A combination of enhanced police attention and support to stop offending led to a 35% reduction in re-offending (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿) among offenders believed to be at risk of joining organised crime groups. Unlike most focussed deterrence, this was solely police run. doi.org/10.1080/074188…

Some good suggestions in this blog post on different ways to adapt assessments to the age of generative AI. Large language models aren’t going anywhere, and complaining about students using AI is as useful as moaning about the weather. We need to adapt. jamiejbartlett.substack.com/p/how-teachers…

I’m considering if it’s worth going to a conference in the US in June, given all the extra problems people are reporting at the border. It’s a good conference but going to the US is pricey, so the added hassle people seem to be experiencing now might tip the balance. Thoughts?

Cool virtual-reality experiment where convicted burglars explored otherwise-identical streets in which environmental factors (e.g. houses obscured by shrubs) had been changed. Results show burglars’ decision making was influenced by environmental factors. doi.org/10.1111/1745-9…

Paper showing that the risk of being a repeat victim of crime (in 🇳🇿) varies substantially depending on victim characteristics *and* crime type. ‘Crime’ is not one thing and doesn’t have one solution. dx.doi.org/10.15663/tph91…

Systematic review finds conducted energy weapons (Tasers) are "a safe intervention option" that typically causes physical and psychological effects that are "minimal, of short duration, and not of clinical significance", with deaths being very rare. doi.org/10.1007/s11896…

Interesting Dr. Steve Morreale Future Policing Institute podcast episode on using AI in policing (from 9 mins in). Key message: AI tools are part of the future of policing, so your organisation’s ‘no AI’ policy is not going to work. Much better to get ahead of this now: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…

Useful review of international evidence on why prosecutions for intimate partner violence fail. Likely to be helpful if you’re trying to work out what to focus on in improving domestic abuse investigations. doi.org/10.1080/019240…

A new review of the (many) methods of cyberstalking used by perpetrators. Might be useful if you’re looking for potential gaps in protections for victims or in investigative tools. journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

Someone made a helpful guide to accessing scientific papers:

How offensive do people (🇬🇧) think different swear words/obscenities are? Well YouGov asked people, so now you know. Could be very useful if you were trying to demonstrate that a person’s conduct was abusive (eg in a harassment case)! yougov.co.uk/society/articl…

Review finds that installing CCTV cameras in an area generally leads to a (small) reduction in how worried people are about crime in that area. (Note, though, that fear of crime is quite hard to measure, so treat this with caution.) doi.org/10.21428/cb6ab…

Home Office research finds falling charge rates in criminal investigations between 2011 and 2023 are best explained by high officer turnover and police forces having to rely more on inexperienced officers, even more so than falling officer numbers. gov.uk/government/pub…

We're delighted to have been recognised as a Policing Academic Centre of Excellence (P-ACE) by National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and UK Research and Innovation. The award recognises the engagement activity conducted by our department and the strength of UCL as a global centre of policing research.

Excellent, detailed case study of a homicide, in which each agency that was involved with victim or offender reflects on what it could have done differently. Hopefully this sort of review will save future lives. (Will be a very good teaching tool, too.) gov.uk/government/pub…

Really interesting to see Offensive Weapons Homicide Reviews being published & hopefully contributing important learning for all partners. More info about the purpose, scope, approach here: gov.uk/government/pub…

A two-week victim-care course for detectives (🇦🇺) led to a 15% increase in detection rates for sex offences and a similar-sized drop in victims withdrawing cooperation. link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Interesting review of arrangements to respond to ‘bad batch’ drug overdoses places a lot of responsibility on police, including to lead out of hours (because public health teams don’t work weekends). Also says government supports officers carrying Narcan. gov.uk/government/pub…

32 of 48 UK police forces are now issuing naloxone (Narcan) to officers, with it becoming “widely regarded as essential life-saving equipment”. This review identifies key challenges to role out and gives examples from forces of how to overcome them. gov.uk/government/pub…

Useful blog post on how the Crime Survey is improving its questions to better measure domestic abuse, especially types of abuse that weren’t covered before. (This change will almost certainly be misrepresented by some as a big increase in domestic abuse) blog.ons.gov.uk/2025/05/16/pro…