INTERVIEW: Nauris Paulins, Innovation and Digital Transformation Adviser at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia, recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth about the work of the unit, its role within the European NOTIONES Project, and how the FIU’s involvement in this and other research and innovation projects benefits both policing in Latvia and forces further afield.

FEATURE: A new report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into the UK police response to organised immigration crime (OIC) has called for greater collaboration between forces, better intelligence gathering and sharing, and for OIC to become a higher law enforcement priority in order to tackle the organised crime groups involved, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With the UK Government recently announcing that the Vagrancy Act will be repealed by spring next year, Generation Rent Chief Executive Ben Twomey looks at the background to a 200-year-old piece of “outdated” legislation that is still used to criminalise some aspects of homelessness, and considers what may take its place.

INNOVATION: The use of an evidence storage and sharing app rolled out across Hertfordshire Constabulary has seen positive outcomes more than double compared to the force average, with investigation times reduced and demand on digital forensic unit and data storage also cut; now more forces across England and Wales are looking at adopting the technology, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons 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: Politicians and journalists on across the US political spectrum have argued that recent election results reflect a frustration with Democratic policies on crime in cities; but new research by Harvard University Professor Justin de Benedictis-Kessner and Professor Christopher Warshaw at George Washington University suggests that neither party is doing a better job at reducing crime, nor addressing the ballooning financial cost and long-term reputational costs of policing in the US.

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.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

INTERVIEW: Nauris Paulins, Innovation and Digital Transformation Adviser at the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Latvia, recently spoke to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth about the work of the unit, its role within the European NOTIONES Project, and how the FIU’s involvement in this and other research and innovation projects benefits both policing in Latvia and forces further afield.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

FEATURE: Association of Scottish Police Superintendents President Rob Hay has urged Police Scotland’s leadership not to take officers for granted as superintending ranks begin to “vote with their feet” and withdraw from volunteering for on-call, and called on the Scottish Government to invest in a service that is “stretched to breaking point”, warning that Chief Constable Jo Farrell faces the “stark choice” of cannibalising the service to provide a fair pay award, as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

FEATURE: Association of Scottish Police Superintendents President Rob Hay has urged Police Scotland’s leadership not to take officers for granted as superintending ranks begin to “vote with their feet” and withdraw from volunteering for on-call, and called on the Scottish Government to invest in a service that is “stretched to breaking point”, warning that Chief Constable Jo Farrell faces the “stark choice” of cannibalising the service to provide a fair pay award, as Policing Insight’s Martin Gallagher reports.

INTERVIEW: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass spoke to Metropolitan Police Service Director of Data Aimee Smith and Deputy Director of Data Samantha Laskey about how they overcame a traditional culture and delays to develop policing’s first open data strategy.

INNOVATION: When public sentiment – including trust in police – can shift overnight following a viral clip or local incident, the need for policing to be able to engage with and have an up-to-date grasp of local sentiments has never been stronger; Michael Simon, Chief Strategy Officer at Zencity and a speaker at this weekend’s Cumberland Lodge Police Conference, argues that harnessing the latest technology – rather than door-knocking and telephone surveys – can provide policing with a real-time, in-depth understanding of the ‘voice of the customer’.

OPINION: With a growing drive in Australia for a co-responder rather than police-first response to those in mental health crisis, University of Melbourne Research Officer Dr Panos Karanikolas, and La Trobe University’s Dr Chris Maylea and Hamilton Kennedy, explore what works better and where, with research suggesting people with lived experience of mental health issues want more than ambulances replacing the police as crisis responders.

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.