People development

King's Birthday Honours: We are pleased to publish and recognise New Zealand policing recipients of the 2026 King's Birthday Honours. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations to Inspectors Ross Grantham and Neru Leifi and thank them for their service.

FEATURE: Mandatory training on autism awareness for police would equip officers with the skills needed to interact more effectively with neurodiverse communities, as well as increasing trusts and confidence, argues Edinburgh Napier University postgraduate student Victoria Paterson, whose own work with Police Scotland showed that officers “were really positive and wanted to get involved”, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

FEATURE: The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has been given six months to work with the Home Office to produce a long-term, costed IT strategy after the first agency-wide HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspection found that existing systems were “not fit for purpose”; the NCA has also been urged to address staff shortages that impact on analysis capabilities and act on workforce concerns over bullying, harassment and discrimination, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Implicit bias training has become the default policy response to disproportionate use of force, but evidence suggests it changes knowledge, not behaviour; organisational psychologist Michael Stephenson looks to an unexpected source – the world of professional poker – for a more effective approach, grounded in neuroscience rather than sociology.

FEATURE: A study into building procedural justice in street-level drug law enforcement in Australia suggests that the decriminalisation of drug use and possession offences, expanding harm reduction approaches, and giving all alleged offenders the chance to tell their side of the story, could help to build positive interactions between officers and people who use drugs, as well as increasing the willingness of users to co-operate with police and abide by the law, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The ongoing legal proceedings against Queensland Police Service by an Indian Uber driver is the latest case to highlight a culture of racism and lack of accountability in this and other Australian forces, says strategy and reform consultant Kavitha Vipulananda, who argues that for policing in the country to earn the trust of the communities it serves – including growing and diverse migrant and Indigenous communities – “the cycle of incident, apology and impunity must be broken”.

OPINION: With ethics frequently bound to professional standards in UK policing, the current reform proposals offer an opportunity to reset the issue of ethics as one of aspiration rather than compliance, says police officer and ethics specialist Dr Richard Cockbain – but failure to do so could leave policing risk building a future “with a ceiling that was only ever meant to be the foundations”.

INNOVATION: The fully automated Trauma Tracker system launched by Avon and Somerset Police will enable line managers and wellbeing professionals to proactively manage workforce exposure to trauma, as well as giving officers and staff regular updates on the possible impact that traumatic incidents may have on their wellbeing, as Inspector Stuart King explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: A new survey of European law enforcement officers by investigative analytics software specialist Cognyte has highlighted gaps in police analytics and skillsets which are limiting agencies’ ability to take effective action, alongside a “widespread” convergence of organised crime and terrorism that is adding to the scale and complexity of threats facing law enforcement, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: In the latest in The Police Student series focusing on Community and Neighbourhood Policing, Policing Insight Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly explores the background to partnership working in policing, the benefits such long-term relationships can bring, and the challenges – particularly around financial pressures – that can mean it’s often down to officers rather than organisations to build those trusting partnerships.

OPINION: As debates continues about the Met Police’s use of the AI-based Palantir system to covertly identify corruption and misconduct among officers, Leeds Trinity University Policing Lecturer Adam Stokes, a former police officer, argues that one question which needs to be asked is not whether the algorithm can be trusted when it comes to supervision, but why the humans could not be.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The National Vetting Symposium returns for 1st to 2nd June at the Crowne Plaza in Stratford upon Avon with the theme "Protecting the roots in shifting ground – Transitioning good practice whilst embracing change"

Canadian Order of Merit: We are pleased to publish and recognise the recipients of the 2026 Canadian Order of Merit of the Police Forces. The team at Policing Insight offer our congratulations and thank all the recipients for their service and contribution to their communities.

FEATURE: A report by Canada’s Auditor General into recruitment for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) highlights that despite application numbers exceeding targets, delays in processing has seen many would-be recruits drop out, and a lack of accurate data around the staffing gaps that need to be filled, leaving the RCMP short of more than 3,000 officers, which could impact police officer morale and wellness while increasing risks to public safety and national security, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: With concerns over the rise in poor mental health in policing, new research by criminologist and former police officer Dr Mark Brain, now an Associate Lecturer at the University of the West of England, suggests that far from being a product of exposure to traumatic incidents, mental ill-health in policing is largely driven by organisational issues such as poor management of professional standards investigations and an ongoing organisational “machismo” culture, reports Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Victim and witness statements can play a vital role in shaping an investigation, but new research from Dr Cody Porter of the University of the West of England and Dr Mircea Zloteanu of King’s College London suggest that the emotionality of witnesses can unintentionally mislead decision-makers including police officers, especially when filtered through unconscious gendered expectations.

OPINION: The Metropolitan Police’s recent use of Palantir AI to identify more than 600 officers involved in wrongdoing and corruption may have been successful in its aims, but has also proved controversial; police officer and ethics specialist Dr Richard Cockbain warns that while the approach may have achieved compliance benefits, addressing unethical behaviour is not the same as building ethical approaches, and the covert deployment of AI serves to undermine the trust of both the public and the workforce.

FEATURE: A new study into the wellbeing of disaster victim identification (DVI) officers has highlighted the “moral dissonance” experienced by staff that can contribute to stress and psychological strain, the continuing stigma of seeking help and support for their mental wellbeing, and the damaging impact that the media’s glamourisation of crime scene investigation can have on new DVI recruits whose expectations are far removed from the reality of deployment, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: The recent Domestic Homicide Project report highlights that, for the third year running, suspected victim suicides following domestic abuse in England and Wales have overtaken the number of homicides involving current or previous partners; Policing Lecturer Lee Curran, of the Liverpool Centre for Advanced Policing Studies at Liverpool John Moores University, explores the vital role police officers have to play in recognising the links between domestic abuse and suicide, and the potential for early intervention.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this month’s American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, American University Associate Professor Dr Janice Iwama spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about her research into how peer support programmes are designed and delivered in practice, the need to view them as part of wider organisational culture, and why such initiatives require ongoing attention to training and support.

INTERVIEW: Forces across England and Wales need to give a greater priority to vehicle theft and recognise it as often a key component in organised crime, says Surrey Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Grahame, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on vehicle crime, who spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the growing focus on ports to target the many stolen cars and parts shipped overseas, and the need to collaborate more closely with industry and technology partners.

OPINION: A Boston police officer has been charged with manslaughter following the recent fatal shooting of an unarmed man, and body camera footage is expected to be crucial in the case; however, the fact that despite widespread calls the footage has not been released highlights the challenges around claims that body-word cameras provide transparency and accountability, as well as the police and public’s different understanding of those concepts, says Brandon University’s Professor Christopher J. Schneider.

ANALYSIS: With responsibility for the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) for England and Wales now shifting from a central team to individual forces, Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass examines the impact and legacy of the work done over the past five years, and speaks to stakeholders about the role of leadership and how the PRAP should be shaping policing in the future.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth highlights the opportunities presented by a new Young Leaders in National Security Fellowship offered by the Counter Extremism Group, which aims to identify, nurture, and guide young people – including students, graduates, and young police officers and police staff – interested in counter-terrorism and counter-extremism issues.