Topical issues

ANALYSIS: Early identification and support for those experiencing domestic abuse can be crucial in helping to reduce the risk of negative outcomes; a new study undertaken by Swansea University Research Officers Dr Natasha Kennedy and Amrita Bandyopadhyay suggests that linking police safeguarding data with healthcare records could identify people at high risk of domestic abuse, and enable health professionals to refer victims earlier to support services.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Learn how West Midlands Police, one of the largest police forces in the UK, invested in Axon’s advanced ecosystem of policing technology to create a more efficient, better-equipped force.

FEATURE: A crime prevention approach implemented by Essex Police used spatial analytics to focus on ‘places not people’ and incorporated hotspot policing to reduce offending by 40%; with the initiative now viewed as ‘business as usual’ within the force, the Home Office has directed other forces to ensure surge funding to tackle violence is focused on a similar hotspot approach, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: UK police leaders and inspectorates have frequently highlighted the importance of neighbourhood policing, and community engagement is a crucial element to that approach; University of Northampton Associate Professor Dr Tim Curtis, Executive Director of Intensive Engagement, discusses his latest research which surveyed the neighbourhood policing skills of 150 police officers and PCSOs, and how effectively those skills are applied to a real-world policing scenario.

OPINION: A recent decision by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to allow retailers to use live facial recognition (LFR) to tackle shoplifters has come under criticism amid claims the authority was influenced by the Home Office and a private supplier; Dr Asress Gikay, Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation, and Law at Brunel University, believes the ICO’s decision is erroneous and lacks transparency, and that private entities should carry out the same equality impact assessments as law enforcement to ensure the responsible use of LFR.

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 fraud and financial crime consultant Gerald Doyle about researching the true scale of waste crime, the changing focus of organised crime from drugs to finance, and why asset recovery may be the best way to target organised crime’s ever-evolving business model.

OPINION: This year marks the 125th anniversary of the official recognition of police matrons in Australia, but women had undertaken this work for at least 50 years beforehand; University of Newcastle Criminology Lecturer Dr Alice Neikirk explores one of women’s earliest roles in policing – a role which shared many of the same characteristics as today’s problem-orientated policing model.

INNOVATION: Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, moves beyond science fiction to consider how technology will shape policing over the coming decades; in the last of a three-part series exploring the report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland looks at the findings around more advanced technologies – specifically, how neural interfaces might change how policing works in the future.

OPINION: As police forces across the UK begin to implement the Right Care, Right Person approach to those in mental health crisis, former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher argues that it’s time policing re-examined other ‘partnerships’ with agencies that are clearly not working, and which see police treated as ‘third-class citizens’ in unequal relationships.

FEATURE: The latest New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey shows that while public perceptions of policing overall remain strongly positive, high-profile controversies and ‘gross failings’ in police behaviour in other countries – coupled with a fall in support for the ‘public sector brand generally’ – has prompted a dip in public trust and confidence in NZ Police, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Security Act 2023 came into effect last month, strengthening the country’s protection against threats from foreign interests and actors, building on existing laws, and creating a range of new criminal offences; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the new legislation, and the vital role that police will have to play.

OPINION: Last week it was confirmed that most police forces across the UK have now adopted the Right Care, Right Person approach to those in mental health crisis; but given its unique policing environment, the British Transport Police will be implementing an alternative initiative, as Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi explains.

OPINION: Metropolitan Police Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer Darren Scates recently completed his two-year tenure as Chair of the UK’s National Police Technology Council; in this article he looks back at the significant and rapid changes during that period, and looks ahead at the opportunities for innovation facing policing, both in the short and longer term.

FEATURE: In the fourth of a new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores psychological theories for explaining crime – including the differences between cognitive and behavioural theories, the importance of cognitive learning and social learning theories, and how evaluating these and other theories can make you a better police officer and happier human!

FEATURE: A new study by researchers from the University of Portsmouth suggests that despite increases in the number of women being promoted to senior posts in policing, structural and cultural barriers mean that in many instances female officers continue to be ‘overlooked and undermined’ in relation to career progression, unless they ‘exhibit qualities which accord with the hegemonic masculine norms of policing’, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Various sectors of criminal justice systems around the world are increasing their use of artificial intelligence (AI), but AI has played a key part in offender assessment decisions in the UK, US, Australia, Canada and other countries for more than 20 years, with little or no transparency or independent inspection of the algorithms involved, as University of Surrey Professor Melissa Hamilton and Professor Pamela Ugwudike of the University of Southampton explain.

INNOVATION: Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, moves beyond science fiction to consider how technology will shape policing over the coming decades; in the second in a three-part series exploring the report, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland digs deeper into ‘sensing technology’, highlighted as one of the key developments for law enforcement of the future.

OPINION: Footage of the recent arrest of a mother in front of her young son for suspected fare evasion has once again ignited a debate about appropriate policing responses; Dr Meron Wondemaghen, a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Hull, believes this and other cases have highlighted the issues of what constitutes social harm, what is a proportionate response, and why a ‘do no harm’ principle should precede any law and order aims.

FEATURE: A recent report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into the effectiveness of UK police firearms deployment has highlighted shortcomings in the training and selection of firearms commanders, a lack of shared learning and force collaboration, and the need for greater chief officer involvement in communication processes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With peer-officer support programmes in the UK increasingly highlighted as positive practice, Policing Insight’s Darren Moor, a former police officer and trauma management divisional co-ordinator, shares his experiences of trauma risk management (TRiM), the challenges of successfully implementing the approach, and the benefits it can deliver for individual officers and the wider force.

FEATURE: This month saw the publication of the most recent version of CONTEST, the UK’s strategy for countering terrorism; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the initial development of the strategy in the wake of 9/11, how the plan has been updated and adapted in the intervening years, and the key message from this latest iteration.

OPINION: When former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher attended a reunion dinner with the officers from the first shift he had led as a sergeant, it was an opportunity to look back at some of the experience and guidance he had passed on to those younger in service, and also to consider what principles, fundamentals and approaches were integral to being a successful skipper.

OPINION: Three years after the death of George Floyd, the latest report by the US Justice Department in to policing in Minneapolis features a raft of worrying findings, including discrimination against Black people and Native Americans, and routine use of excessive force; but Arizona State University Associate Professor Rashad Shabazz believes the report also demonstrates that rather than being an aberration, such misconduct is part of how policing was historically intended to be in the US.

INNOVATION: In a new three-part series exploring how technology will shape policing over the coming decades, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports on Police Futures, a new publication from the UK’s Police Chief Scientific Adviser, which tries to move beyond science fiction and look towards what policing might really become.