Policy and practice

ANALYSIS: The latest Europol Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA), published this month, highlights the changing face of organised crime, and emerging methods and tactics adopted by organised crime groups (OCGs) around the world; Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen looks at some of the key themes from the report, including the increasing use of technology by OCGs, the collaboration and co-operation between criminals, and how OCGs are operating on a business model.

FEATURE: As one of the first 10 forces selected for a hotspot policing pilot targeting serious violence and antisocial behaviour, South Yorkshire Police has been implementing the approach in a number of operations over the past two and half years; Acting Inspector Simon Kirkham of the force’s Hotspot Response Hub reflects on some of those initiatives (including the most recent winter violence campaign), how the hotspot team is trained and operates, and the successes it has achieved.

OPINION: A recent judgment by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal found that the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Metropolitan Police had unlawfully conducted surveillance into two investigative journalists; former Detective Chief Inspector Steve Christopher, a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice at Leicester’s De Montfort University, fears this latest example of “egregious conduct” around covert policing could be “merely the tip of the iceberg”.

INNOVATION: As forces increase contact channels to include digital and online routes, the likelihood of comms staff being exposed to harmful images has increased, says Rebecca Malpass, Digital Communications Development Senior for Derbyshire Constabulary; now a new AI-based image filter together with additional guidance for staff can help to protect individuals from being exposed to indecent images, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

OPINION: Police legitimacy is essential in ensuring public trust and confidence, and ethical decision-making and the use of discretion are key issues in reinforcing that legitimacy with the public; University of Portsmouth PhD Researcher and former police officer David Knowles explores why an understanding of theories and philosophies of ethical decision-making should be included within police education, and how it could benefit officers while enabling improved use of the national decision model.

INTERVIEW: A ‘solution-focused approach’ to interactions both with the public and within the force is currently being explored by New Zealand Police, as a way to improve outcomes for the community as well as officer wellbeing; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons spoke to psychologist Emma Burns of the Royal NZ Police College about the thinking behind the new approach, and how transforming conversations could eventually become the NZ Police go-to strategy.

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.

FEATURE: Last month saw joint calls from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, College of Police and Counter-Terrorism Policing for UK policing to be given more freedom to share details around investigations that could help to quell the online misinformation fuelling violence and disorder; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the challenges around sharing of information, as well as the artificial intelligence tools that can help to tackle misinformation.

FEATURE: A new report by Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza into the involvement of children in the riots across the UK last summer has found that “significant work” is still to be done to create a child-first approach to justice, while a strong distrust of police underlines “an urgent need for child-centred policing”, and conversations with children didn’t support the narrative that online misinformation or right-wing influences were responsible young people being “enticed to join in the aggression”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: The ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ programme to tackle serious and organised crime (SOC) – implemented across almost all territorial police forces in England and Wales – is successfully driving down acquisitive crime and promoting partnership approaches that are ending silo working, according to a new evaluation report, although challenges still remain in some areas around community perceptions and long-term resilience, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: With illicit drug use increasing by 20% over the past decade, University of York Honorary Fellow and Associate Professor Ian Hamilton looks at the scale of the harm done by drugs around the world, the changing trends in supply and demand, and calls for a “complete shift” in the way governments and societies recognise and respond to what has become a global threat.