Weekly academic research summary
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: Over the past five years a series of drug deaths in Australia has highlighted the arrival of an increasing range of synthetic drugs, many originating from factories in China and India and ordered online; this article from the Lens, the research publication of Monash University, explores the forensic medicine efforts of ‘toxico-surveillance’ specialists to identify and track the influx of new illicit drugs, and the dangers they represent.
ANALYSIS: The UK’s access to Horizon Europe’s research and innovation programme funding as an associate member – and with it the ability to undertake pioneering research into policing and security that has delivered real benefits to UK law enforcement – appears to be increasingly under threat, thanks to ongoing political wrangles over the Northern Ireland post-Brexit border arrangements, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.
FEATURE: Technological advances in extracting valuable knowledge and information from Big Data could deliver significant benefits for the security and safety of smart cities and their residents; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores a new European research and innovation project that is looking to maximise those benefits for all stakeholders, including policing.
FEATURE: New research has recommended that police forces in England and Wales should improve their awareness and responses to gambling-related harms after identifying custody suites as the ideal ‘gatekeepers’ to challenge the narratives about the nature of gambling-related crime, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.
FEATURE: With the need for greater focus on the ‘voice of the victim’ and ‘voice of the child’ having been highlighted both in serious case reviews and legislation, the National Policing Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP) is researching how those victim experiences can be better recognised, gathered, and used in investigations and to shape policing services, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.
OPINION: This week’s annual conference of the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER) supported by media partner Policing Insight, focuses on instigating change in the fight against child sexual abuse; ahead of the start of the two-day event, PIER Director Professor Samantha Lundrigan discusses the crucial importance of applied research in the field of public protection, and the positive change that is coming from these partnerships.
INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Mary Alice Young, Associate Professor of Transnational Organised Crime and Policy at the University of the West of England, about understanding policy failures, the undermining of organised crime control, and why viewing criminal enterprises in a business context leads to better policy solutions.
FEATURE: A new €7m European Commission research and innovation initiative has been launched to improve crime scene investigations relating to the transfer, persistence and background abundance of trace evidence, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.
ANALYSIS: Many ex-prisoners end up in the vicious cycle of homelessness, reoffending and reincarceration; but new research by academics from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, the University of Tasmania and Melbourne’s RMIT University indicates that providing public housing for those released from prison could cut crime and reduce criminal justice costs.
FEATURE: As movements of migrants and refugees across European borders reaches new levels in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ensuring border security while protecting refugees and preserving human rights has become increasingly difficult; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on the latest EU funding for police and security projects that will help countries to meet those complex challenges.
LONG READ: A research collaboration between Forensic Analytics and criminal justice consultancy Crest Advisory is exploring the role of technology in the criminal exploitation of children by ‘county lines’ gangs; in this first long-read article from the research, Joe Caluori and Beth Mooney consider what law enforcement agencies can learn from the early use of tech by county lines operators.