Good to see the IOPC releasing details of what happened in a police shooting incidents in hours, not months. This is crucial (although not all that’s needed) to maintaining public confidence in police. (It would have been good to see more details in the tweet itself, though).

It's great to see police–research collaborations that involve practical application of science, robust evaluation of what works, and transparent reporting (both for the benefit of other agencies and for public confidence).

Linking together crimes committed by the same person is a really important part of stopping serial sex offenders. This paper shows a new method – developed jointly by academics and analysts at the National Crime Agency – out-performs existing approaches.

(And yes, I am very aware that the US policing and justice systems vary a lot by state. I am interested in things that are fairly standard across the US but quite different in England.).

🚨Help needed, please:. Next week I am giving a lecture to some visiting US students about the differences between the English and US policing and justice systems. I’ve got quite a few points already, but what are the most interesting differences for you?.

Asking witnesses for initial accounts straight after incidents increased the accuracy of their subsequent witness statements. The improvement occurred whether that account was obtained by a person *or an AI chatbot*. (Note lab setting, small sample size).

I think the Met Commissioner is right on basically all of this article: UK policing needs to be more focused, with a new structure and a new workforce model. But it will take a lot of political will to make it happen. (Ignore clickbait headline). (free).

The Youth Endowment Fund is recruiting for two research leads: .

The public are more likely to support algorithmic decision making (ADM) in policing when prior notice of ADM use is given, when the algorithm is transparent (i.e. decisions can be explained) and when there’s an opportunity to appeal decisions to a person.

Fantastic episode of the @_ReducingCrime podcast about rapid video response to domestic abuse calls. It’s particularly interesting because so many people said the intervention wouldn’t work, but (contrary to ‘common sense’) it did..

Some very good recommendations here for police agencies thinking of using generative AI tools in policing. Actually, these are good recommendations for police agencies thinking of using any new technology.

Last weekend was one of my favourite work events of the year: our open days for undergraduate courses. This year we added sessions demonstrating our new immersive lab, where we can put students in different environments to help them think about how places shape crime.

There is also an excellent obituary of Ron Clarke in The Guardian:

Following Ron Clarke’s death last month, here’s a great podcast episode where he explains how he identified the importance of understanding crime opportunities as the key to effective crime prevention. It’s a great story if you’ve not heard it:.

RT @gmhales: The infographic says "diversion nearly halves reoffending rates amongst arrested children". The report says "more work is ne….

Hotspot patrols (🇳🇱) substantially reduced disorder, *but* resident perceptions of disorder in the area and perceptions of police got *worse*. A useful reminder that reducing crime is necessary but not sufficient to improve public perceptions of crime.

People who feel let down by national/local government are more likely to perceive high levels of disorder in their neighbourhood compared to others who live in the same place. Useful reminder perceptions of crime don’t just depend on actual crime rates.

(I should note, because if I don’t someone will accuse me of it, that neither I nor the author of the article is saying police always get relations with LGBT communities right today.).

Interesting case study on how UK police went from routinely harassing gay men in the 1960s (even having units largely dedicated to it) to today’s situation where many gay men serve in policing and police officers/staff take part in pride parades.

New paper shows tools such as ChatGPT can effectively identify which police incident reports feature people who are particularly vulnerable. Could be very useful to catch cases where vulnerability is initially missed by police call handlers or officers.