Topical issues

INNOVATION: The use of DNA to solve crimes and identify offenders has been a key tool for policing for almost 40 years; now the growing use of forensic genetic genealogy – also known as investigative genetic genealogy – has the potential to be a similar game changer in investigating cold cases, as Policing Insight’s Vernon White reports.

FEATURE: University of Portsmouth Policing Lecturer David Knowles and Teaching Fellow Claire Smith visited a number of further education colleges near the city to encourage students to apply for the University’s professional policing degree; as well as learning the best ways to engage young people, they also identified some important digital communications lessons for policing.

FEATURE: GardaSAFE, the new computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system rolled out by An Garda Síochána, has been described by senior officers as “far and away better” than previous systems, and praised for delivering “continuous improvement”; but a recent report raised concerns that a review of the system was not able to monitor live calls because of data privacy fears, an approach which the review team described as “retrograde and risk averse”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: With terrorists increasingly exploiting the vulnerabilities of public spaces in urban settings – such as event venues, shopping centres and other crowded places – Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of PRECRISIS, a European partnership of subject matter experts looking to improve protection of those spaces through the use of integrated and innovative technology.

INNOVATION: Smart devices have revolutionised the way many people interact, but they can also be used to facilitate a wide range of abuse; Andi Brown, criminologist and Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Lecturer at Monash University, argues that there are several steps that could be taken to design safety features that empower victim-survivors, instead of exposing them to risk.

INTERVIEW: In this second half of a two-part interview, City of London Police Temporary Commissioner Peter O’Doherty spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the challenges posed by fraud and cybercrime, the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and a national approach to new technology, and why the Police Service of Northern Ireland data breach has implications for all forces.

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 the left realism crime perspective, including the 'square of crime', the need for greater understanding of the complexity of crime, and the ‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ approach pioneered by New Labour.

FEATURE: Among the less visible effects of a decade of UK police funding cuts is the loss of spaces where officers can rest, eat, and talk to each other, a loss that could increase the risks of personal and professional isolation, and damage officer wellbeing; a new study led by Dr Carina O’Reilly (University of Lincoln), Nick Kealey (Liverpool John Moores University) and Dr Sean Bell (Open University) will look at how the provision of rest spaces has changed, and the impact on police officers and their wellbeing – and you can get involved.

OPINION: The NPCC’s Children & Young Persons Policing Strategy will aim to create “a culture of child-centred policing”, but too often police and other agencies overlook the impact of homelessness on young people’s vulnerability; Met Police Chief Inspector Dr Andy Briers, who has devoted most of his career to working with at-risk young people, sets out some of the challenges and opportunities for policing to improve support for homeless youngsters and divert them away from the criminal justice system.

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FEATURE: A recent report by the UK’s cross-party Home Affairs Committee has warned that policing the continuing Israel-Gaza protest is pulling resources away from areas such as neighbourhood and response policing and is damaging officer wellbeing, with MPs urging the Government to take steps to address the issues of both police resourcing and hate crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: In the second in a series of articles exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in policing, Chief Philip Lukens looks at how wearable sensors and AI can enhance the physical and mental health of law enforcement professionals, echoing the NASA model to ensure that officers are not “compromised by cheap and inadequate healthcare”.

FEATURE: A recent survey of An Garda Síochána officers and staff highlighted concerns around training, a lack of performance culture, and poor change management, while at a Policing Authority meeting discussing the report, Commissioner Drew Harris told Authority members that 27% of the force’s staff had applied to transfer ahead of a new bill which would remove their Civil Service status, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Police forces in England and Wales are regularly assessed to see how well they meet demand and provide public service; Jon Freegard, Principal Consultant (Workforce Planning) at Skills for Justice, explores how these assessment cycles work, and how workforce planning and leadership development efforts are graded.

INTERVIEW: The ‘degree-entry’ debate can often be too focused on England and Wales, but research from former police officer turned academic Dr Andy Tatnell doesn’t have that problem; his thesis looks at the interesting differences in how Scotland, Sweden and Finland handle the complex work of training up their new frontline cops, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: The recent budget announcement by the UK Government included £230 million set aside to fund new technology that can make policing more productive and efficient; but Professor John Coxhead of the University of East London argues that investing in drones over detectives and replacing bobbies with bots is not the right plan.

INNOVATION: Resource pressures, heavy workloads and improving service delivery are among drivers for policing to adopt machine learning algorithms to increase capacity and capability; but Research Fellow Hazel Sayer, machine learning specialist Dr Tamara Polajnar and Senior Research Fellow Dr Ruth Spence warn that key stakeholders need to be involved in determining the problem to be addressed, whether the algorithm is the right solution, and whether the force has the capacity to develop the technology and respond to its output.

INTERVIEW: In this first in a two-part interview, City of London Police Temporary Commissioner Peter O’Doherty spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the unique challenges of policing London’s Square Mile, efforts to rebuild trust and confidence with the public, and his personal reflections on taking over a major force for the first time.

FEATURE: A new report not only highlights the significant increases in wildlife trafficking – described as “off the scale” on some routes – but also the successes of a financial taskforce which is using traditional anti-money laundering and proceeds of crime techniques to target and disrupt offenders and supply chains, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With law enforcement approaches in various jurisdictions encountering both common and unique challenges, efforts to reform policing models have taken different forms and have had varying levels of success; Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood compares and contrasts the main reform efforts in Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the UK and the US over the past decade, exploring the successes and highlighting where more needs to be done.

OPINION: After more than 30 years in policing, David Marshall, now a criminology lecturer and author, argues that for policing to more effectively meet the challenges it currently faces, it must concentrate on the issues that are priorities to the public – such as detecting and preventing crime, and responding to emergencies – rather than on internally focused diversity, equity and inclusion campaigns.

ANALYSIS: Last week the UK Government unveiled its “narrower and more precise” definition of extremism; but Dr Chris Allen, Associate Professor and Extremism Hub Lead at the University of Leicester, warns that the definition’s non-statutory footing, the absence of any reference to the Prevent strategy, and the risk that labelling of extremists could be by ministerial decree are all adding to the confusion and concern around the new definition.

INTERVIEW: Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Festus Akinbusoye spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the abuse he’s suffered during his first term – including a shocking threat to his life that made him question whether to continue as a PCC at all – and his desire to help the force reach its full potential.

FEATURE: In January 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 violence against women and girls; in the last in a series of seven articles, Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks at GLEPHA’s report on the police response to those in mental health crisis.