The role of automatic number plate recognition surveillance within policing and public reassurance

This Thesis examines the role that Automatic Number Plate Recognition surveillance plays within policing and public reassurance. The thesis is improvement orientated, exploring how ANPR could become a more effective policing tool and highlights implications for future policies and practice. The first two chapters set the context for the research, explaining what ANPR is, its place within criminology and gaps in research addressed in the Thesis. The literature review calls for a better understanding of ANPR’s potential and role as an investigative tool and an examination of the public’s views about ANPR surveillance. In the third chapter, reference is made to available methods used to address such objectives. Chapters Four, Five and Six present the results emerging from the empirical work in this Thesis. Chapter Four is concerned with police perceptions regarding current ANPR practice. The thesis highlights the complexity of translating policy into practice in the current political and economic climate, where objectives and priorities dictated by the government are constantly shifting. Continuing its improvement orientation, Chapter Five covers public perceptions about ANPR and outlines ways to address the balance between privacy and security without endangering both. The potential impact of ANPR on crime and ways to measure it is the topic of Chapter Six, which argues that establishing a causal link between ANPR and crime is not a straightforward process. The concluding chapter talks about the implications of the study and any interesting future avenues for research. The emerging findings from this research sit uncomfortably with the opinions and predictions of both supporters and opponents of ANPR alike and shed light not only on the management and use of ANPR by the police in Britain, but also on many of the ethical issues raised by the emergence of new surveillance technologies

Factors Impacting Perceived Safety Among Staff Working on Mental Health Wards

Background: Safety at work is a core issue for mental health staff working on in-patient units. At present, there is a limited theoretical base regarding which factors may affect staff perceptions of safety. Aims: This study attempted to identify which factors affect perceived staff safety working on in-patient mental health wards. Method: A cross-sectional design was employed across 101 forensic and non-forensic mental health wards, over seven National Health Service trusts nationally. Measures included an online staff survey, Ward Features Checklist and recorded incident data. Data were analysed using categorical principal components analysis and ordinal regression. Results: Perceptions of staff safety were increased by ward brightness, higher number of patient beds, lower staff to patient ratios, less dayroom space and more urban views. Conclusions: The findings from this study do not represent common-sense assumptions. Results are discussed in the context of the literature and may have implications for current initiatives aimed at managing in-patient violence and aggression

How is men’s mental health affected within male professional football?

Research question How is men’s mental health affected within male professional football? Research methods Within this qualitative study, eighteen current first-team professional footballers were interviewed from across the English Football League (EFL) to explore how male professional footballers are affected by mental health. Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis (2006) was applied along with “The Silences Framework” [Serrant-Green, L. (2010). The sound of “silence”: A framework for researching sensitive issues or marginalised perspectives in health. Journal of Research in Nursing, 16(4), 347–360] to allow the voices of this marginalised group to be heard. Results and findings The five key themes of social networks, environment, masking vulnerabilities, help-seeking and support, and mental health emerged from the data. The mental health theme is split into two sub-themes: impact on self and reaction of others. Implications This study makes an original contribution to the knowledge base as it is the first study to innovatively apply The Silences Framework to a sporting context. This study has applied The Silences Framework to show that professional footballers are affected by their mental health, and without appropriate access to support they continue to suffer in silence. This is likely to have negative consequences in their personal life, their football career, and their eventual transition away from being a professional footballer

An evaluation of the implementation of the 'Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) Training Standards’ in mental health and learning disability settings

Training is an integral part of programmes aimed at reducing restrictive practices. Evidence suggests, however, that there is too much emphasis on reactive techniques and technical competence rather than preventative approaches, as well as too much inconsistency regarding quality of training and quality assurance across healthcare settings. The Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) Training Standards were launched in England, UK, to encourage a positive change in practice and provide a framework on which training can become more standardised across health and social care services. Since April 2020, it has been a statutory requirement that organisations delivering training on restrictive practices including restraint must be certified. This timely research study examines views and experiences regarding the processes involved in the implementation of the Standards to learn and share good practice and identify ways to improve practice, with the view to inform future iterations of the Standards, as well as the potential transferability/application to other areas of practice or countries

Femicide trends at the start of the 21st. century: prevalence, risk factors and national public health actions

Lethal violence requires a gender-based analysis which recognises that femicide is different from homicide in many ways. Structural factors such as national income and wealth equality together with government policies may influence the scale of the problem globally. This study is an original attempt to examine associations between femicide rates, these structural factors and national action plans using a longitudinal design. Data from two international surveys were combined to examine anti-femicide actions (n = 133 countries) and temporal femicide prevalence trends (n = 66 countries) in the context of national income and wealth inequality factors. The United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems was used to estimate femicide rates per country 2003–2014 and the World Health Organisation Global Status Report on Violence Prevention provided data on policy initiatives in place by 2014. Results indicate that femicide rates decreased by 32% worldwide but increased by 26% in low- and medium-income countries. The structural factors of low income and high inequality were significantly negatively associated with the 2014 femicide rate. Structural factors must be addressed alongside policy and legal initiatives if significant gains are to be made toward eradicating violence against women and girls

Exploring Suicidal Ideation Using an Innovative Mobile App-Strength Within Me: The Usability and Acceptability of Setting up a Trial Involving Mobile Technology and Mental Health Service Users

Background: Suicide is a growing global public health problem that has resulted in an increase in the demand for psychological services to address mental health issues. It is expected that 1 in 6 people on a waiting list for mental health services will attempt suicide. Although suicidal ideation has been shown to be linked to a higher risk of death by suicide, not everybody openly discloses their suicidal thoughts or plans to friends and family or seeks professional help before suicide. Therefore, new methods are needed to track suicide risk in real time together with a better understanding of the ways in which people communicate or express their suicidality. Considering the dynamic nature and challenges in understanding suicide ideation and suicide risk, mobile apps could be better suited to prevent suicide as they have the ability to collect real-time data. Objective: This study aims to report the practicalities and acceptability of setting up and trialing digital technologies within an inpatient mental health setting in the United Kingdom and highlight their implications for future studies. Methods: Service users were recruited from 6 inpatient wards in the north west of England. Service users who were eligible to participate and provided consent were given an iPhone and Fitbit for 7 days and were asked to interact with a novel phone app, Strength Within Me (SWiM). Interaction with the app involved journaling (recording daily activities, how this made them feel, and rating their mood) and the option to create safety plans for emotions causing difficulties (identifying strategies that helped with these emotions). Participants also had the option to allow the study to access their personal Facebook account to monitor their social media use and activity. In addition, clinical data (ie, assessments conducted by trained researchers targeting suicidality, depression, and sleep) were also collected. Results: Overall, 43.0% (80/186 response rate) of eligible participants were recruited for the study. Of the total sample, 67 participants engaged in journaling, with the average number of entries per user being 8.2 (SD 8.7). Overall, only 24 participants created safety plans and the most common difficult emotion to be selected was feeling sad (n=21). This study reports on the engagement with the SWiM app, the technical difficulties the research team faced, the importance of building key relationships, and the implications of using Facebook as a source to detect suicidality. Conclusions: To develop interventions that can be delivered in a timely manner, prediction of suicidality must be given priority. This paper has raised important issues and highlighted lessons learned from implementing a novel mobile app to detect the risk of suicidality for service users in an inpatient setting

Beyond intimate partner relationships: utilising domestic homicide reviews to prevent adult family domestic homicide

Increasing evidence documents domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and domestic homicide of adults killed by a relative in non-intimate partner relationships. Most literature focuses on intimate partner violence and homicide, yet non-intimate partner homicides form a substantial but neglected minority of domestic homicides. This article addresses this gap by presenting an analysis from 66 domestic homicide reviews (DHRs) in England and Wales where the victim and perpetrator were related, such as parent and adult child. Intimate partner homicides are excluded. These 66 DHRs were a sub-sample drawn from a larger study examining 317 DHRs in England and Wales.The article contributes towards greater understanding of the prevalence, context and characteristics of adult family homicide (AFH). Analysis revealed five interlinked precursors to AFH: mental health and substance/alcohol misuse, criminal history, childhood trauma, economic factors and care dynamics. Findings indicate that, given their contact with both victims and perpetrators, criminal justice agencies, adult social care and health agencies, particularly mental health services, are ideally placed to identify important risk and contextual factors. Understanding of DVA needs to extend to include adult family violence. Risk assessments need to be cognisant of the complex dynamics of AFH and must consider social-structural and relational-contextual factors.<br />Key messages<br /><ol><li>Understanding of domestic violence and abuse needs to include adult family violence.</li><br /><li>Risks and dynamics of adult family homicide are complex and must consider social-structural and relational-contextual factors.</li><br /><li>Criminal justice agencies, social care, substance misuse and mental health services provide opportunities for prevention

Investigation to identify individual socioeconomic and health determinants of suicidal ideation using responses to a cross-sectional, community-based public health survey

Objectives To address a gap in knowledge by simultaneously assessing a broad spectrum of individual socioeconomic and potential health determinants of suicidal ideation (SI) using validated measures in a large UK representative community sample. Design In this cross-sectional design, participants were recruited via random area probability sampling to participate in a comprehensive public health survey. The questionnaire examined demographic, health and socioeconomic factors. Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify predictors of SI. Setting Community setting from high (n=20) and low (n=8) deprivation neighbourhoods across the North West of England, UK. Participants 4319 people were recruited between August 2015 and January 2016. There were 809 participants from low-deprivation neighbourhoods and 3510 from high-deprivation neighbourhoods. The sample comprised 1854 (43%) men and 2465 (57%) women. Primary outcome measures SI was the dependent variable which was assessed using item 9 of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 instrument. Results 454 (11%) participants reported having SI within the last 2 weeks. Model 1 (excluding mental health variables) identified younger age, black and minority ethnic (BME) background, lower housing quality and current smoker status as key predictors of SI. Higher self-esteem, empathy and neighbourhood belonging, alcohol abstinence and having arthritis were protective against SI. Model 2 (including mental health variables) found depression and having cancer as key health predictors for SI, while identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ) and BME were significant demographic predictors. Alcohol abstinence, having arthritis and higher empathy levels were protective against SI. Conclusions This study suggests that it could be useful to increase community support and sense of belonging using a public health approach for vulnerable groups (e.g. those with cancer) and peer support for people who identify as LGBTQ and/or BME. Also, interventions aimed at increasing empathic functioning may prove effective for reducing SI

Taser use on individuals experiencing mental distress: an integrative literature review

Introduction Conducted electrical weapons, or ‘Tasers’, are currently used by over 15,000 law enforcement and military agencies worldwide. There are concerns regarding the effectiveness, potential for harm, and overuse with people experiencing mental distress. Aim To explore the literature about police use of Tasers with people experiencing mental distress. Method An integrative review was undertaken and qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches were used. Results Thirty‐one studies were included. Of all recorded usage, overall prevalence of Taser use on people experiencing mental distress was 28%. This population may require a greater number of shocks to subdue them than other people. Discussion There are substantial gaps in the research literature particularly with respect to the decision‐making processes involved in deploying Tasers on this population and the physical and psychological consequences of Taser use in this context. Implications for practice Police use of Tasers in mental health crises is relatively common, and occurs in a variety of environments including mental health settings. Mental health professionals need to work with police towards greater understanding of the needs of people with mental illness, and to promote the use of non‐coercive interventions in mental health crisis events

Testing out suicide risk prediction algorithms using phone measurements with patients in acute mental health settings: a feasibility study

Background: Digital phenotyping and machine learning are nowadays being used to augment or even replace traditional analytic procedures in many domains, including health care. Given the heavy reliance on smartphones and mobile devices around the world, this readily available source of data is an important and highly underutilized source that has the potential to improve mental health risk prediction and prevention and advance global mental health. Objective: To apply machine learning in an acute mental health setting for suicide risk prediction. This study is using a nascent approach, adding to existing knowledge by using data collected through a smartphone in place of clinical data which has typically been collected from health care records. Methods: We created a smartphone application called Strength Within Me (SWiM) that was linked to Fitbit, Apple Health kit, and Facebook, to collect salient clinical information such as sleep behavior and mood, step frequency and count, and engagement patterns with the phone from a cohort of acute mental health inpatients (n=66). In addition, clinical research interviews were used to assess mood, sleep, and suicide risk. Multiple machine learning algorithms were tested to determine best fit. Results: K-Nearest Neighbors (k=2) with uniform weighting and Euclidean distance metric emerged as the most promising algorithm, with 68% average accuracy (averaged over 10,000 simulations of splitting the training and testing data via 10-fold cross validation) and average AUC of 0.65. We applied a 5x2cv combined F test to test model performance of KNN against baseline classifier that guesses training majority, random forest, and others and achieved F statistics of 10.7 (p-value .0087), 17.6 respectively (p-value .0027), rejecting null of performance being the same. We have therefore taken the first steps in prototyping a system that could continuously and accurately assess risk of suicide via mobile devices. Conclusions: Sensing for suicidality is an under-addressed area of research to which this paper makes a useful contribution. This is part of the first generation of studies to suggest it is feasible to utilize smartphone generated user input and passive sensor data/digital phenotyping to generate a risk algorithm among inpatients at suicide risk. The model reveals fair concordance between phone-derived and research generated clinical data and with iterative development has potential for accurate discriminant risk prediction. However, while full automation and independence of clinical judgement or input would be a worthy development for those individuals who are less likely to access specialist mental health services, and for providing a timely response in a crisis situation, the ethical and legal implications of such advances in the field of psychiatry need to be acknowledged