By David Spencer, Sir Stephen Laws KCB KC (Hon) and Niamh Webb

We have entered a new era of increasingly disruptive protests. This report shows how decisions made by the police, prosecutors, courts, Parliament and Government mean that undue weight is being placed on the rights and interests of disruptive (and, at times, criminal) activists at the expense of the rights, wellbeing and interests of ordinary members of the public.

This report addresses two central questions:

• Do the police, and other authorities, use their existing powers effectively to deal with disruptive protest?

• Is the existing legal regime fit for purpose?

The answer to both questions, as we show in this report, is no.

As the new Government will soon commence their review of the legislation relating to protest and the Home Office continues their appeal in a high-profile protest-related court case this report is highly relevant to the contemporary policy making and legal context.

The report argues that the new Government must prioritise the rights, wellbeing and interests of ordinary members of the public – otherwise they risk finding themselves in the same difficulties as their predecessors.

In addition to a detailed analysis of the police approach to protest, this report also contains recent polling on the public mood and a detailed review of the current legal regime. The report has 26 recommendations for Government, police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Mayor of London.

London: Policy Exchange, 2024. 157p.

ByAlex Stevens, Niamh Eastwood, and Kirstie Douse

In this review article, we develop the case for the decriminalisation of drug possession in the UK by describing our ‘modest proposal’ to repeal the relevant sections of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and its advantages. We defend this proposal against possible critiques from both conservative and radical positions. On the conservative side, these criticisms include that it would increase drug use and harm and that it would be illegal under international law. From the more radical position, we anticipate the criticisms that decriminalisation of possession would leave the harm associated with illegal drug supply to continue, that it would leave in place restrictions on the rights to use drugs, that it would forego the possible tax income from a legally regulated market, and that the drug laws would continue to act as tools of social control. In response, we argue that decriminalisation offers a feasible first step towards reducing the harm of drug control which would not increase drug-related harm.

Drug Science, Policy and Law Volume 10: 1–10

By Julie Berg and Emily Mann

The authors undertook a literature review on intersectionality and policing to provide a critical, impact-based account of scholarly/academic engagement with policing and intersectionality. This review informs an intersectional good practice toolkit by which police organisations can better engage with the phenomenon of intersectionality and its implications for policing and ‘seldom heard communities’. Additionally, the authors hosted two interactive workshops to share preliminary findings, consult with academics and police practitioners and request feedback. The review highlighted that intersectional convergence of certain social identities and characteristics can provide complex challenges for policing, for example: The impact of micro-interactions between the police and those with intersecting social identities. Meso-level institutional issues may mitigate or aggravate negative interactions between the police and those with intersecting identities (such as police culture, resources, specialist training, and/or whether the police have specialist teams or programmes). Macro-level factors; the police operate under broader structural influences and power dynamics which negatively impact on certain groups, and which is informed by both historical and contemporary factors such as law, policy, political and public discourses and expectations.

Edinburgh: Scottish Police Academy, 2023. 71p.

By Grahame Allen, Helena Carthew

Data from the Home Office, Scottish Government, and Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) shows us how large the police workforce is. It also indicates how diverse forces are, including breakdowns by sex and ethnicity. This briefing breaks down data by police force area where possible and includes international comparisons where available.

London: UK Parliament, House of Commons Library, 2024. 32p.

By  Ben Collier , James Stewart , Shane Horgan, Lydia Wilson and Daniel R. Thomas 

Influence policing is an emerging phenomenon: the use of digital targeted ‘nudge’ communications campaigns by police forces and law enforcement agencies to directly achieve strategic policing outcomes. While scholarship, civil society, and journalism have focused on political influence and targeting (often by malicious actors), there has been next to no research on the use of these influence techniques and technologies by governments for preventative law enforcement. With grant funding from SIPR and support from The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), we have studied how this novel mode of police practice is developing through an in-depth study of Police Scotland’s strategic communications unit and a wider systematic overview of these campaigns across the UK. Key findings: Police Scotland . Since 2018, Police Scotland has had a dedicated team devoted to strategic communications marketing campaigns - developing methods for crime prevention through communications. These adapt classic forms of ‘strategic communications’ and ‘social marketing’ to incorporate novel techniques and tools, tailoring them to crime prevention - particularly the use of behaviour change theory and digital targeting and segmentation infrastructures. These influence (including ‘nudge’) communications go beyond ‘information’ campaigns or those which simply tell or ask the public to do something, and instead incorporate psychological design elements which attempt to alter the decision environment in which members of the public make choices about their behaviour - often linking up with other interventions such as the redesign of public services.  In a wider policing context, these innovations can be understood as a development of problem-oriented and intelligence-led policing models in a digital context. The campaigns - focusing on areas with a perceived ‘online’ component, such as violence against women and girls, online grooming, and hate crime - are conceived as part of a public health prevention approach, often using perpetrator-focused adverts to deliver messages to those profiled as ‘at risk’ of offending. This is part of a move away from campaigns which simply rely on telling the public what to do, or which focus on putting the responsibility for crime prevention on victims. There are two main elements to campaigns - the first are attempts to directly change people’s behaviour through ‘nudge’ communications, and the second are wider attempts to shape the cultural narratives that are perceived to contribute to crime.  In Scotland, digital targeting is mostly used at the broad demographic level (i.e. age and gender), although some use of fine-detail location and interest-based targeting is evident.  Online targeted paid advertising is used in conjunction with conventional media buying, and organic and ‘earned’ communication with stakeholders and civil society partners.  Campaigns are largely developed in house, but the media buying and some campaign development is done with commercial advertising and marketing partners. Civil Society stakeholders play a key role in consultation and development of campaigns, and in the ‘organic’ promotion.  The digital platforms themselves play a major role in shaping what is possible, sometimes redirecting the intervention through algorithmic processes or promoting organic sharing.  Evaluation of the campaigns is able to use some outcome measures but also still relies heavily on ‘vanity’ metrics (such as apparent views and click throughs) provided by the platforms - and effects are difficult to measure.  The use of influencers (usually well-known public figures) in some campaigns to amplify messages is a clear innovation - though raises some concerns. These influencers have legitimacy with and knowledge of targeted communities, and generally retain their audiences across multiple platforms (even when these platforms change or fail).  We suggest the term Influence officers to describe the professional police communications specialists who design and develop these campaigns, who represent a growing new role in ‘frontline’ policing. The centralised unit and single national force structure in Scotland has had some positive effects when compared to English forces, providing mechanisms for accountability (and saying ‘no’ to unsuitable or harmful campaigns) where more formal structures don’t yet exist. However, this is reliant on the tacit knowledge and expertise of a small group of practitioners - and some aspects of this approach would benefit from being on a more formal institutional footing.  Despite its proliferation across the UK, this is a distinctively Scottish mode of ‘influence policing’ and the ‘influence officer’ as a possible emerging role within policing.     

Edinburgh: Scottish Institute for Policing Research (SIPR), 2023. 162p.