Topical issues

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.

FEATURE: The growing demands placed on police officers are contributing to increasing levels of mental ill-health within the service, yet research has highlighted the continuing stigma around asking for support with mental health problems; British Transport Police Temporary Special Sergeant Shawny Dixon, who is currently studying for her MSc in Policing and Law Enforcement Leadership, looks at some of the existing research around the issue, and what the service could be doing to tackle the problem.

ANALYSIS: While climate change is generally seen as damaging for communities across the globe, transnational organised crime gangs are ready to take the opportunities offered by fragile states, scarce resources and regulated markets to further their profits while putting the pubic at risk, as Dr John Coyne of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute explains.

ANALYSIS: While recruitment and retention challenges have been the focus for many police forces around the world, the lack of female representation in US law enforcement has become a mounting concern; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to current and former officers as well as other criminal justice stakeholders working hard – and in many cases drawing on their own experiences – to address that gender imbalance.

FEATURE: A Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) was used by ACT officers in Canberra last week as part of the policing operation dealing with vaccine mandate protests, prompting a range of concerns and claims about the damage done by the device; composer, artist and sonic expert Lawrence English, a Research Fellow at Queensland’s Griffith University, explains the workings and limitations of LRADs.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in this series on continuing professional development (CPD), Dr Nicky Miller and Professor Jean Hartley of the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) explore the integration of explicit and tacit knowledge into learning, and how taking the opportunities to blend both approaches can help to bridge the gap between knowing and doing in UK policing.

OPINION: In a week which marks the anniversary of the publication of the Macpherson Report, West Midlands Assistant Chief Constable Matt Ward shares an insight into personal responses to racism, and argues that unless policing can accept it has treated some communities less favourably than others, those communities will have no reason to co-operate with the service – a vicious cycle that threatens police legitimacy.

ANALYSIS: As investigations of poor behaviour by UK politicians and police highlight a perceived decline of standards in public life, efforts are underway across the EU to ensure that the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies within security and law enforcement is compatible with upholding the seven principles of public life, as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: Sir Michael Barber, Chair of the Strategic Review of Policing, has warned that the police’s ability to “do the basics” is being severely hampered by its role in responding to a range of “effectively social problems” such as mental health and missing persons – with confidence in police suffering as a result, as Keith Potter reports.

OPINION: Former Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Peter Fahy believes that many of the ‘reforms’ of policing over the past 20 years – including the introduction of PCCs and the College of Policing, and the closure of the Police Leadership College – have weakened the service’s ability to develop long-term strategies or a professional independent voice, and failed to address the deeply embedded issues of misogyny and racism in police culture.

OPINION: Against the backdrop of the many recent debates about negative cultures in UK policing, Disabled Police Association President Simon Nelson argues that it is down to leadership to set the tone for an acceptable workplace culture – but all of us have role to play in ending institutional discrimination and building successful, supportive teams.

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 Ian Davidson, a former detective superintendent with Derbyshire Police and now an independent researcher, about the importance of experience and understanding, the need for resources to back up strategies, and what we really know – or think we know – about organised crime.

OPINION: Severe injuries leading to significant bleeding – whether caused by criminal acts such as knife crime or terror attacks, or through accidents – can easily result in loss of life; but the availability of bleed control packs, and the training in how to use them, can enable the public to intervene and save lives, believes Reuben Gilmore, Sales Director at Aero Healthcare.

OPINION: The timing of the recent resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick surprised many, but the damage done to public trust by a series of controversies over the previous 15 months meant the decision was far from a shock; Mark Cooper, who developed and ran the first PEEL Police Legitimacy inspections for what is now HMICFRS, explains why – and what the next Met Commissioner can do to restore confidence in the force.

INTERVIEW: UKROEd is responsible for the management of the National Driver Offender Retraining Scheme (NDORS); Chief Executive Ruth Purdie, formerly a police officer for 30 years, spoke to Policing Insight about what the scheme has delivered since its first online courses were offered in 2020, and what role driver re-education can play in helping to sustain a long-term reduction in death and serious injury on our roads.

FEATURE: As the search gets underway for the next Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, Policing Insight Contributor Gareth Bryon takes a look at the appointment of Keechant Sewell as the very first black female Commissioner of the NYPD, and how her appointment – and the politics of policing in New York – have highlighted the volatile arena in which she will work.

INTERVIEW: With a number of Caribbean countries still relying on handwritten crime records, a new US/UN initiative has helped these paradise islands to develop their digital capability and crime data analyst role; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to Arizona State University Professor Charles Katz – one of the leaders of the programme – to find out more.

OPINION: Policing protests during Covid is proving challenging for many forces, and the anti-vaxxers and others who have gathered at New Zealand’s parliament grounds in Wellington have been difficult to dislodge; Monash University Criminology Lecturer Dr Ross Hendy, a former NZ Police sergeant, believes that while the waiting game may not be the ideal response politically, it could be the safest route to a peaceful resolution.

FEATURE: The findings of a year-long review of the UK College of Policing have highlighted concerns over the quality of products, their usefulness, and the College’s remoteness to frontline officers; but its efforts to ‘reset’ the relationship with policing and launch a new four-year strategy have sparked a rebuke from the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: In his latest Annual Threat Assessment Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), has revealed that minors now account for half of ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism investigations, as the online radicalisation that went into overdrive during Covid lockdowns has created a new wave of more intense extremists ready to use violence.

ANALYSIS: As UK emergency services look to learn lessons from the Manchester Arena Inquiry to improve crisis response, a new European project involving partners from eight countries is using data sets from previous emergencies and disasters to identify strategies that can strengthen disaster resilience at a local, national and international level, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: New research has highlighted the increasing use of non-traditional ports for trafficking cocaine, as organised crime groups try to keep pace with growing demand for the drug; Policing Insight’s Chris Allen takes a closer look at the research, and considers what the findings mean for law enforcement agencies involved in targeting the narcotics market.

OPINION: In Australia, a growing number of Facebook pages dedicated to identifying the locations of police traffic operations are enabling drug users to avoid detection during roadside drug-testing initiatives; but Research Assistant Laura Mills, Professor James Freeman and Dr Verity Truelove of the University of the Sunshine Coast believe that regardless of Facebook, there is a fundamental need to increase motorists’ perceptions of being caught for drug driving.

OPINION: Despite months of controversy and criticism, the resignation of Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick this week still came as a surprise, given her commitment to the role just hours before announcing her departure; PolicingTV presenter Danny Shaw, the former BBC Home Affairs Correspondent, looks at the politics that prompted her decision, and considers some of the likely candidates to take on UK policing’s most difficult job.