Response policing

FEATURE: A new report from the Northern Ireland Policing Board exploring the relationship between children and young people and the Police Service of Northern Ireland has urged the Service to engage more effectively with youngsters who may often be vulnerable to influence and control from paramilitary and organised crime groups, with the role of neighbourhood officers and a rethink of the use of stop and search among key steps to improve that engagement, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A recent evaluation of the roll out of the ‘Right Care, Right Person’ approach to responding to mental health crises has identified savings in police time allowing forces to free up resources for other priorities – but challenges around decision-making, communications, and the funding and capacity constraints for other agencies are also hampering the effective implementation of the scheme across England and Wales, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: A Dorset Police trial which expanded the video response approach used with domestic abuse cases to a wider range of calls and crimes has seen significant increases in arrest rates, positive outcomes and satisfaction levels for victims, and potential savings of £1.5million; now the approach could be expanded across the whole county and shared with other forces, as Supt Stewart Gates explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

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.

FEATURE: A report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland has praised Police Scotland’s “robust and effective” response to missing persons, with the national multi-agency framework driven by the force described as a “particular strength”; but inspectors have also called for more to be done “to ensure that clear leadership and strategic direction is in place”, raise awareness among officers and partners, and address technical and resource challenges, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: While law enforcement agencies around the world look at co-responder models and health partnerships to answer the growing demands of those in mental health crisis, new research from the US suggests that teaming up mental health clinicians with police officers to respond to behavioural health-related calls has no better outcome in terms of reducing arrests or improving treatment engagement than simply sending a uniformed officer, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A review of the New South Wales Police response to those in mental health crisis has recommended that the force switch to the Right Care, Right Person model pioneered in the UK, after identifying that a law enforcement presence can often be an “escalating factor” for those experiencing a mental health crisis, while the over-reliance on a police response can increase risks and stretch resources, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: In the first of a two-part feature marking the 30th anniversary of police use of TASER, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explores the global growth of this tool, what it offers policing, and concerns about racial disproportionality and use in mental health incidents – drawing on interviews with National Police Chiefs’ Council less-lethal weapons lead Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi, Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber, and others.

ANALYSIS: The final report of Australia’s Missing and murdered First Nations women and children inquiry has found that widespread racist attitudes across Australian policing, together with inadequate and delayed responses to reports of crimes, have led to a lack of trust among First Nations women in reporting domestic violence and other crimes – although several forces have now embarked on programmes to rebuild and improve the relationship with First Nations communities, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Philip Lukens compares and contrasts the use of AI drones as patrol tools and first responders with the traditional role of patrol cars, and explores the key issues around privacy, accountability and oversight.

FEATURE: The latest New Zealand Police Tactical Options report, which explores the use of force by officers, shows that Māori males aged 18-45 are disproportionately represented in interactions, in comparison to their cohort in the wider population; but the report also warns that focusing on ethnicity as the cause for over-representation can mask complex underlying causes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: Closer collaboration with social agencies on homelessness, a mindset shift within policing to overcome barriers to change, and the continuing expansion of co-response models were among the key messages from police chiefs, public safety experts and community advocates at the recent Safety of Our Cities conference in Ontario, Canada, as Policing Insight’s Matthew Wood reports.

FEATURE: While ‘precision policing’ has become an essential element of the turnaround plans for the Met as well as a focus for other forces, Policing Insight’s Rory Geoghegan, a former officer and founder of The Public Safety Foundation, examines how precision approaches – against a backdrop of falling stop and search rates and an emphasis on ‘positive outcomes’ – could see this policing tool become ineffective as a general crime deterrent.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Ian Weinfass examines the proliferation of law enforcement across the UK, Australia, the US and Canada preparing to send UAVs out to view incidents before personnel can reach them on the ground, and examines the advantages and criticisms of the approach.

OPINION: The recently announced Neighbourhood Policing Pathway and the Government’s commitment to 13,000 new neighbourhood ‘officers’ for England and Wales is both light on detail and a reworking of an old approach – one which could be much more effectively replaced by learning lessons from the successful community responder models in place in the United States, argues Senior Policing Lecturer and former chief superintendent Owen West.

OPINION: The recent HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services report into the Metropolitan Police Service made difficult reading, with the force graded as less than adequate in seven out of eight performance areas; author and former Met Chief Superintendent John Sutherland believes that for the force to recover, there needs to be greater understanding and acknowledgement of the reasons behind the current crisis.

ANALYSIS: Many cities and towns across the US facing worrying levels of gun violence are turning to the ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology to help tackle the problem; however, research carried out by Northeastern University Professor Dr Eric Piza indicates that while the new tech can improve the response time to firearms incidents, it has no impact on enforcement levels, clear-up rates, or reducing victimisation.

INNOVATION: With the police response to those in mental health crisis coming increasingly under focus, Brunel University’s Amy Everitt, and Dr Cody Porter and Dr Paul Gavin from UWE Bristol, highlight the key elements of a new multi-agency training approach held at Brunel University earlier this year, providing real-world immersive scenarios as well as expert insight for frontline emergency responders.

INTERVIEW: A new campaign by the Naturewatch Foundation is highlighting the link between those who abuse animals and their use of violence against people; former detective inspector Mark Randell the charity’s Campaign Manager, spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the need for training for officers and prosecutors around that link, and the organisation’s efforts to encourage data sharing and raise awareness of the need to consider animal cruelty when investigating other cases.

OPINION: With the proliferation of mobile phone and CCTV footage capturing physical and sometimes violent confrontations between officers and suspects, former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher fears that, unless the service and the wider criminal justice system can underline the importance of public co-operation with the police – and explain that in certain circumstances such confrontations are necessary and inevitable – the British model of policing by consent could soon disappear.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Philip Lukens explains why he believes that police departments should avoid labelling AI transcription of body cam footage as report writing.

ANALYSIS: New research undertaken in Cleveland Police into police pursuits has highlighted how forces could target their stretched resources more effectively, and potentially improve training on local and rural roads, as well as indicating opportunities for police to work with manufacturers and other partners to make better use of technology in preventing pursuits, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: New research by Deakin University PhD Candidate Jess Woolley has highlighted how some perpetrators of family violence are weaponising suicide threats, leading to concerns among police officers that addressing the mental health of the perpetrator as a priority can subsequently leave victim-survivors at risk and without adequate protection.

ANALYSIS: Police in New Zealand – as with many other jurisdictions – are facing significant growth in callouts to mental health incidents, and are considering various approaches; new research by Auckland University of Technology Associate Professor Katey Thom, and Sarah Gordon, Associate Professor in Psychology at the University of Otago, suggests that shifting to a trauma-informed support system could improve responses and reduce police involvement.