Leadership

INTERVIEW: After a year as Temporary Commissioner of City of London Police, Pete O’Doherty formally took up his post as Commissioner of the ‘Square Mile’ – the smallest police force area in the UK, but the financial heart of the country – in October 2024; six months on, he spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the force’s new Policing Plan, why diversity is so important to policing, and the need for a “virtual stinger” capability that can stop cybercriminals in their tracks.

INNOVATION: With police leaders facing traditional challenges alongside often unrelenting change and the development of new technology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice professors Dr Maria Haberfeld and Detective Corey Simpson outline the qualities and attributes that leaders of the future will need – including social intelligence, change intelligence, and artificial awareness intelligence.

OPINION: Having played a key role in delivering the New Met for London cultural reform programme for the UK’s largest police force, Public Safety Tech Consultant Michael Calderaro-Tracey shares some insights into the importance of psychological safety, the dangers of trying to make a broken system work, and the need for continuous commitment to transformation in an environment where change is essential rather than optional.

FEATURE: A review of public order policing in Ireland published by the Garda Síochána Policing Authority (now the Policing and Community Safety Authority) has highlighted a shortage of officers and training, outdated policies, the need for more support for the frontline from managers, and inconsistency and lack of understanding among senior operational ranks about the role of public order policing, as key concerns that need to be addressed, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Chief Shahin Mehdizadeh took up the top job with Canada’s Lethbridge Police Service in the aftermath of a reputational crisis for the organisation, and set about building stronger, trust-based relationships with both the community and the workforce; as he approaches five years in posts, he spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the progress that has been made, his leadership style, and the importance of creating and maintaining a sense of shared ownership.

ANALYSIS: With police officers in the UK and Ireland operating under immense pressures, University of the West of England Senior Lecturers Dr Cody Porter and Dr Paul Gavin share findings from their recent research projects into specific sources of stress and its profound impacts on officers’ mental health in both jurisdictions, and call for a shift in the way mental health is treated – “not as an afterthought, but as an operational priority”.

INTERVIEW: Three years after completing his 10-year term as HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary in England and Wales, Sir Tom Winsor spoke to Policing Insight about the new financial challenges facing policing, the improper political pressure put on officers, the “chilling effect” of PCC oversight on recruiting and retaining chief constables, and the need for a “network code” which would bind chiefs and PCCs to comply with majority decisions voted for by them and their colleagues.

OPINION: Data-driven evidence-based policing has the potential to enhance both public safety and community trust; however, Dr Vidal Chavannes, Director of Strategy, Research and Organizational Performance at Durham Regional Police Service, warns that without community-centric data governance, where policing co-creates data policies with those communities most affected by them, such an approach risks becoming “another mechanism for control rather than a tool for genuine reform”.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of International Women’s Day, International Association of Women Police (IAWP) President Julia Jaeger spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the continuing problems of misogyny and discrimination in the workplace, the need to revisit the gender agenda, and the work that will be going on at the IAWP annual conference later this year to advance gender equality.

INTERVIEW: As he approaches the first-year anniversary of taking up the top job with Saskatoon Police Service, Chief Cameron McBride spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about his 28 years with the Service, the inward focus on wellness and support for officers, the importance of community engagement, and the social, technological and retention challenges facing modern policing.

INTERVIEW: Just over two years after taking up her post as the first female officer to lead Tasmania Police, Commissioner Donna Adams spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the innovative changes to recruitment and retention, the dangers of “scope creep” across the service, and the need to learn from the past while looking to the future in order to build trust in the force.

INTERVIEW: During a 32-year career in policing, Chief Dale McFee of Edmonton Police Service has blended an entrepreneurial spirit with a commitment to innovation and reform, building a reputation as a successful “change leader”; as he prepares to retire later this year, he spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend and reflected on his achievements, leadership philosophy, and the challenges facing modern policing.

INTERVIEW: Former New York Police Department Chief of Department Terry Monahan, who was a police officer in the city for 39 years, spoke to Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass about how a new neighbourhood policing model and a genuine approach to listening to the community led to record low levels of crime and homicide, and how a famous picture of him taking a knee with Black Lives Matters protesters came about.

INTERVIEW: A life-saving biometric monitoring system introduced into custody cells in Regina Police Service is among a range of innovative strategies being implemented across the service, as Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend discovered when she spoke to Chief Farooq Sheikh and Staff Sergeant Pierre Beauchesne.

FEATURE: A new report by the Queensland Human Rights Commission warns that Queensland Police Service must address issues of “systemic” discrimination and inequality that have become “deeply entrenched” in its culture if the organisation is to recruit and retain the talent it needs to deliver the level of service required in modern policing, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Chief Fady Dagher of the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (Montreal City Police) is looking to transform the relationship between police and the communities they serve, with a range of groundbreaking initiatives – including an Immersion Programme where officers live with host families to gain a better understanding and insight into the everyday challenges they face – designed to create a new policing culture and more cohesive communities, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend.

FEATURE: Speaking at the recent Senior Women In Policing conference, Vanisha Mistry, Chair of the National Women of Colour in Policing group, has called on police leaders to address the barriers which prevent career progression for women of colour in the service, and to invest in the pipeline of future leaders, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Assistant Chief Constable Martin Brunning, Chair of the Investigator Wellbeing Sub-group of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Recruitment, Retention and Wellbeing of Investigators portfolio, and Sarah Jayne Bray, the portfolio Programme Manager, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need for a strategic approach to staff wellbeing, the importance of line managers prioritising one-to-ones with their staff, and how best practice identified in investigator wellbeing can be applied across the workforce.

FEATURE: Last month’s Senior Women in Policing Conference saw speakers call for “gender unity” against the “common challenge of patriarchy” and highlight concerns around the “authority gap” that still persists between men and women, as well offering bespoke peer reviews for forces to assist women aspiring to take on leadership roles and allow people to be “as authentic as possible”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Staffordshire Assistant Chief Constable Becky Riggs, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection and abuse investigation, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need for a public protection gold command accreditation to ensure senior leaders are well versed in the importance of multi-agency working and data sharing in ensuring the safety of children and young people.

FEATURE: Delegates at the recent Senior Women in Policing conference had the opportunity to identify challenges female officers are likely to face over the next 25 years, with discussions leading to the creation of a Gender Equality Futures Playbook that forces can use to include in their forward planning, as Sarah-Jayne Bray, Development Officer with the Thames Valley Women’s Network, explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: As law enforcement around the world embarks on meeting the challenges of 2025, Editor Keith Potter looks back over the key issues Policing Insight covered in 2024 – from technological threats and opportunities, to workforce wellbeing, the role of leadership, and the increasing focus on reform – and how these may affect the next 12 months.

ANALYSIS: The importance of ‘political astuteness’ as a skill for leaders is increasingly recognised – particularly in roles with tricky issues and diverse stakeholders – but the subject has seemingly been little considered within policing; Open University Visiting Fellow Dr Jane Roberts and Emeritus Professor Jean Hartley explore the research around political astuteness in policing, and the challenges involved in the relationships between politicians and police leaders.

FEATURE: The recent Safety of Our Cities conference in Ontario, Canada, highlighted the continuing debate between closer collaboration with other agencies or tougher enforcement of existing legislation as the way forward to cutting crime and ensuring the safety of urban communities; Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood looks at some of the key points put forward by chiefs and politicians from various jurisdictions.