Topical issues

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ANALYSIS: Ahead of this week’s UK Society of Evidence-Based Policing (UK SEBP) Conference, National Crime Agency Temporary Director of Investigations John Denley, Keele University Academic Policing Collaboration Professor of Practice Marcus Beale, and Cambridge University Professor of Experimental Criminology Barak Ariel, highlight some of the key findings from their latest research drawing on police information and intelligence and the views of police professionals to explore new ways to prevent organised crime (the focus of an SEBP Conference session).

ANALYSIS: Over recent weeks all the UK’s main political parties have held their annual conferences – potentially the last major party gatherings that will be held before general election as well as police and crime commissioner elections in 2024; Policing Insight’s Thomas James looks back at the key speeches from the events to highlight the police and crime discussions taking place, and the calls and commitments shared with delegates around law and order.

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 Tetiana Melnychuk, Associate Professor at Ukraine’s National University Odesa Law Academy and visiting researcher at the Center for European and International Criminal Law Studies at the University of Osnabrück, about the ‘blurred edges’ of organised crime, preventing criminals infiltrating government and legal agencies, and the need to prepare for the restoration of law and order after the war in Ukraine.

ANALYSIS: The ongoing demonstrations across the UK prompted by the Israel-Gaza conflict have reignited the debate about the police response to public protest; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, whose 30-year policing career included many large public order events, takes a closer look at the legislation governing protests, the guidance officers receive around intervention, and why the decision not to arrest during a protest may be justice wisely delayed rather than denied.

OPINION: With UK policing facing a decline in public trust and confidence, officer morale hitting new lows, and a seemingly endless barrage of bad news and attacks from the media, Edge Hill University Senior Policing Lecturer Owen West, a former chief superintendent, believes the time is right for a unified staff association for the profession of policing to advocate on behalf of the service and reclaim the strategic narrative.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The 5th International Police Education Conference on 10th November 2023, hosted by the London Policing College and supported by Policing Insight, explores the critical themes of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), digitalization, and public protest. We delve into key insights from five workshops that gathered experts, academics, and professionals from around the world to address the challenges and opportunities in modern policing.

INTERVIEW: As with many other police forces, Queensland Police Service (QPS) is looking to improve the representation of female officers across the workforce; new research from QPS Detective Chief Inspector Mike Newman suggests that instilling more confidence in female officers, and addressing inherent biases in selection processes, will be crucial in ensuring female officers progress through the ranks at the same rate as their male counterparts, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: With ongoing concerns around the drop in public trust and confidence in UK policing, forces face continuing pressure to ensure they are representative of the communities they serve; but a new report suggests that gender bias in the language used in police recruitment advertising may be deterring applicants at the first hurdle, as Richard Place, Managing Director of police recruitment website All Police Jobs, explains.

ANALYSIS: The apparent increase in youth crime has been the subject of intense media focus and community campaigns over recent months; Bond University’s Dr Terry Goldsworthy, Dr Gaëlle Brotto and Dr Tyler Cawthray explore the data behind the headlines, as well as public perception on what constitutes a crime crisis.

FEATURE: With the UK’s first artificial intelligence (AI) safety summit taking place this week, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at some of the risks posed by ‘frontier AI’, as well as efforts by the UK Government and counterparts in Europe to identify and minimise potentially harmful threats from the cutting-edge technology.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, Craig Naylor, about how he approaches his role at the inspectorate, the challenges in Police Scotland as it turns 10 years old, and the similarities and differences with policing and the inspectorate in England and Wales.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: To address the challenges of increasing digital evidence and siloed data sources, South Wales Police and Gwent Police implemented Nice Investigate, a Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) that is part of the NICE Evidencentral suite from NICE which is currently used by more than 20 police forces and organisations in England and Wales.

ANALYSIS: Ahead of next week’s UK Society of Evidenced-Based Policing (SEBP) Conference, Simon Rose, CEO of the Cambridge Centre for Evidence-Based Policing, and Detective Inspector Mark Brennan of Leicestershire Police outline the background, delivery and interim results from a police and third sector outreach project targeting violence hot spots in Leicester city centre, which early findings suggest could cut crime and crime harm by more than a third.

ANALYSIS: The latest research from Monash University’s Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS) unit on the cost of living and consumer deviance has revealed that continuing financial pressures on households has not only changed spending habits but also attitudes towards retail crimes such as shoplifting, as ACRS Research and Strategy Director Stephanie Atto and Senior Research Consultant Paolo de Leon explain.

OPINION: Shoplifting and retail theft have been subject to significant media and political focus over recent weeks, with the Government launching a new action plan while commentators call for tougher sentences to target organised gangs; but Transform Justice Director Penelope Gibbs argues that effectively tackling the problem will mean addressing the causes, improving diversion and rethinking the retail space, rather than simply increasing the sentence tariff.

FEATURE: Project Pegasus, a new police team using organised crime gang intelligence and retail crime gang data, has been launched to target the “rampant rise” in shoplifting in the UK as part of the Government’s new Retail Crime Action Plan, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New international research on the approach by policing and industry to rural crime has highlighted the multi-million-dollar impact on farms and countryside communities often overlooked by law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Dr Kyle Mulrooney of the University of New England and Inspector Oliver Fisher of Sussex Police about the steps that can be taken to improve prevention and response for farmers and rural communities.

OPINION: Tackling county lines and organised crime has become a key area for academic research in recent years, but not all research studies have been a positive experience for local residents or police; GLEPHA Associate and postgraduate researcher Janine Ewen has seen several such studies in her home city of Aberdeen, and shares her experiences as well as steps that researchers can take to improve outcomes and build better relationships with communities.

FEATURE: The most recent member survey carried out by the New Zealand Police Association has highlighted a drop in morale, with officers voicing concerns over increased levels of crime and violence, the need for more mentoring and support, and a shortage of frontline resources despite the recruitment boost of 1,800 additional officers, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The ongoing violence and conflict in Israel and Palestine have led to more examples of religious hatred and acts of terrorism across Europe, with religious sites increasingly viewed as possible targets; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the latest initiative to ensure such places of worship are safe and secure, while also promoting interfaith dialogue.

INNOVATION: Police have used traditional line-ups – whether static in person, or using photos and videos – for decades, and concerns have been regularly voiced over misidentification leading to wrongful arrest and in some cases imprisonment; but University of Birmingham research led by Prof Heather Flowe and PhD student Tia Bennett is pioneering new 3D interactive line-ups that have increased identification accuracy, with the team now looking to work closely with forces to further develop the technology.

FEATURE: Ahead of next month’s UK Society of Evidence-Based Policing (UK SEBP) Conference, Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Ralph – who heads up the South West Police Collaboration and is South West Regional Lead for the UK SEBP – looks at the evolution of evidence-based policing, the value it brings both to law enforcement and communities, and the aims of the SEBP that will underpin this year’s event.

OPINION: This week Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Fotheringham retires from policing, and from his role as President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, a post he has held for the past 18 months; in this article he looks back over his policing career and his work with the PSA, in particular around officer wellbeing, ensuring everyone in the service has a voice, and the fight for fair reward and conditions.