Policing Insight

Metropolitan Police live facial recognition (LFR) deployment: Responding to accusations that live facial recognition (LFR) is too intrusive Policing Insight's James Sweetland was invited to the first deployment by the Metropolitan Police of live facial recognition (LFR) in Ealing, London. In another clip from the post briefing interview, Chief Supt Sean Wilson and Inspector Crystal Govers address accusations that LFR is too intrusive, explaining that no matter how many times you walk past the cameras, your image deleted immediately if you are not on the watchlist. 📓 Read more about the Policing Insight’s behind the scenes access in the subscriber report, Facing the future: the rise of facial recognition in policing: https://lnkd.in/eamYfBrk 📄 or in the subscriber article about the deployment: https://lnkd.in/eGCAjhgf 📄 Find out more about the report in the open access report launch article: https://lnkd.in/e5Jc_Ueh #lawenforcement #policing #police #facialrecognition #technology

An audit of youth offending in Queensland has revealed a 65% increase in the number of serious repeat offenders since 2018, and has highlighted the importance of government stability in responding to young offending, as well as the need for a culture change in Queensland Police Service’s approach to the issue, as crucial steps in preventing further increases, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports. ❝Over the last seven years, responsibility for youth justice has moved between departments five times. Restructuring agencies is not a substitute for strategy, and it does not guarantee improved performance.❞ - Brendan Worrall, Queensland Auditor-General ❝Many young offenders have poor health, including mental health issues and behavioural disorders; many are disengaged from education and employment. Most, if not all, of these issues are relevant to First Nations youth.❞ - Reducing serious youth crime audit report ❝QPS [Queensland Police Service] [will need to address a cultural shift needed among frontline officers, from responding to youth crime to preventing it. It will also need to invest more up-front in youth crime prevention initiatives and early intervention activities.❞ - Reducing serious youth crime audit report ❝While the introduction of co-responder teams is positive, there is opportunity to maximise their impact. Some co-responder staff we spoke with said they were unclear about their priorities and where to focus their effort.❞ - Reducing serious youth crime audit report [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] https://lnkd.in/eWh_4bfa #lawenforcement #policing #police #youthoffending Queensland Audit Office (QAO)

Given the complex nature of policing, the diversity communities policed, the range of partner agencies and the multiple sources of records and information, creating accurate data for modelling new systems and scenarios without using real-world cases can present a major challenge; data and geospatial intelligence specialist Ian Oldfield MSc, Cert.Ed., who spent more than 28 years as a police officer, explains the importance and benefits of synthetic police data. https://lnkd.in/eENjYcQK #lawenforcement #policing #police #data

The latest United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report highlights record levels of cannabis and cocaine use – with an accompanying rise in violence – and the increased agility of traffickers who are expanding their criminal activities into areas such as wildlife trafficking, illegal resource extraction and money laundering, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports. ❝The prolonged surge in cocaine supply and demand has coincided with a rise in violence in states along the supply chain, notably in Ecuador and Caribbean countries, and an increase in health harms in countries of destination, including in Western and Central Europe.❞ ❝The emergence of new synthetic opioids and a record supply and demand of other drugs has compounded the impacts of the world drug problem, leading to a rise in drug use disorders and environmental harms.❞ - Ghada Waly, Executive Director, UNODC ❝Hospitalisations related to cannabis use disorders and the proportion of people with psychiatric disorders and attempted suicide associated with regular cannabis use have increased in Canada and the United States, especially among young adults.❞ - UNODC World Drug Report 2024 ❝Criminal groups, benefiting from the illegal trade in opium and methamphetamine, have recently diversified into other illicit activities, including online scams, wildlife trafficking and money-laundering, often using casinos and special economic zones to conceal their operations.❞ - UNODC World Drug Report 2024 ❝This [trafficking of these drugs to and from Africa] has resulted in a spillover of international drug trafficking flows to local markets, exacerbating drug use harms. According to qualitative data, Africa is the region with the fastest growing cannabis use.❞ - UNODC World Drug Report 2024 ❝Where criminal justice resources are unbalanced by focusing on the low-level actors, who can easily be replaced in the drug supply chain, a shift is needed to focus on targeting top-level individuals and groups critical to the drug trade.❞ - UNODC World Drug Report 2024 [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] https://lnkd.in/erBB-ZzN #lawenforcement #policing #police #crime #drugs #trafficking

New research from the Australian Institute of Criminology has found that one in five Australians has perpetrated sexual violence; but Professor Kate Fitz-Gibbon of Monash University and Research Fellow Dr Hayley Boxall of the The Australian National University University warn that the real rate of offending may be even higher, and that more research focusing on perpetrators rather than reports to police is essential to uncover the true scale of the problem. ❝Research released by the Australian Institute of Criminology provides stark evidence for why we must not let combating sexual violence fall off the national agenda.❞ ❝Research shows all forms of sexual violence are under-reported to police. Yet our understanding of perpetration relies almost solely on police and other justice system data.❞ ❝This study represents a step forward in furthering our understanding of sexual violence perpetration in Australia. However, we still need more detailed insights.❞ https://lnkd.in/eDePC3XG #lawenforcement #policing #police #crime #sexualviolence

Metropolitan Police live facial recognition (LFR) deployment: The appetite for a wider rollout of LFR in policing Policing Insight's James Sweetland was invited to the first deployment by the Metropolitan Police of live facial recognition (LFR) in Ealing, London. In another clip from the post briefing interview, Chief Supt Sean Wilson and Inspector Crystal Govers discuss the potential for a wider rollout of LFR to catch offenders causing significant harms to our communities but with strong scrutiny and transparency. 📓 Read more about the Policing Insight’s behind the scenes access in the subscriber report, Facing the future: the rise of facial recognition in policing: https://lnkd.in/eamYfBrk 📄 or in the subscriber article about the deployment: https://lnkd.in/eGCAjhgf 📄 Find out more about the report in the open access report launch article: https://lnkd.in/e5Jc_Ueh #lawenforcement #policing #police #facialrecognition #technology

At the recent Counter Terror Expo in London, Commander Dominic Murphy QPM MSt (Cantab) of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Command set out the continuing challenges facing the countries counter-terror policing efforts, and the crucial role played by officers and staff in tackling a range of “diverse and unpredictable” threats, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports. ❝We are currently facing a more diverse and unpredictable threat than ever before across our three missions, and it is the diversity of the threat that is extremely challenging.❞ - Cmdr Dominic Murphy, UK Counter-Terrorism Command ❝It is this speed of radicalisation, when combined with the choice of unsophisticated terror tactics requiring short attack planning, which affords ever-decreasing windows of opportunity for CTP [Counter-Terrorism Policing] to detect, deter and disrupt terrorist plotters.❞ ❝The new powers are helping to ensure that the UK remains the hardest operating environment for malign activity undertaken by foreign actors; but legal powers to tackle state threats will not counter the threat alone, as multiple countermeasures are required.❞ ❝The role of the police investigator in theatres of war and conflict is therefore increasingly vital in establishing robust prosecution cases to bring to justice via the International Criminal Court those who commit crimes contrary to national and international laws.❞ ❝As police forces continue to experience challenges in recruitment and retention, CTP [Counter-Terrorism Policing] is not immune to these broader recruitment challenges, and has had to develop innovative ways in which to recruit new officers.❞ [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] https://lnkd.in/dkAcaWdi #lawenforcement #policing #police #counterterrorism Counter Terrorism Policing Metropolitan Police

While volunteer special constables are a well-established part of British policing, many won’t be aware of their cyber equivalent; Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke to the National Police Chiefs' Council team co-ordinating the network of Cyber Digital and Special Volunteers across England and Wales, including an exclusive interview with a cyber special active today. ❝Cyber specials have been used for a range of significant projects, including technical assurance of Police CyberAlarm, darknet market monitoring, training staff around AI, and developing a system to improve the quality of officers’ statements using OpenAI tools.❞ ❝We struggle to recruit and retain people with the right skills, because obviously they’re very attractive once trained up. They’re very attracted to the private sector, which has its own skills shortage.❞ - Ch Insp Leanne Alleyne ❝In the private sector, we mitigate the threat, we find out how they got in, and then we move onto the next one. We don’t do anything around going after threats – that’s for law enforcement, it’s not our remit. By doing this, I can still be part of a full investigation… You get the full visibility rather than being a piece of the puzzle. You get more insight and it’s more rewarding.❞ - Cyber special Daniel Saunders ❝I work on cybersecurity incidents with different threat actors every single day. I’m doing investigations into them and interacting with them in my private sector work. We can leverage that experience – because we’re dealing with hundreds or thousands of cases – to give that insight for policing… I can bring across some of the cutting-edge stuff that we’re seeing on the frontline.❞ - Cyber special Daniel Saunders ❝Spending a little bit of time thinking about how you could use your volunteers to support you can really pay dividends. It’s all there for you – we have a platform in Assemble and lots of support available.❞ - Ch Insp Leanne Alleyne [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] https://lnkd.in/dkYCTE_T #lawenforcement #policing #police #volunteers #cybercrime

Metropolitan Police live facial recognition (LFR) deployment: How LFR is perceived by the officers using it. Policing Insight's James Sweetland was invited to the first deployment by the Metropolitan Police of live facial recognition (LFR) in Ealing, London. In another clip from the post briefing interview, Chief Supt Sean Wilson and Inspector Crystal Govers discuss how officers have embraced the technology with enthusiasm. 📓 Read more about the Policing Insight’s behind the scenes access in the subscriber report, Facing the future: the rise of facial recognition in policing: https://lnkd.in/eamYfBrk 📄 or in the subscriber article about the deployment: https://lnkd.in/eGCAjhgf 📄 Find out more about the report in the open access report launch article: https://lnkd.in/e5Jc_Ueh #lawenforcement #policing #police #facialrecognition #technology

A new UK report by the Society of Editors, the Crime Reporters Association and the Media Lawyers Association has called on the police and press to work on rebuilding their “broken” relationship for the benefit of transparency, trust and confidence, while also warning that social media posts which often dominate high-profile investigations and court cases are in danger of being “weaponised”, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports. ❝Fundamentally, the police and the media need to start talking to each other again, trusting each other, telling the public about some of the heroic, often thankless work police do, day-in day-out.❞ - The Police and the Media: Repairing the Relationship report ❝Although the mainstream media cannot control what goes on social media, there is no question that the press has an influence, and responsible reporting can quickly quash rumours circulating.❞ - The Police and the Media: Repairing the Relationship report ❝Within minutes of an arrest, teenage murder suspects are being named online, rape victims are being publicly named and trolled sometimes while their perpetrators are still on trial.❞ - The Police and the Media: Repairing the Relationship report ❝Releasing mugshots, CCTV, body-worn video or other picture material from a case – such as images of the weapon or exhibits – heightens the chance of publication, says the report.❞ ❝The British media has a history of doggedly investigating wrongdoing and exposing miscarriages of justice, but many of those cases have only come to light as a result of concerned victims, relatives and witnesses speaking to reporters who knock on their door.❞ - The Police and the Media: Repairing the Relationship report ❝Putting updates on X does not fulfil policing obligations of openness and transparency, and should not be confused with offering public scrutiny.❞ - The Police and the Media: Repairing the Relationship report [SUBSCRIBER ARTICLE] https://lnkd.in/eGZekeuE #lawenforcement #policing #police #communications