FEATURE: A new report from animal welfare charity the Naturewatch Foundation is calling for mandatory training for UK police officers to recognise how animals are used in domestic abuse cases involving coercive control, after highlighting a “postcode lottery” in the current approaches of forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: After the tragic murder of a 19-year-old woman in 2022, Essex Police set about changing how it assesses known and suspected perpetrators of domestic violence and developed an approach to stop them that had been “stolen with pride” from tackling gangs; Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Detective Superintendent Matt Cornish and Detective Constable Robert Kedar about their work.

FEATURE: A new report from animal welfare charity the Naturewatch Foundation is calling for mandatory training for UK police officers to recognise how animals are used in domestic abuse cases involving coercive control, after highlighting a “postcode lottery” in the current approaches of forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: In 2023, PNLD launched a new feature named ‘In the Spotlight’… a quarterly update available to our customers within the criminal justice arena, bringing focus and clarity to legal topics, all within one learning package.

OPINION: While the recent Government Spending Review left many chief constables, forces and police and crime commissioners in England and Wales saying the increase in police spending wasn’t enough, University of Leeds Professor of Crime Science Graham Farrell argues that more money and more officers doesn’t always lead to a fall in crime, with crime prevention and reducing crime opportunities by working with businesses, suppliers and manufacturers often a more effective approach.

FEATURE: Scottish Justice Secretary Angela Constance has praised Scottish police superintendents for their role in leading innovation and collaboration that has ensured Police Scotland can meet the challenges of modern crime – despite a backdrop of a “challenging financial environment” which has left the force and the Government with “no quick fixes” and limited choices, as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, Chair of the APCC, looks ahead to this week’s much-anticipated UK comprehensive spending review that will determine the funding available for large-scale police reform heralded by the Home Secretary, and underlines the crucial role that PCCs and deputy mayors will need to play in providing effective oversight of that reform.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles and opinion pieces from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell, Chair of the APCC, explores the continuing efforts to improve trust and confidence in policing and the culture within forces by tightening vetting and misconduct procedures.

FEATURE: A new report from animal welfare charity the Naturewatch Foundation is calling for mandatory training for UK police officers to recognise how animals are used in domestic abuse cases involving coercive control, after highlighting a “postcode lottery” in the current approaches of forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Sign up for a series of four webinars on body-worn video (BWV) in July organised by the Policing Tech Forum with Devon and Cornwall Police and the National Police Chiefs Council and supported by Axon, Motorola Solutions and Reveal. The series looks key aspects of BWV use including managing volume data, live streaming, scrutiny and innovation.

FEATURE: A Home Office-commissioned evaluation of the UK police use of naloxone highlights that not only is the opioid overdose reversal medication a potential life-saver, but its wider carriage by officers could help to build more trust and stronger relationships with drug-using communities – if challenges can be addressed around training and data collection, collaboration with healthcare agencies on handover and aftercare, and officers’ own stigma around drug users, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight's Sarah Gibbons spoke to Polly Harrar – founder of the Sharan Project, Chair of the London Harmful Practices Group led by the Metropolitan Police, violence against women and girls (VAWG) advocate, and women in leadership trainer – about the need to improve the systems in place for tackling VAWG, the dangers of weighing cultural considerations in the fight against sexual crimes and child abuse, and the importance of training for women leaders.

FEATURE: A new report from animal welfare charity the Naturewatch Foundation is calling for mandatory training for UK police officers to recognise how animals are used in domestic abuse cases involving coercive control, after highlighting a “postcode lottery” in the current approaches of forces across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: Baroness Casey’s recent report into grooming gangs and child sexual exploitation (CSE) in England and Wales made 12 recommendations, including a new national inquiry into child sexual exploitation; but Aisha K Gill, Professor of Criminology at the University of Bristol, warns that, with none of the previous independent inquiry’s 20 recommendations fully implemented, identifying and rectifying the failures of police and local authorities remains crucial to securing justice for the victims of CSE.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Sign up for a series of four webinars on body-worn video (BWV) in July organised by the Policing Tech Forum with Devon and Cornwall Police and the National Police Chiefs Council and supported by Axon, Motorola Solutions and Reveal. The series looks key aspects of BWV use including managing volume data, live streaming, scrutiny and innovation.

INNOVATION: With jurisdictions across the world looking at ways to tackle the threat of deepfakes – particularly those of a sexually explicit nature – Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the AVALANCHE project in developing new tools and techniques to address the issue, as well as the wider impact of the Strengthened Security Research and Innovation area of the Horizon Europe programme for security.

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: A Home Office-commissioned evaluation of the UK police use of naloxone highlights that not only is the opioid overdose reversal medication a potential life-saver, but its wider carriage by officers could help to build more trust and stronger relationships with drug-using communities – if challenges can be addressed around training and data collection, collaboration with healthcare agencies on handover and aftercare, and officers’ own stigma around drug users, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.