A collection of news articles, reports, and publications available in the public domain, which are relevant to UK policing.
Sara Thornton, the outgoing police chief has stated that police cuts have resulted in officers struggling to respond to routine crime due to overwhelming demand and not enough officers.
Furthermore, she has talked of wanting to end the blame culture that occurs when policing goes wrong, instead highlighting officers are having to deal with some of societies worst problems such as knife crime, something which needed more recognition.
Source: the Guardian
A high court judge has ruled that a Home Office policy which stops all statutory support to victims of slavery six weeks after they have been formally identified as victims of slavery is potentially unlawful.
The judge has ordered the Home Office to extend the support to all victims until the next hearing on 14th April. This comes after campaigners and front line service providers have stated that abruptly ending support after such a short period could result in victims back under the control of traffickers and exploiters.
Source: the Guardian
The Ministry of Justice has released a new framework and accompanying guidance for the Home Detention Curfew (HDC) Scheme. Under the new framework, offenders serving sentences of between 12 weeks and 4 years who meet eligibility criteria and pass a risk assessment will be released under an electronically monitored curfew.
According to the government website, the guidance is aimed at all relevant practitioners in prisons, young offender institutions, secure training centres and secure care homes, probation providers and youth offending teams.
Source: Gov.uk
A circular has been released regarding the extension of the moratorium period for suspicious activity reports under the Criminal Finances Act. As part of this, guidance was released aimed at ensuring consistent practice for law enforcement agencies.
The Counter-Terrorism (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 have been published by the government. Information from gov.uk can be found here. They will come into force in accordance with regulations made by the Treasury under section 56 of the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.
The Counter-Terrorism (International Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 are intended to provide for part of the UK’s counter-terrorism sanctions regimes after the UK leaves the EU. They aim to further the prevention of terrorism in the UK and elsewhere by bringing together elements of several existing sanctions regimes.
This sanctions regime also gives effect to the UK’s obligations under UN Security Council Regulation 1373. When these regulations come into force, they will replace, with substantially the same effect, relevant existing EU legislation and related UK regulations.
There are other sanctions regimes relating to countering terrorism: The ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida sanctions regime and the Counter-Terrorism sanctions regime.
Source: Gov.uk
The Domestic Abuse Report 2019: The Economics of Abuse is the first thematic report from the series in 2019. The Annual Audit will be published later this month.
Economic abuse is often misunderstood but it is a key tactic used by perpetrators of domestic abuse to control their partner and stop her from leaving. The Domestic Abuse Report 2019: The Economics of Abuse explores the relationship between domestic abuse and economic resources, looking at the needs and experiences of survivors around finances, welfare, housing and employment (economic needs), and how these needs are met by specialist domestic abuse services.
Source: Women’s Aid
Student police officers working on the frontline will be able to apply for Taser training, the Home Office has announced today.
It comes after senior officers made a request to the department to allow selected students to put themselves forward for the specialist training. Previously, only officers who had passed their two-year probation period were eligible.
Student officers can be deployed to the frontline and face the same threats as ranked officers. Police chiefs therefore want certain recruits to complete Taser training where there is a clear local need.
Source: Gov.uk
Law enforcement agencies from Canada, the United States and a number of European countries have joined forces to target vendors and sellers of illegal good on the dark web.
As a result of this operation, agencies made 61 arrests and shut down 50 dark web accounts. Moreover, 65 search warrants were issued resulting in the seizure of 2995 kg of drugs, 51 firearms and over €6.2 million (including cryptocurrency, cash and gold).
Source: Europol
The European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have jointly quantified the value, scope and magnitude of the global trade in counterfeit goods in a new report.
The report, which adds updated data to a 2016 report on the same matter, has shown pirated good are becoming an increasing issue with estimations suggesting fake goods now account for 3.3% of world trade compared to 2.5% in the 2016 report.
Source: EUIPO
Police Horizon Scanning 