Operational policing

FEATURE: The murder of Wolverhampton teenager Ronan Kanda in 2022 highlighted a serious issue around illegal online knife sales in the UK; speaking at the recent Police Superintendents’ Association conference, Metropolitan Police Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead on knife crime, explored the threat posed by irresponsible retailers and third-party sellers – and how the police aim to tackle it, as Policing Insight’s Tina Orr Munro reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Managing large public events such as the Parklife Music Festival present police forces with significant challenges. To ensure safety at these events, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) turns to the Axon Ecosystem, and leverages body-worn cameras (BWCs) with live-streaming capabilities to improve situational awareness and attendee safety. This case study explores the impact of body-worn camera technology on agency communication, debrief efficiency, and subject behaviour.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: We announce the 26 finalists crowned winners and highly commended across 13 award categories at the Inspire Justice Awards 2024 ceremony supported by Policing Insight as media partner.

ANALYSIS: Speaking during the widespread UK disorder over the summer, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer referred to a ‘standing army’ of public order trained police officers ready to deal with future incidents; but Policing Insight’s Graham Wettone, a former Met Police public order specialist, says shift patterns, the loss of experienced officers and the costs of kit and training mean public order resources are under significant strain – although there are options to improve the policing response.

OPINION: The recent disorder and political violence across the UK has seen increased levels of fear among many migrant communities, as well as reduced access to services and support networks; Liverpool John Moores University Policing Lecturer James Williams believes that policing has an important role to play in reassuring those communities, as well as building relationships and improving engagement with marginalised groups.

ANALYSIS: New research from the University of Liverpool working with three English police forces has highlighted that officers’ unmanageable workloads, insufficient training and lack of understanding of digitally enabled coercive control are leading to missed opportunities in investigating potential perpetrators and protecting victim-survivors, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Since January 2024, emergency support to tackle the impact of extreme weather, such as wildfires and landslides, has been requested 29 times via the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism (CPM). Policing Insight's Andy Staniforth reports on the findings of the CORE project, led by a unique pan-European consortium of partners, to improve our understanding of the current emergency response to disasters and the role aerial imagery systems play in combatting them.

ANALYSIS: Every seven minutes a child is faced with harmful online content but as the threat grows, law enforcement is still playing catch up in its awareness of the risk the Metaverse poses to child safety. Policing Insight's Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports on new research led by Professors Julia Davidson of the University of East London and Elena Martellozzo of Middlesex University that is seeking to redress the balance.

ANALYSIS: While a recent raise in the terror threat level has increased awareness among Australians about the domestic terror threat, John Coyne and Justin Bassi of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) warn that Australia’s diminishing role in international counter-terrorism (CT), coupled with uncertainty over CT responsibility and resources at government level, is exposing Australian citizens to greater risk.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Faced with digital evidence management challenges, South Yorkshire Police Force launched its Technology Enabled Change initiative to find a solution. The force initiated a competitive procurement process, and after lengthy vetting, selected NICE Investigate to help in their quest to digitally transform investigations and evidence management.

ANALYSIS: Football and other public order events inevitability lead to officers being drafted in from other units but research undertaken by Keele University's Dr Mike Hope, Project Leader for ENABLE UK, and Professor Clifford Stott as part of the ENABLE project reveals how greater use of Operational Football Officers reduces abstraction rates as well as disorder and anti-social behaviour.

FEATURE: Terrorist organisations are turning to small hosting service providers (HSPs) with less capacity and capability to prevent the spread of extremism on their platforms. Policing Insight's Andy Staniforth reports on TATE, an initiative specifically designed to help HSPs remove terrorist content quickly.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The Inspire Justice Awards, supported by Policing Insight as media partner, are the UK’s only awards programme dedicated to recognising the achievements of individuals and teams across the entire justice system. From the hundreds of nominations, the 26 finalists can now be revealed ahead of the awards ceremony to be held at the QEII Centre in London next Thursday 12 September.

OPINION: Senior Lecturer in Policing at Edgehill University Owen West reflects on the nature of the recent riots and their impact on legislation. He says the early signs are the new government is planning to adopt its predecessor's ‘bad law’ around minor protests.

FEATURE: Crucial to defending the UK against the threat of terrorist attack has been the relationship between policing and the Security Service, a unique collaboration that has existed for more than a century and that as a counter-terrorism approach is the envy of many other countries, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explains.

INNOVATION: New 360-degree camera technology is enabling jurors, lawyers and investigators to get a better, more immersive understanding of crime scenes, while also providing video tours with audio commentary to explain key locations of interest, as DC Simon Chamberlain explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

INTERVIEW: Former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner and National Police Chief’s Council Lead for Counter-Terrorism Policing Neil Basu QPM is one of the country’s most outspoken former senior cops; in the first of a three-part interview series with Policing Insight’s James Sweetland, he called on the new Government to “bin the 43-force model”, argued that the police and crime commissioner (PCC) model has proven a “disaster”, and talked about the “embarrassing deficit” in leadership training for future top cops.

OPINION: The August Bank Holiday weekend saw huge crowds at the Notting Hill Carnival, and while many were there to celebrate, others were intent on violence, with eight stabbings, two fatalities, more than 50 police officers injured, and 334 arrests; former police officer Oliver Laurence, now Managing Director of the Public Safety Foundation, believe it’s time to take a new approach to making the event safer.

ANALYSIS: New research by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) based on interviews with more than 40 investigators across five forces in England and Wales has highlighted the lack of experience and mentoring, high workload, and unequal rewards facing detectives, leaving officers frustrated and victims receiving a poorer service, as LJMU Research Director Dr Adrian James told Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass.

FEATURE: A recent conference focusing on sexual offending, vulnerability and policing saw calls for senior police and academics to take a “pracademic” approach to child sexual exploitation, described as a “public health crisis” for the current generation of children and young people, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Fraud makes up nearly 40% of all crime in England and Wales, but fewer than 1% of cases result in a conviction. With the National Fraud Strategy more than a year old and a new government in place at Westminster, Ian Weinfass spoke to experts to find out whether it is time for action against fraudsters to be stepped up.

ANALYSIS: The changing nature of the modern terrorist threat has meant that the UK government’s response has also had to evolve; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the background to the UK’s CONTEST strategy, it’s political and policing inputs and implications, and how the strategy has evolved to meet that changing threat.

INNOVATION: A successful pilot project using artificial intelligence to support call handlers answering domestic abuse calls in Humberside Police – which increased both officer and public safety, improved evidence and reduced staff stress – could now be applied to other crime types within the force as well as being scaled up nationally, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Large-scale events such as the annual Eurovision Song Contest are a key part of the modern cultural fabric, and require complex co-ordination to overcome traditional and emerging threats; Dr Rebecca Phythian and Dr Michael Smith of Edge Hill University researched the multi-agency approaches to the Eurovision events in Liverpool and Malmö, interviewing partners including police, local authorities and event organisers to identify key learning for future events.