inspection by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate and HM Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into case building by police and the CPS has found bureaucratic processes and IT challenges as well as an inexperienced workforce are creating barriers and tensions between the two organisations – but the closer working relationships of specialist teams could bring real benefits, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The recent acid attack on a mother and her children in London was horrific, but sadly such events are not isolated incidents, with attacks on the rise in the UK and around the world; one of the problems, argues University of Bristol Professor of Criminology Aisha K Gill, is that the gendered, targeted nature of this violence is often not fully recognised by the criminal justice system.

INTERVIEW: In an exclusive two-part interview, Gillian Routledge – the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s new Robotic Process Automation (RPA) lead – spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about what RPA can offer policing, why it’s likely to free up police time rather than take out jobs, and her vision for making the most of this exciting set of tools.

ANALYSIS: Last month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including harm reduction, diversion, and policing mental health; in the fourth in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on violence prevention programmes and police partnership from England, Iraq, Mexico and Fiji.

FEATURE: The latest report from Statistics Canada shows that firearm-related violent crime in the country has reached a 14-year high, with shooting homicides reaching record levels, prompting calls for more resources to be put into frontline policing, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Last year the UK Government reformed the National Referral Mechanism – the framework for identifying potential victims of modern slavery – in an effort to speed up decision making and police action against those accused of exploitation; but Research Assistant Ying Zhang and Professor Chee Yew Wong of the University of Leeds argue that the reforms have actually made the situation considerably worse for potential victims.

FEATURE: With elections taking place in the UK and a number of other countries in 2024, the volume and impact of digital disinformation looks likely to reach new levels – and policing is not immune from being targeted by those determined to drive division and hatred, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: An operation launched by Thames Valley Police to use in-house drug testing in possession with intent to supply cases has cut delays in bringing cases to court, improved outcomes and proved effective in taking dealers off the street, with other forces now looking to implement the same approach, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: In the latest in the new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores right realist perspectives, rational actors, and the development of a societal ‘underclass’.

ANALYSIS: Last month the Global Law Enforcement & Public Health Association (GLEPHA) published a series of reports as part of the ‘Envisaging the future of policing and public health’ project, covering a range of topics including violence prevention, diversion, and policing mental health; in the third in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on working with marginalised communities within Mozambique, Australia and Liberia.

OPINION: Last month’s Annual Youth Justice Statistics for 2022-23 showed fewer children sentenced or cautioned, improvements in disproportionality, and the lowest number of children in custody, but more children being stopped and searched and arrested, including those entering the criminal justice system for the first time; Keith Fraser, Youth Justice Board Chair and Board Champion for Over-Represented Children believes that while there are “rays of optimism” in the figures, much more need to be done to embed change.

FEATURE: Speaking at a recent Police Foundation event, Mark Evans – Executive Lead for Future Policing at New Zealand Police – explained how forces can build effective partnerships and take steps to improve trust and confidence, the benefits of listening to ‘angry friends’, and what senior officers must do to change the organisations they lead, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: Social media platforms are flooded with millions of posts every minute, and artificial intelligence (AI) can play a crucial role in monitoring harmful content; Professor Stuart Macdonald, Postdoctoral Researcher Ashley Mattheis and Honorary Research Associate David Wells of Swansea University’s Cyber Threats Research Centre look at the potential and the pitfalls of using AI to identify terrorist content online.

INNOVATION: Cybercrime is a challenge for all businesses, but it’s an especially complex one for smaller companies to take on; in an exclusive interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, Ian Hickling and Jonathan Green explain how free Home Office-funded tool Police CyberAlarm might form part of the answer – and help police to develop the “actionable intelligence” needed to deal with online threats.

FEATURE: Recent surveys of NHS staff have highlighted increased levels of violence and abuse towards those working in healthcare, prompting concerns over staff wellbeing as well as recruitment and retention issues; former Ottawa Police Service Chief Vernon White looks at the scale of the problem, it’s wider impact for emergency services, and what steps organisations should take to address the issue.

INTERVIEW: In the second half of an exclusive two-part interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, Temporary Assistant Commissioner Nik Adams – the City of London Police lead for fraud and cybercrime – explored the policing response to offences which now constitute nearly 50% of all crime in England and Wales, including the launch of the Government’s National Fraud Strategy and a £150million overhaul of Action Fraud.

FEATURE: The conflict between Israel and Hamas has seen huge increases in hate crimes (both Islamophobia and antisemitism) around the world; but the sharp rise in antisemitic attacks reflects a trend that predates the current crisis in Gaza, prompting the launch of an EU strategy on targeting antisemitism and a call for police and others to collaborate on protecting Jewish places of worship, schools, and community gatherings, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: Speaking at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research’s annual conference, Dr Emma Williams – Director of the Open University’s the Centre for Policing Research and an academic with years of experience exploring the police approach to rape cases – gave her overview of why reform in this area is so difficult to get right, and her hopes that Operation Soteria could provide the path to progress, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: A recent Policing Insight article highlighted significant differences in the response to domestic violence disclosure applications in England and Wales; but Allan Dorans MP, the Scottish National Party’s spokesperson on policing at Westminster and a former Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, believes a similar disclosure scheme in Scotland has been much more successful, as have wider efforts to reduce violent crime north of the border.

INTERVIEW: Following the recent publication of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Covenant for Using Artificial Intelligence in Policing, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dylan Alldridge, Head of Innovation at the Office of the Policing Chief Scientific Adviser, about the importance of the Covenant, and how AI is likely to be transformative for law enforcement in the future.

INTERVIEW: In an exclusive two-part interview with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, City of London Police Temporary Assistant Commissioner Nik Adams explains how artificial intelligence will transform fraud and cybercrime, what Action Fraud’s new replacement will do to improve the response to victims, and why calls for a single national force to tackle fraud are a major mistake.