Policing the pandemic: Exploring public perceptions of the enforcement of COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom

Traditional UK policing relies on Peelian principles of policing by consent in which public views of police legitimacy are crucial. This study used a mixed methods survey design to explore the impact of the Coronavirus Act 2020 on public perceptions towards the police in one UK force region. The findings indicate that self-reported compliance with COVID-19 measures was significantly related to trust in local policing. Qualitative responses indicate that police enforcement of Covid regulations was believed to infringe on individual liberties while losing focus on ‘real crime’ and decreasing trust in police

Calls for Police Service: Understanding the demand profile and the UK police response

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper is to identify and understand the demand profile of a division of Lancashire Police Constabulary in order to assist Police administrators in the evaluation of demand and understanding of Policing response. Design/methodology/approach – Police data records regarding all offences within the Central Division of Lancashire Police Constabulary over the year of 2013 were examined. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the top ten demand addresses in five categories (residential, statutory bodies, retail, nightlife, and young people’s services), and the incident classifications, time frames and response codes that were most associated with these addresses. Further content analysis was conducted on the top ten residential addresses in order to identify specific characteristics of residential demand. Findings - The majority of Lancashire Constabulary resources are being spent dealing with non-traditional police demand. The most demanding residents were found to have one or more of the following properties; (i) to be of white – Northern European origin, (ii) to be unemployed, (iii) to be associated with mental health issues, domestic violence incidents or substance abuse, and (iv) to have previously had other agency involvement. Practical Implications - These results indicate that the police could potentially reduce the demand for service by enhancing work within two key areas; partnership working and early intervention. Originality/value – In this time of austerity and police budget cuts, it is important to understand the demand on the UK police service in an attempt to reduce it

Diverting young men from gangs: a qualitative evaluation

Purpose: Serious Organised Crime (SOC) costs the UK billions of pounds every year and is associated with significant negative health, social and wellbeing outcomes. This study aims to evaluate whether young people can be diverted from involvement in SOC using preventive intervention approaches. Design: A qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on data collected from semi-structured interviews with practitioners involved in a six-month intervention, which specifically aimed to divert ‘at risk’ young people away from SOC involvement. Findings: Themes arising from the analysis are: (i) risk and vulnerability factors associated with young people involved in organised crime; (ii) what worked well during this intervention; (iii) what outcomes, both hard and soft, were generated; as well as (iv) the specific challenges to the success of preventive programmes. Implications: Overall, the study highlights the problematic nature of diverting ‘at risk’ youths from SOC and provides recommendations for future preventive intervention work in the field of SOC. Specifically, it suggests that longer term interventions, targeted at younger children, may generate better behavioural outcomes if they focus on building trusting relationships with credible support workers (i.e. have lived experience of SOC). Originality: With a growing body of evidence suggesting that young people are being increasingly exploited for organised criminal purposes, an approach which prevents involvement in SOC makes theoretical and economic sense. However, little research has empirically tested its utility in practice. This study seeks to address this gap

Developments in UK police wellbeing: A review of blue light wellbeing frameworks

Policing demands are widely acknowledged to negatively impact on the physical and mental health of police officers and staff. Research has documented the need for greater insight into the stressors and trauma that impact police officers, with a current national drive towards enhancing the police wellbeing agenda: namely, Oscar Kilo and the National Wellbeing Service. To understand the current wellbeing strategies in place, 34 Blue Light Wellbeing Frameworks were analysed. A mixed methods approach was adopted: quantitative data was descriptively examined, with thematic analyses employed to explore the qualitative data. Findings from the review highlight developments in police wellbeing, as well as areas for future development

Organisational and individual perspectives of police wellbeing in England and Wales

Individual and organisational factors have been identified as influencing personal wellbeing, with an emphasis placed on the organisation and management to support their staff. Whilst various policies, interventions and campaigns are in place at national and local level, it is unclear how well individual and organisational perspectives of wellbeing are aligned. This study seeks to address this through the analysis of secondary data provided by Oscar Kilo in 2018: Blue Light Wellbeing Frameworks (organisational perspective) and Human Resources policy review survey data (individual perspective). Whilst findings indicate positive steps to enhancing police wellbeing, a disconnect between the organisation and employees was apparent

Promoting Junior School Students’ Anti-bullying Beliefs with the CATZ Cross-age Teaching Zone Intervention

In tackling the widespread problem of bullying victimisation, researchers have acknowledged the value of focusing on changing bullying-related beliefs and using peer-based interventions. In three studies (N = 419, 237 intervention and 182 controls), we tested the effectiveness of the CATZ cross-age teaching programme by inviting small groups of 11-year-olds to incorporate information supporting positive beliefs (concerning non-physical forms of bullying, the value of disclosing being bullied to adults, and helping victims) into a lesson they devised for themselves and to deliver that to small groups of 9-year-olds. Specifically, we examined if the intervention would promote that (i) non-physical forms of bullying are unacceptable (study 1), (ii) disclosing bullying to adults and getting the right kind of help have value and importance (study 2), and (iii) victims can be assisted in safe ways (study 3). Self-reports of nine specific aspects of these beliefs were collected from CATZ tutors and age-matched controls prior to and following the intervention, and at five-week follow-up in one study, using both open and closed questions. Results indicated significant positive effects of CATZ on all nine outcome variables, with mostly medium and high effect sizes. These findings support the use of CATZ to foster positive anti-bullying beliefs, and issues related to its wider uptake are discussed.N/

Human Mycobacterium bovis Infection and Bovine Tuberculosis Outbreak, Michigan, 1994–2007

Mycobacterium bovis is endemic in Michigan’s white-tailed deer and has been circulating since 1994. The strain circulating in deer has remained genotypically consistent and was recently detected in 2 humans. We summarize the investigation of these cases and confirm that recreational exposure to deer is a risk for infection in humans

Promoting Evidence-based Veterinary Medicine through the online resource ‘EBVM Learning’: User feedback

‘EBVM Learning’ is a freely available resource created in 2015 by an international team with the support of RCVS Knowledge. The resource comprises a series of online modules teaching the fundamental concepts of evidence-based veterinary medicine (EBVM) (Ask, Acquire, Appraise, Apply & Assess) supported by case studies, exercises, worked examples and quizzes. The aim of the current study (undertaken in 2019) was to review ‘EBVM Learning’ to ensure its ongoing relevance and usefulness to the range of learners engaged in EBVM. Feedback was gathered from stakeholder groups using website statistics and feedback forms, a survey and semi-structured interviews to provide a combination of quantitative and qualitative data.Website statistics revealed an international audience and a steady increase in visitors exceeding 1,000 per month in August 2020. Feedback via the online form (n=35) and survey (n=71) indicated that the resource was well structured, with an appropriate level and amount of content, useful examples and quizzes and the majority of respondents would use it again. Semi-structured interviews of educators (n=5) and veterinarians (n=8) identified three themes: features of the ‘EBVM Learning’ resource (strengths, suggestions for improvement), embedding the resource in education (undergraduate, postgraduate) and promoting EBVM (challenges, motivation for engagement). At a project team workshop the results were used to plan updates to the existing content and to identify new ways to promote learning and engagement. An updated version of ‘EBVM Learning’ was developed.‘EBVM Learning’ is helping to produce the next generation of evidence-based practitioners and enabling to engage in the concepts of EBVM as part of their clinical practice

Examining the demographic profile and attitudes of citizens, in areas where organised crime groups proliferate

Whilst studies refer to the community impact of Organized Crime (OC), no survey currently exists to examine the views of those citizens who reside in areas where Organized Crime Groups (OCGs) proliferate. 431 questionnaires from households co-existing in high density OCGs areas were analysed in relation to: a) demographic information; b) views on the community and the police; and c) how they expected other residents to react to illegal incidents. Overall respondents thought the average citizen would refuse to intervene in 10% - 48% of illegal incidents, with the specific case influencing whether and how they would respond. The analysis then compared three communities who lived in high density OCG areas with a control community (n=343). The ‘OCG’ communities were more likely to report low collective efficacy and were least likely to expect their neighbours to confront a crime in action. Conversely, whilst the control group showed higher levels of collective efficacy and expected the average resident more likely to confront illegal behaviour, this trend did not extend to street drug dealing and serious crime associated with OC. The study discusses the unreported intimidation associated with OCGs and the challenges of policing hostile environments

Defective ALC1 nucleosome remodeling confers PARPi sensitization and synthetic lethality with HRD.

Chromatin is a barrier to efficient DNA repair, as it hinders access and processing of certain DNA lesions. ALC1/CHD1L is a nucleosome-remodeling enzyme that responds to DNA damage, but its precise function in DNA repair remains unknown. Here we report that loss of ALC1 confers sensitivity to PARP inhibitors, methyl-methanesulfonate, and uracil misincorporation, which reflects the need to remodel nucleosomes following base excision by DNA glycosylases but prior to handover to APEX1. Using CRISPR screens, we establish that ALC1 loss is synthetic lethal with homologous recombination deficiency (HRD), which we attribute to chromosome instability caused by unrepaired DNA gaps at replication forks. In the absence of ALC1 or APEX1, incomplete processing of BER intermediates results in post-replicative DNA gaps and a critical dependence on HR for repair. Hence, targeting ALC1 alone or as a PARP inhibitor sensitizer could be employed to augment existing therapeutic strategies for HRD cancers.Work in I.A.’s group is funded by the WellcomeTrust (grant number 210634), BBSRC (BB/R007195/1), and Cancer ResearchUK (C35050/A22284). Work in D.A.’s group is funded by the Cancer ResearchUK Career Development Fellowship (grant number 16304). Work in the S.J.B.lab is supported by the Coun, which receives its core fundingfrom Cancer Research UK (FC0010048), the UK Medical Research Council(FC0010048), and the Wellcome Trust (FC0010048); a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant (TelMetab); and Wellcome TrustSenior Investigator and Collaborative Grants. S.S.-B. was the recipient of an EMBO Long Term Fellowship (ALTF 707-2019) and a MSCA individual fellow-ship (grant 886577). Work in the J.R.C. group is funded by CRUK Career Devel-opment Fellowship (C52690/A19270) with infrastructural support from Well-come core award 090532/Z/09/ZS