Operational policing

FEATURE: In the wake of the recent terrorist arson attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the continuing efforts to develop collaborative approaches between congregations, communities and law enforcement to ensure the safety and protection of places of worship.

ANALYSIS: In the wake of the media outcry over Essex Police’s investigation of online comments by a Daily Telegraph journalist, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the history of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs), their impact on policing, and the effects of the code of practice introduced in 2023.

FEATURE: Dyfed-Powys Police has become the latest force to implement an Evidence-Based Investigation Tool that uses algorithms to forecast which crimes are more likely to be solved as well as those for which further investigation is unlikely to yield a result – enabling forces to focus their resources more effectively, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new Domestic Abuse Joint Justice Plan launched in the UK by the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Crown Prosecution Service commits police and prosecutors to work together more effectively and at earlier stages of investigations in order to increase successful judicial outcomes as well as improving the service to victims, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: A portal developed in Humberside that allows victims to contact officers in charge of their case for updates rather than tie-up call handlers on force phone lines is also helping to provide a better service, according to those behind the plan; Ian Weinfass spoke to Humberside Police’s Scot Dunn and senior responsible officer for the NPCC’s digital public contact programme, DCC Simon Megicks, about the award-winning initiative.

WEBINAR PROMOTION: The Policing Tech Forum, in collaboration with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and techUK, are delighted to announce our inaugural series of webinars looking at the current and future direction of technology across the policing family.

ANALYSIS: Police in England and Wales have, for the first time, collected and published detailed information gleaned from crime reports about child sex abuse and exploitation (CSAE) carried out by networks or groups, in a bid to put resources in the right areas and challenge assumptions with data along the way, as Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass reports.

FEATURE: With the “global health emergency” of child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSAE) reaching harrowing levels, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of Protect and Prevent Through Support – a Europe-wide initiative led by the Polish Platform for Homeland Security – in collating data and co-ordinating services to prevent CSAE.

ANALYSIS: Fraud accounts for a huge proportion of crime in the UK as well as other countries, with romance fraud particularly prevalent – and having significant impacts on victims over and above financial losses; Aston University Senior Lecturer Dr Rasha Kassem, an expert in fraud, explores the methods of those perpetrating romance frauds, the impacts on victims, and what police officers can do to combat the crime as well as provide support and reassurance.

ANALYSIS: The latest survey of survivors of rape and sexual assault into their experiences of the response by police in England and Wales has found that overall, Operation Soteria is improving the service delivered, but still only 40% of victims would report another sexual offence because of a lack of trust – although a series of simple steps could dramatically improve that reporting rate, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Researchers at Europol have identified the challenges created by the enhanced privacy levels offered through home routing – a service established as part of the introduction and expansion of 5G – which could leave law enforcement agencies unable to undertake lawful interception of calls, messages and other data, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: A new report from the five nations of the Five Eyes intelligence community highlights the increasing rates of online youth radicalisation, a threat borne out by the involvement of young people in every counter-terrorism case investigated this year by the Australian Federal Police; Greg Barton, Professor of Global Islamic Politics at the Alfred Deakin Institute, argues that while Australia already has good systems in place, the report offers valuable advice for parents, teachers, and any other agencies working with children and young people.

FEATURE: A 27-year-old paedophile was creating cartoonish pseudo child abuse images and distributing them among an online network; Detective Chief Inspector Jen Tattersall from Greater Manchester Police’s online child abuse investigations team tells Ian Weinfass how the force managed to bring a case against the offender, and safeguard real children at risk.

OPINION: Last month saw the jailing of Finlay Macdonald, who murdered his brother-in-law and attempted to kill three other people during a violent stabbing and shooting spree on the Isle of Skye and on the Scottish mainland; Michael Greville, a workplace violence reduction consultant who had a 30-year policing career, believes the case highlights the need for a review of Police Scotland’s armed response capabilities to ensure the safety of the public and officers, particularly in remote communities.

FEATURE: A new report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland has urged Police Scotland to allocate more posts to roads policing, improve training, and increase enforcement in an effort to cut down on the number of fatal and serious injury road accidents as well as deter poor and dangerous driving by the public, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: Having joined Peel Regional Police five years ago, Chief Nishan Duraiappah soon recognised the challenges facing the force, and set about implementing a change programme to create “the most progressive, innovative and inclusive service in the galaxy” – one which needed needs “to look and feel like it has a start-up mentality”, as he explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: The recent review of the Australian Central Intelligence Commission has led to a change of role for the agency, with a focus on intelligence aimed at combating serious and organised crime, rather than traditional law enforcement and investigation; but Dr John Coyne and Liam Auliciems of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warn that for the reorientation to succeed, challenges around operational responsibilities, resources, and ensuring intelligence is actionable will need to be addressed.

FEATURE: Twelve years ago this month the planned suicide bombing of a US airport by an employee fuelled by online extremist content was successfully thwarted by the FBI, in what became a benchmark for covert insider threat operations; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks back at the Terry Lee Loewen case, and also at ongoing work to develop a strategy to help businesses detect and deter potential internal hostile actors.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: With over a decade of military and cyber intelligence experience, including training alongside NATO, Iulian Timischi introduces the urgent need for a new model of intelligence analysis that can keep pace with our modern data-driven age.

FEATURE: A new report from the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre highlights that police are failing to meet the public’s minimum standards of service across a number of key areas; Prof Adam Crawford, Co-director of the Centre, outlined some of the main implications of the research as well as what forces could do to address the challenge at the recent APCC-NPCC Partnership Summit, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: Research by criminal intelligence specialist Helen Glazebrook as part of a Churchill Fellowship award examines the collaboration between police and correctional facilities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US and the UK, highlighting the need for closer co-operation between agencies particularly in relation to monitoring the actions of those involved in serious organised crime, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: Four months on from violence and disorder across towns and cities in England and Northern Ireland, what caused them – and whether law enforcement is equipped to stop them taking place again in the future – is still a matter for debate; Ian Weinfass reports on discussions about these issues from the recent APCC-NPCC Partnership Summit.

ANALYSIS: New research exploring the challenge of distracted driving and police officers’ role in educating drivers about the dangers of mobile phone use highlights a lack of understanding about the impact of handsfree phone use, and missed opportunities to educate drivers; research authors Professor Gemma Briggs of the Open University, Dr Leanne Savigar-Shaw of the University of Staffordshire, and Keele University’s Dr Helen Wells explain the key findings from the research, and what can be done to address them.

ANALYSIS: With police officers encountering digital evidence in the vast majority of inquiries, a digital evidence strategy (DES) can ensure they are prepared to effectively deal with it; Dr Graeme Horsman, Senior Lecturer in Digital Forensics at Cranfield University, explains how the GAMEPLANS acrostic can help officers produce a robust DES to effectively identify, collect, examine, and evaluate any digital devices/data, and define the circumstances when it is appropriate to conduct such tasks.