A collection of news articles, reports, and publications available in the public domain, which are relevant to UK policing.
The Home Office has begun a consultation regarding measures to criminalise the act of trespassing when setting up an unauthorised encampment in England and Wales.
The consultation is also asking for views on alternative approaches which include amending current powers under sections 61 and 62A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
The consultation closes on 4 March 2020 and can be read in full here.
Source: Gov.uk
This paper provides a summary of findings in response the below questions.
It also provides a range of practical recommendations which the Government should implement to help combat the problem and keep vulnerable children and young people safe.
For the full report click here.
The Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee calls on the Government to end its piecemeal approach to local authority funding and revenue raising. The committee claims that the government has been derelict in its duty to local authorities by failing to set out a funding settlement that addresses immediate service pressures or plan for future challenges.
The findings of the committee include:
Source: Parliament.uk
Newly appointed chief constable Jo Farrell said it would help protect officers who were “too often” assaulted while at work. The Durham Police Federation said it supported the move but human rights group Amnesty UK has expressed “serious concerns” about Tasers and how overuse could lead to unnecessary deaths.
Source: BBC
Analysis by the Guardian has revealed the number of stop and searches has doubled from 15,557 in March 2017 to 33,022 in March 2019 in eight of England’s biggest police forces. The greatest increases came from the Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester and West Midland Police.
The increase in stop and searches comes after the Sajid Javid enhanced section 60 powers in March 2019 in response to the rising levels of knife and other violent crimes. However, the tactic is often met with criticism with the argument being made that it disproportionately targets black people. Moreover, the use of stop and search powers is said to undermine community relations.
Source: The Guardian
The new ‘Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme’ is designed to improve how different local areas respond to child exploitation – such as gang, ‘county lines’ drug dealing, online grooming, sexual exploitation, trafficking or modern slavery – backed by £2 million. It will help equip professionals involved in the protection of young people to identify those most at risk from dangers in their communities and online.
Exploitation can take a variety of forms, and often there is a link between the threats vulnerable young people are exposed to. The National Crime Agency (NCA) found that in 2017 more than a third (35 per cent) of police forces reported evidence of child sexual exploitation in relation to so-called ‘county lines’ activity – a practice used by criminals of using children and young people to traffic drugs from one region to another, often in rural areas.
Every council in England will be able to apply for bespoke support from the scheme to tackle specific threats in their area, bringing social workers, police forces, schools, health services and charities together to improve how they respond to cases of exploitation, and learn from what works.
HMICFRS has published its overview report of the emerging themes from the first group of 2018/19 Integrated PEEL Assessment (IPA) reports. These themes are based on findings from the 14 forces HMICFRS has inspected in this group. These inspections found that a relatively positive picture of performance is being provided by a service that is straining under significant pressure. This is affecting different forces in different ways, across neighbourhood policing and investigations through to counter corruption and workforce health and wellbeing. Given the current operational and financial context forces find themselves in, it is not clear for how long they will be able to maintain their current performance levels. For many of the forces inspected in this group, cracks in the system are widening.
The Metropolitan Police have announced the option for new police constables to work part time. The move towards more flexible working has come about to try and break down barriers, particularly for women who want to join policing but are deterred from doing so due to the working hours.
Prior to this announcement, there was a requirement for new recruits to complete training and a probationary training period before being allowed to apply for part-time positions.
The Met Police Federation have said that it is not yet clear how the scheme would work when a major incident requiring officers to be called on at short notice occurs.
The training for the new part-time positions will begin in November.
Source: BBC News
Concern that pre-charge bail has fallen considerably, including in domestic abuse, sexual offences and cases involving vulnerable people, has prompted new guidance from the NPCC. The consideration of whether or not to apply bail must take into account all the circumstances of a case, including the necessity to support and protect victims and witnesses, and ensure public safety. Decisions should be made by investigating officers, custody officers, and supervising officers. The guidance makes clear the circumstances in which pre-charge bail should be used:
If a suspect has been arrested in connection with an offence involving vulnerable people or domestic abuse then serious consideration must be given to the use of bail with conditions in order to safeguard victims. If pre-charge bail is not used, officers should document their decision making. Victims and witnesses should be informed that a suspect has been released under investigation and given advice about what to do if they are targeted by the suspect. The guidance encourages officers to seek counsel from senior colleagues in these cases.
It has been announced that the supervision of offenders who are on probation in England and Wales will be re-nationalised from December 2020. The National Probation Service will begin monitoring medium and low threat offenders once again after failings with the part-privatisation of the system.
According to the National Audit Office, since the part-privatisation of the service in 2014, the numbers of individuals returning to prison for breaching their licence conditions has ‘skyrocketed’. Moreover, the National Audit Office also stated that the problems associated with the process have cost taxpayers nearly £500 million.
Source: BBC News
Police Horizon Scanning 