Policy

FEATURE: With more than 240,000 legitimate firearms holders among New Zealand’s five million population, and a large hunting community, previous attempts to tighten firearms licensing have been met with long and loud opposition; but plans for a new gun registry to target firearms criminality have gathered pace in the wake of the Christchurch massacre, and will come into effect next year, as Policing Insight Contributing Editor Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: With policing seemingly under continuous pressure – financial, political and public – it’s clear that to deliver the best possible service, parts of the job need rethinking, and others a radical overhaul; Iain Donnelly, a former officer and now author, podcaster and policing technical consultant, suggests 10 “relatively quick” fixes which also highlight the need for more common sense in UK policing, especially among senior leaders.

ANALYSIS: With police budgets under pressure as countries around the world face the prospect of recession, and the worsening economic situation likely to drive an increase in crime, the relationship between policing and the private sector will be more important than ever; Policing Insight’s Michael Hardiman, a former economist with Australia’s Victoria Police, looks at the challenges posed by the economic pressures, and opportunities arising from them.

FEATURE: This week sees a unique workshop focusing on cyber policing challenges hosted by India’s National Forensic Sciences University, with input, expertise and best practice shared by the UK’s London Policing College and the Royal Thai Police Cadet Academy, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INTERVIEW: Restorative justice (RJ) has been long been recognised as a potentially effective alternative to traditional criminal justice processes in many countries, but adoption of the approach has been much slower in the US; one keen advocate is Durham PD Chief Patrice Andrews, who spoke to Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend about the benefits of RJ, its role in reducing crime, and the support among officers for this and other diversionary tools.

OPINION: Policing is well aware of the performance and procedural justice scrutiny it faces in its external relationships; but Detective Chief Inspector Alisa Wilson of Lancashire Constabulary, who retires from policing this week after 21 years in the service, believes that a stronger leadership commitment to wellbeing and internal procedural justice, reinforced by the new Police Covenant, could truly change policing culture.

FEATURE: Almost a third of women experiencing the menopause consider quitting their jobs because of the severity of their symptoms, yet employers including police forces have been slow to offer support and advice; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons looks at the efforts within Thames Valley Police to address those issues and ensure that its growing female workforce have the support they need.

OPINION: Despite the high murder rate in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, few cases ever make it to the courts; Dr Douglas Lucas Kivoi of the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis believes that poor evidence gathering, police negligence and recklessness, a lack of forensic capability and claims of police involvement in extra-judicial killings are among the reasons behind the failure to solve so many murders, and sets out some key steps to address the issues.

INTERVIEW: In the second part of his interview with Policing Insight, Superintendents’ Association President Paul Fotheringham spoke to Keith Potter about the structural and operational challenges facing the rank, the pressures on measuring and improving performance, and the importance of focusing on wellbeing and good leadership.

OPINION: Recent campaigns have led to longer sentences for those who assault emergency services workers, but a new report from Transform Justice analyses why such sanctions are not working; Transform Justice Director Penelope Gibbs believes better support for staff, improved training and alternative responses to those in mental health crisis may be more effective.

FEATURE: The recently published Police Race Action Plan has prompted more discussion around the issues of racial disparity and institutional racism in UK policing; but for Dr Kul Verma, a former officer and now a leadership coach and diversity and inclusion adviser, attempts to address issues around race in policing will be doomed to fail without brave conversations based on evidence rather than opinion.

OPINION: New race-based data released by Toronto Police Service has highlighted that nearly a third of all Indigenous people arrested were strip-searched, while one in every three people who were strip-searched were Black; Monika Lemke, a PhD candidate at Canada’s York University, argues that as well as the disproportionality, strip searches are ineffective and unnecessary, and should be stopped.

OPINION: The global response to the Covid pandemic highlighted that in many countries, public health and law enforcement have operated in silos for far too long; Professor Nick Crofts, Executive Director of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association, explores the ever-closer coupling of public health and policing, including a forthcoming forum organised to champion their convergence.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: PIER22 is a FREE major policing conference focusing on child protection. It is the first time that speakers involved in leading and overseeing national child protection reviews will be seen and heard together in one session, discussing violence against women and girls, the voice of the victim and multi-agency safeguarding arrangements.

INTERVIEW: The extensive and in some cases excessive searches of victims’ mobile phones and medical records in rape and serious sexual assault cases have reportedly prompted many victims to withdraw from the prosecution process; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to UK Information Commissioner John Edwards about his report published today, which sets out new parameters and guidelines on the gathering and use of digital evidence from victims.

OPINION: The Police Race Action Plan for England and Wales was published this week. British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D'Orsi explains what needs to happen to ensure the plan brings about meaningful and sustainable change.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Demands have grown but tackling them is so complex that it is undermining common-sense policing, West Midlands Chief Constable Sir David Thompson QPM tells Policing Insight and PolicingTV Publisher Bernard Rix who met Sir David for a walk-and-talk as part of his Policing Friendship Tour across the British Isles and around the world, meeting people across the spectrum of policing.

ANALYSIS: Last week, the Home Secretary announced that volunteer police officers in England and Wales will be authorised to carry Taser, but is it the right move and will it happen? Policing Insight's Contributing Editor Tina Orr Munro reports.

FEATURE: With funding increases partially ringfenced for recruitment, more budgetary pressure is on the horizon for UK policing; Neil Amos and Richard Davis of PA Consulting spoke to a panel of police and crime commissioners and former and serving police leaders to discuss what could be done to build better partnerships with the private sector, and drive efficiencies and improved services.

ANALYSIS: Following Canada’s legalisation of cannabis, some cities are now looking to decriminalise personal possession of all illegal drugs, as a public health-driven response to the country’s opioid overdose crisis; Policing Insight’s Keith Potter looks at the background to the proposals, the qualified support from police chiefs such as Toronto’s James Ramer, and how the drug enforcement landscape is shifting.

ANALYSIS: Established in 2017, the police super-complaint process allows designated bodies to raise concerns about policing practices which harm the public; policing expert Ben Twomey takes an in-depth look at the impact the new process could have, and also explores how the Criminal Justice Alliance super-complaint against s60 stop and searches has developed.

OPINION: UK policing budgets remain under pressure, and spend on IT often takes the hit; but Simon Hall, CEO of police digital mobility platform PoliceBox, believes that approaching expenditure on Software-as-a-Service and cloud platforms as an operational rather than capital cost could overcome the budget barriers while also improving forces’ technological capabilities.

ANALYSIS: The recent State of Policing report presented by HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Sir Tom Winsor was his last in the role; Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks back at what has changed during his decade in post, and what will need to change moving forwards to secure the strategic improvements in UK policing that both the police and public are looking for.

ANALYSIS: Increasing police numbers can reduce crime rates, yet England and Wales have one of the lowest officer-population ratios in Europe; with crime likely to become increasingly complex, Social Market Foundation Senior Researcher Richard Hyde calls on police and policymakers to invest further in workforce recruitment, to contain and reduce the current high levels of crime.