Topical issues

OPINION: The findings of the recent Casey Review are likely to have the Metropolitan Police and other forces promoting their values and drawing a line in the sand over inappropriate behaviour; but workplace relationships expert Arran Heal believes the best way to develop a positive ‘Clear Air’ culture is by clearly stating behaviours the organisation wants people to exhibit, supported by training in the skills that people need.

FEATURE: A new approach to traffic policing is applying the evidence-based principles of the Cambridge Crime Harm Index to target serious traffic collision hot spots in Cumbria; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sgt Jack Stabler of Cumbria Constabulary about the thinking behind the new Road Harm Index, and the benefits the initiative could bring for police, partners and the public.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Digital transformation is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in policing – from data analytics and mobile workforce optimization to online citizen engagement and investigations. But when it comes to delivering on the promise of digital transformation, one technology that police departments are embracing in growing numbers is cloud-based DEMS (Digital Evidence Management System). This article explores 12 powerful ways that DEMS is transforming policing, from crime to justice.

INTERVIEW: Policing has long struggled to deliver digital transformation programmes, especially those seeking to replace major pieces of legacy IT; but with COVID-19 adding fresh impetus to the digital agenda and the national strategy set for a ‘refresh’, Ian Bell, CEO of the Police Digital Service, sees exciting opportunities on the horizon, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: A new report into the policing of the 2022 occupation of parliamentary grounds in Wellington describes a largely successful operation with a positive outcome; but Professors Alexander Gillespie and Claire Breen of the University of Waikato warn that while policing has moved on significantly since previous high-profile demonstrations, there is still room for improvement around practice, equipment, legislation, and ensuring police independence.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The Liverpool Centre for Advanced Policing Studies will host a conference on the topic of police education on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 June 2023. The conference, supported by Policing Insight as media partner, will be of interest and relevance to police practitioners, senior officers, and managers, particularly those who are involved in training and development. Equally to those who are involved in the development and delivery of police education in higher education and those preparing students for these programmes.

FEATURE: In the second of a new series of The Police Student focusing on Criminology in Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly looks at the classical concept of crime as a rational act, and considers traditional justice, enlightened thinking, and the range of critiques which have founded the wider discipline of criminology.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ANALYSIS: The Mendéz Principles build on interviewing models in England and Wales to offer a global standard for effective interviewing practices that ensure non-coercive methods and procedural safeguards; ahead of next month’s conference on the subject at the Canterbury Centre for Policing Research (CCPR), Policing Lecturer James Harris and CCPR Director Dr Martin O’Neill explore the background to the principles, and the development of techniques and lessons drawn from UK cases.

OPINION: This weekend’s coronation of HM King Charles III is likely to be the largest deployment in peace time of uniformed officers on the streets of London; Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, who served in the Met Police for 30 years, looks at the challenges of the day – both for those policing the route, and for those maintaining public order and community safety away from the event – as well as the unique opportunity such an operation offers.

ANALYSIS: A series of recent reviews and reports have highlighted issues around misogyny and gender inequality in UK policing; in this article Dr Wendy Laverick, Professor Peter Joyce and Dr Emma Cunningham explore the context of some of those issues, and consider the advances as well as the continuing challenges in relation to gender equity in British policing.

OPINION: As he approaches his retirement, Deputy Chief Constable Ian Critchley, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection, reflects on 30 years spent in policing, and in particular the work he has done to combat child abuse in all forms.

ANALYSIS: While the Casey Review focused on the shortcomings of London’s Metropolitan Police, other forces around the UK have their own challenges in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion; Criminal Justice Lecturer Dr Ali Malik argues that Police Scotland, the UK’s second largest force after the Met, has plenty of work to do to address concerns around racism, misogyny and bullying within its ranks.

FEATURE: After a series of high-profile incidents and damaging reviews, levels of public trust in policing have fallen significantly; now a new briefing by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology highlights the current trends around public trust and confidence in policing, the barriers to building that trust, and what policing can do to reverse the decline, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

LONG READ: Humberside Police’s Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) initiative has transformed how the force handles mental health incidents, freeing up officers to focus on fighting crime – and with RCRP set to roll out nationwide, policing’s approach to these incidents is about to change significantly; but there’s a more complex story to tell about policing’s role in mental health work, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: The Macpherson Report into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence made many recommendations around improving the police response, including ensuring the availability of dedicated, trained family liaison officers (FLOs) at a local level; Professor Fiona Brookman of South Wales University looks at how this role has now become an integral part of policing, and what more can be done to ensure forces are making best use of FLOs.

ANALYSIS: The authors of a new report – the first in a series of five on policing ‘seldom heard groups’ published by Police Scotland, the Scottish Institute for Policing Research and the Scottish Police Authority – have called for more to be done to overcome the challenges of policing people with multiple social identities and characteristics such as race, religion, sexuality and disability, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Despite an apparently well-developed framework of accountability arrangements, British policing is still facing a ‘polycrisis’ resulting in a significant loss of public trust and confidence; Police Foundation Director Rick Muir believes that a fresh approach to the principles of accountability – as underlined in a report published recently by the Foundation – could prove crucial in underpinning efforts to tackle the key challenges.

ANALYSIS: Latest research from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime suggests the global market for cocaine has hit new record levels despite the interruption of parts of the trade during COVID-19, with a significant increase in production, the emergence of supply chain specialists, and traffickers exploiting new markets and international events such as the war in Ukraine, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Alan Edwards, a former Royal Military Police officer and detective chief inspector who now works as a civilian expert specialising in serious organised crime, about the growing pressures of investigating online crime, the potential of the ChildLight initiative, and why law enforcement in the West could and should be doing much more to tackle Africa’s barbaric people traffickers.

FEATURE: The recent attacks in the UK on two men leaving mosques, along with this year’s Jehovah’s Witness Hall shootings in Hamburg and Koran burning in Stockholm, have highlighted once again the threats to places of worship and their congregations; in the last in a series of articles on the PROTECTOR project, and ahead of this week’s conference on the issue, Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at latest initiatives to tackle the threat, and the key themes set to be explored at Tuesday’s event.

LONG READ: Thirty years after the murder of Stephen Lawrence – and the subsequent Inquiry description of the Met Police as “institutionally racist” – the force, and UK policing more widely, is wrestling with many of the same issues; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to officers involved both then and now to find out what has changed over the past three decades, and what more needs to be done.

INTERVIEW: An EU-funded three-month mentoring scheme is connecting female police officers in The Gambia with experienced colleagues in Thames Valley Police; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to Sarah-Jane Bray, who is managing the mentoring programme, about the shared challenges facing female officers, and the strong connections built between officers based more than 3,500 miles apart.

ANALYSIS: New data published by Canada’s Tracking (In)Justice project suggest that the average number of police-involved deaths each year between 2011-2022 rose by two thirds, compared to the annual average figure for the previous decade; project members Andrew Crosby, Alexander McClelland and Tanya L. Sharpe believe that the increase, together with the racial disparity and jurisdictional variations within the figures, support calls for greater accountability, transparency and scrutiny of police conduct in Canada.