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.
FEATURE: Ahead of next week’s London Policing College workshops on International Perspectives of Policing in the Pandemic – the last in a series of workshops ahead of the 3rd International Police Education Conference in November – Dr Megan O’Neill, Associate Director of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research, and Professor Jonas Grutzpalk of the University of Applied Sciences for Public Administration of North Rhine-Westphalia, discuss the importance of the way COVID-19 is perceived and described by police and public.
ANALYSIS: Detectives and plain-clothes criminal investigators play a crucial role in most policing agencies – but what are the key characteristics required of an effective detective sergeant? New research by Queensland Police Service Detective Senior Sergeant Christopher Rahmann, and Associate Professor Marcus Harmes and Dr Shayne Baker of the University of Southern Queensland, explores the desirable knowledge, skills, experience and attributes for senior investigators and detectives.
INNOVATION: With global digitalisation, an increasingly complex international security landscape and the rapid advances in technology, new intelligence gathering tools and techniques are developing at pace; now a new European collaboration of 15 intelligence and security agencies has been established to focus and share research and development, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.
FEATURE: Although there are early signs that COVID-19 is entering a more manageable stage which could ease the burden on frontline officers, new research suggests the long-term impact of the pandemic on the wellbeing and morale of police officers could far outlast the restrictions themselves, as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports.
FEATURE: Latest research on the wellbeing of frontline Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers found that more than three-quarters were experiencing high stress during the second round of the pandemic; but as Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter reports, it was policing culture, the political atmosphere and the lack of resources – rather than the job itself – which were the most stressful factors, even during COVID-19.
Insight: Multiple and conflicting factors shaped the ways police officers thought about their work during the height of the COVID-19 crisis. UK researchers concluded that organisational climate was at the heart of these processes and officers may be more likely to maintain appropriate standards of policing and feel less stress if they are well supported by employers. Dr Arabella Kyprianides reports on the research conducted with Professor Ben Bradford, Professor Clifford Stott and Dr Leanne Savigar-Shaw.
INTERVIEW: In the first in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised criminals, Policing Insight’s Chris Allen spoke to Dr Anna Sergi, Associate Professor in Criminology at the University of Essex and an expert on the Mafia, on how her career has developed, her current research and plans for future projects, and the key challenges presented by organised crime moving forwards.
FEATURE: The latest Member Survey of the New Zealand Police Association has confirmed that frontline support for the general arming of officers is at its highest level in a decade, with almost three quarters of officers backing the right to carry firearms routinely on duty; the increase in support comes against a backdrop of increased violence, prompting heartfelt concerns over safety and security from officers themselves.
FEATURE: New Zealand Police have worked with Australia’s Griffith University to take a critical look at their command and control processes, and improve understanding of good leadership and effective management; speaking at the Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing (ANZSEBP) Conference, Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny and Professor Justin Ready outlined the findings of their work, and plans to share best practice and lessons learned across the organisation.
FEATURE: The resurgence in outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMCGs) in Australia and around the world has highlighted the need for a better understanding of their criminal activities; Dr Christopher Dowling of the Australian Institute of Criminology – a speaker at this week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference – outlines the work of the Serious and Organised Crime Research Laboratory, and its crime science approach to the criminal activity of OMCGs.
ANALYSIS: Crime prevention programmes in many countries often adopt a blanket approach to communities, with little regard to race or culture; ahead of next week’s Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, researchers Dr Kabir Dasgupta, Dr André Diegmann, Professor Tom Kirchmaier and Dr Alexander Plum discuss their latest study which highlights the role of ethnicity in the criminal behaviour of young fathers, and suggests that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ policy response to crime reduction is likely to fail.