Research

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ANALYSIS: When it comes to research and services for victims of adolescent domestic abuse (ADA), those aged under 16 are often overlooked by policies that focus on the adult domestic abuse (DA) agenda; Gloucestershire Deputy Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint and City St George’s, University of London Senior Researcher Dr Ruth Weir spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about new efforts to identify the scale and nature of the problem, and encouraging police forces to use technology to extract ADA data.

FEATURE: Earlier this year more than 40 academics and police practitioners gathered at Canterbury Christ Church University’s Centre for Policing Research (CCPR) to explore both the strategic importance of wellbeing and the practical steps being taken to support officers and staff in frontline and specialist roles, as Policing Insight’s Dr Carina O’Reilly reports.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ANALYSIS: Investigative genetic genealogy is being used by police forces around the world to identify both the discovered remains of unknown individuals, and to track down those responsible for murders and other violent crimes; in this edited version of her Churchill Fellowship report, Dr Emma Tilley of the University of Staffordshire looks at the use of investigative genetic genealogy in police investigations around the world, the benefits and challenges it offers, and how can UK policing can implement this new technique.

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.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ANALYSIS: Every day, police officers endure experiences that most people can’t even imagine – violence, tragedy, and life-or-death emotionally fuelled decisions – but what happens when the weight of that trauma becomes too much to bear? PhD researcher Lucy Davies of the Open University’s Centre of Policing Research & Learning (CPRL) explores how unprocessed trauma can quietly erode judgement, fuel emotion dysregulation and, in some cases, lead to the very misconduct that undermines public trust.

FEATURE: A recent report published by Peel Police Service Board and drawn from a series of community consultations has highlighted a range of steps that the Service can take to address “systemic” challenges around governance, discrimination and racism, including better training on cultural sensitivities and bias, greater diversity within the Service, and improved recognition and reporting mechanisms for hate crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Sexual Risk Orders (SROs) can help to reduce sexual harm by offenders by more than 80%, but a lack understanding about their effectiveness and how they can and should be used has led to an inconsistent approach from forces across England and Wales; new research by Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Dan Whitten highlights the potential benefits of greater use of SROs in tackling sexual violence against women and girls, and the steps forces can take to maximise those benefits.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

INNOVATION: Inspired by ‘café scientifiques’, the team from the Open University’s Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) have been working with forces across England and Wales to hold a series of ‘evidence cafés’ – informal gatherings designed to increases two-way dialogue between academics and practitioners and explore how research findings relate to real-world policing practices – as the CPRL’s Dr Keely Duddin, Kendal Wright, Frances Wright and Dr Nicky Miller explain.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

OPINION: Birmingham University Associate Professor Dr Tara Lai Quinlan argues that the disproportionate policing in England and Wales of people of colour – particularly children – and other under-represented groups can be challenged and changed through active bureaucratic representation, where officers from such under-represented groups are empowered to ensure that institutional policies and practices benefit their communities of origin, either at group or individual levels.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

FEATURE: A new study by the Australian Institute of Criminology exploring the views of victim/survivors of coercive control finds that the overwhelming majority back calls for such actions and manipulation to be criminalised to enable earlier and more effective interventions by police and others in the criminal justice system, despite acknowledging fears over disproportionality, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new report from the Youth Endowment Fund suggests that more than two thirds of teenagers support the use of stop and search by police across England and Wales, while those with direct contact with officers are more likely to believe the police do a good job – but responses vary with ethnicity and age, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

INNOVATION: With the police response to those in mental health distress – whether in relation to safeguarding, crime or public protection – a challenge for policing globally, Edge Hill University’s Dr Jude Towers looks at the results of the mental health diversion and advisory panel initiative in Lancashire, which offers an alternative out-of-court disposal approach to mental health-related offending that is winning support from officers as well as those in crisis.

ANALYSIS: The use of wearable technology to monitor health and wellbeing continues to expand significantly; Dr Carol Cox, Head of the Liverpool Centre of Advanced Policing Studies at Liverpool John Moore’s University, is leading a research team from the Centre in its work on the police use of such technology, and explains the challenges and benefits identified to date, as well as early indications from the latest study due to be released in April.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

LATEST RESEARCH: This summary curates the key policing-related research that's been published online in the last week, with links to the original journal articles, and selected abstracts.

ANALYSIS: A new report from the Centre for Social Justice is calling on the UK Government to rethink its drug policy and focus on an approach which integrates law enforcement, public health and community support to tackle a crisis of “unprecedented proportions”; but the report also warns that experiences in other countries suggest legalisation is not the answer, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.