People development

Job advertisement: Police Lecturer vacancies at Babcock International for their new flagship contract partnering with several Higher Education Institutes across London to deliver the new Metropolitan Police Service Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) framework.

FEATURE: It’s been a tough year for policing – and for communities generally – around the world, but as Christmas approaches, the police family are digging deep to help each other as well as those less fortunate; Australian-based nurse and mental health champion Melissa Gole highlights some of the many fundraising efforts that those within policing can support this festive season.

Opinion: In Australia, the recent Victorian Royal Commission into Police Management of Informants has highlighted concerns over police accountability, and called for major changes around oversight and transparency; but Professor Jude McCulloch and Professor Michael Maguire, both of Monash University, argue that real progress will require more extensive reform.

FEATURE: In our continuing series supporting new police degree entry recruits, Policing Insight’s Academic Editor Dr Carina O’Reilly takes a final look at evidence-based policing, and the challenges of taking EBP forwards from research theory to embedded, applied practice within policing organisations.

FEATURE: A series of international workshops focusing on policing in the pandemic have highlighted officer wellbeing, new crime threats and a deluge of lockdown legislation as key concerns emerging from the COVID-19 crisis; ahead of a London Policing College conference next week to discuss the issues, Policing Insight editor Keith Potter talks to College President Rod Jarman about the key themes, and lessons for the future.

OPINION: In the latest in his series of bi-monthly blogs, Superintendent Simon Nelson, President of the Disabled Police Association, looks at UK Disability History Month, how far policing has come in relation to diversability and neurodiversity, and what more still needs to be done.

FEATURE: Diversity, equality and inclusion in police recruitment was the key focus for the first @WeCops Twitter chat in November, and with a reach of almost three million – and with contributions from all ranks as well as the Policing Minister – it’s clearly a crucial current topic for policing. @WeCops Supt Katy Barrow-Grint brought together to the main points from the debate in this blog.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: University of Buckingham is launching a new PG Cert and Master’s programme in Transnational Organised Crime. The programmes are aimed at the next generation of police and law enforcement leaders, including officers, detectives and analysts, as well as those looking to gain a qualification that would enable them to build long-term careers in law enforcement, security and intelligence.

OPINION: In recent years major changes to policing have included a transformation of recruitment practises that have changed the workforce demographic; Ian Lithgow, IBM’s Partner responsible for Talent and Transformation, explains how a more strategic approach to workforce planning can make a difference.

OPINION: In the second in a series of articles focusing on wellbeing and mental health, police leader turned development coach Gareth Davies explores the issue of self-compassion, and how it can play a crucial role in reducing anxiety and depression while increasing motivation and happiness.

Job advertisement: Police Lecturer vacancies at Babcock International for their new flagship contract partnering with several Higher Education Institutes across London to deliver the new Metropolitan Police Service Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) framework.

OPINION: Headlines talking about the continuing exodus of exhausted emergency services staff raise few eyebrows, suggesting society has become comfortably numb to the plight of frontline first responders; former officer and now Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse says it’s time the public sector started investing in the person, rather than the post.

OPINION: The growing suicide levels among police officers and emergency response staff highlight the heavy toll on mental health that these roles can take; in the first of a series of articles focusing on issues such as vulnerability, shame, and self-worth, former police leader turned development coach Gareth Davies outlines some of the key steps forces can take to enable officers to ask for help and support.

ANALYSIS: A quarter of all police officers in England & Wales now have less than five years’ service, and one in 10 is in their first year in the job; in the second of two articles examining the changing nature of the policing workforce, Ian Wiggett reveals the dramatic shift in length of service and experience, the risks and opportunities it creates, and how forces can respond.

ANALYSIS: While the most recent police workforce statistics in England & Wales show a steady rise towards the UK Government's 20,000 officer uplift target, the figures also reveal growing numbers of officers resigning from the job mid-service; in this first of two articles, Ian Wiggett explores the national and regional trends, their impact, and what forces can do about police officer retention.

ANALYSIS: For the final article in our series on police workforce numbers in England & Wales, Ian Wiggett revisits his first article, which forecast likely officer numbers for each force in 2023, to take into account data just published by the Home Office that clarifies the calculations used to measure progress in recruiting the planned 20,000 uplift in officers.

Analysis: In the fourth article of our series looking at police workforce numbers in England and Wales, Ian Wiggett examines the current police funding formula and how it increases disparity between forces, impacting decisions, including recruitment.

Analysis: Mixed teams of officers and staff are commonplace in UK policing, but civilian staff numbers have fallen significantly while police officer numbers are set to swell by an additional 20,000. In the third article of this series, Ian Wiggett examines the implications this shift towards more officers will have for policing.

Analysis: During austerity, some UK police forces lost over 50 per cent of their PCSOs and more than a quarter of their police staff employees. In the second article in our series on the nature of the UK's police workforce, we examine how the change in police staff and PCSO numbers over the past decade reflects a shift in attitudes towards civilianisation, outsourcing of staff and PCSOs.

Analysis: A decade of falling police officer numbers in England and Wales has been a continuous focus of concern. In a new series of articles Ian Wiggett analyses where the cuts have been felt the deepest and the implications for the workforce mix. This first article looks at how police officer numbers and the total size of the workforce have changed for each force since 2010 and what the picture is likely to look like in 2023.