Crime

FEATURE: The latest report from the Social Market Foundation into the UK’s approach to tackling serious and organised crime (SOC) urges the Government to draw up a new strategy to meet the challenge of SOC, ensure the organised crime threat receives a higher priority, and increase resources and support for the National Crime Agency which currently performs poorly in comparison with FBI counterparts because of underfunding, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: A new study on organised crime in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA), published by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, highlights the region’s growing role as a major hub, source and transit zone for the trafficking of drugs, minerals, people and wildlife products, to markets stretching from Europe to Australia as well as within ESA itself, as Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen reports.

OPINION: Increases in knife-crime offences have prompted calls for the introduction of Jack’s Law in Victoria, an approach enabling police to carry out random ‘wanding’ searches for weapons that is already in place in several Australian states including Queensland and New South Wales; but Criminology Senior Lecturer Dr Joel McGregor of Swinburne University of Technology argues that research suggests the approach has little benefit, and that addressing prevention and support would be more effective.

FEATURE: The recent completion of the two-year EU PRECRISIS project has culminated in the publication of a series of operational briefings designed to “inform and add value” to all stakeholders engaged in delivering safety and security at public spaces, including law enforcement, other first responders, local authorities and urban developers, as well as private-sector partners, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

ANALYSIS: The South Caucasus region of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia is increasingly becoming a hub for organised crime networks spanning borders between Europe, Eurasia and beyond, warns a new study from the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime, with the region’s ports and borders also being used by both organised crime and licit trade to beat sanctions imposed on Russia, as Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen reports.

INTERVIEW: In the second in a short series of interviews sharing the views and achievements of recent winners of International Association of Women Police awards, Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to former Vancouver PD Detective Constable Maire Kenny about her role in developing a pilot programme supporting indigenous victims of intimate partner violence – against a backdrop of decades of distrust of policing – which saw a surge in reporting and a strengthening of community relationships.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The British Retail Consortium’s (BRC’s) Annual Crime Survey, published earlier in the year, makes for grim reading. Retailers report a sharp increase in theft, and acts of violence and abuse are up a staggering 340 percent (since 2020) as well. These trends are occurring in spite of huge retail security investments, new policing initiatives, and legislative changes put in place by the UK government to bolster the prosecution of retail crime.

FEATURE: A report into the organised ritual abuse of children and adults in England and Wales is warning of the considerable barriers to reporting abuse involving multiple offenders acting in concert to terrorise victims, and that the limited number of detections and convictions for such offences is likely to be the “tip of the iceberg”, suggesting that policing and other agencies need to take seriously “the prospect of multiple undetected homicides”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The Prevent programme has been a vital but often criticised element of the UK government’s counter-terrorism efforts; the latest review of the programme, prompted by the murders of three young girls in Southport and Conservative MP Sir David Amess in separate knife attacks, has highlighted both the failures and fault lines of the approach, as well as its potential to achieve successful interventions, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: With research indicating that at least 12% of female respondents in intimate partner violence cases in Victoria are misidentified as perpetrators – and some organisations suggesting the figure, particularly for indigenous and migrant women, could be as high as 50% – Kavitha Vipulananda, author, speaker and reform consultant, sets out a range of reforms for police in Victoria and agencies more widely across Australia that could address the injustices based in systemic issues that are faced by vulnerable women.

ANALYSIS: In the latest in this series of articles exploring the links between sport and organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Dalby looks at the increasing efforts of drug cartels to infiltrate football as an opportunity to launder dirty money, set up illegal betting activity and extend their narcotics networks, amid warnings that ineffective existing ownership legislation has meant that in some cases the groundwork for cartel infiltration has already been laid.

FEATURE: With a Foreign Affairs Committee inquiry now underway into the channels, technologies and actors responsible for disinformation and misinformation in the UK, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at research efforts and funding to tackle disinformation across Europe, and how focusing on inclusivity can help to counter attempts to create discord and division.

ANALYSIS: The 2025 edition of the European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (EU TE-SAT) has highlighted the growing number of young people involved in terrorism, and the use of artificial intelligence, social media and gaming to target vulnerabilities such as mental health, isolation and digital addiction, while the impact of geopolitical developments in Russia, Syria and other parts of the African continent also pose a threat, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With online cross-border financial scams driving fraud to new levels – it now accounts for 40% of all crime against individuals in England and Wales – most police and government efforts remain focused on preventative and defensive measures; but new research from Professor Mark Button and Associate Professor Branislav Hock at the University of Portsmouth highlights several ways to take more offensive actions against fraudsters, including embracing the work of the private anti-scam community.

FEATURE: The 9/11 attacks on the US, which took place 24 years ago this week, were both a shocking series of events on a horrific scale, and a moment which changed the course of world history; Policing Insight’s Andrew Stainforth looks back at the initial response from UK policing and political leaders to those terrorist atrocities, and what it meant for the country both in the immediate aftermath and the longer term.

OPINION: With the changing nature of terrorist threats and the proscription of Palestine Action, former Police Scotland superintendent Martin Gallagher, now an author, journalist and terrorism expert, looks at what is potentially emerging as a new ‘Fifth Wave’ of global terrorism, its relationship with crime, and the possible impact of branding criminal organisations as terrorist groups.

FEATURE: The latest Home Office evaluation of the work of violence reduction units (VRUs) across England and Wales highlights “encouraging” reductions in homicides and hospital admissions due to violence and knife crime – particularly among those aged 24 and under – but strengthening partnerships and improving data sharing could lead to better results for the VRU whole-system approach, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The creation of an FBI legal attaché post in Wellington, New Zealand in July was hailed by the US as a way to counter “some of the most important global issues” such as the threat from China, as well as boosting regional crime operations; but University of Tasmania Policing Lecturer Dr Nick Evans warns that the move could in fact threaten existing policing partnerships that Australia and New Zealand have with China, forcing officers to engage in new levels of diplomacy to maintain cordial relations.

ANALYSIS: While concerns around the rise in Canada’s fentanyl use have focused on a rise in deaths and drug-related disorders, new research by Associate Professors Dr Marta-Marika Urbanik (University of Alberta), Dr Katharina Maier (University of Winnipeg), Dr Matthew Valasik (University of Alabama), and Wilfrid Laurier University Assistant Professor Dr Carolyn Greene, has highlighted the issue of drug gangs exploiting vulnerable people’s homes in Thunder Bay, Ontario, driving up homelessness and violence.

FEATURE: With children and young people increasingly becoming a target for a wide range of online scams, sexual exploitation, bullying and identity theft by cybercriminals, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the inaugural INTERPOL Youth Cybercrime Awareness Webinar which aimed to increase awareness, provide guidance and offer support to youngsters to protect themselves against modern online threats.

ANALYSIS: In the third in this series of articles exploring the links between sport and organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Dalby looks at the opaque ownership arrangements, shady sponsorship deals and over-inflated transfer and services fees that have created an opportunity for criminals to launder illicit funds through professional football in England and across Europe.

OPINION: In the latest in a regular series of articles from the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Chris Nelson, the APCC joint lead on local policing, sets out what PCCs are now doing to drive action against anti-social behaviour, a crime experienced by more than one in 10 people at least weekly – often with a significant and long-lasting impact – as well as being a gateway to other criminality.

OPINION: With recent advice to New Zealand Associate Minister of Police Casey Costello that the country is “losing the fight” against organised crime, efforts to control the trade in illegal guns will be crucial in limiting gang activity; University of Waikato Professor of Law Alexander Gillespie argues that another buy-back of all guns that should be on the country’s register by the end of August 2028, and adopting the UN protocol on the illicit manufacturing and trafficking of firearms and ammunition, are steps the country needs to take.

FEATURE: Given the ongoing debates around the application of powers under the UK Terrorism Act 2000 in relation to proscribed organisations, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the challenges around keeping non-specialist officers up to speed with ever-evolving terrorist legislation, and why a consolidation act for counter-terrorism laws could benefit both individual rights and the effectiveness of police officers.