Making cash safe
The issue of so-called ‘cash in transit’ crimes is one that has been
increasingly in the media spotlight since the high-profile Tonbridge
Wells depot robbery. As a result in increased activity, this type of
crime has been identified as a national policing priority and expansion
of the ‘Safercash’ project. Police Professional reports.
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Neighbourhood violence: the link with alcohol sales
More alcohol sales sites in a neighbourhood equate to more violence, and the highest assault rates are associated with ‘carry-out’ sites selling alcohol for off-premise consumption, according to research from two US university professors.

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Increase in violence
Using different suites of spatial regression models, the researchers found that adding one off-premise alcohol sales site per square mile would create 2.3 more simple assaults and 0.6 more aggravated assaults per square mile.
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Ecological association
The researchers pointed to possible implications from the research on both public policy and on future research within the field of criminology.
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Young assault victims often involved in subsequent violence
When adolescents are treated in an emergency department after being assaulted, they have a significant chance of being involved in another violent encounter soon afterwards, according to new research in the US.
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Focused intelligence
In a time of ever-tightening budgets for forces throughout the UK, it
is more important than ever that analysis is used to focus scarce
resources where it is most effective and in ways to save money. Saskia
Welman reports.
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Problem-solving analysis in a changing environment
An innovative approach to engagement has identified a wider range of
data available to analysts and radically changed the way analysts
relate to the work they do in Warwickshire. Gemma Ilston reports.
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Forensic hand image comparison as an aid for paedophile investigations
Prof Sue Black, Dr Xanthé Mallett and Dr
Chris Rynn from the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, University of
Dundee, and DS Nick Duffield, Metropolitan Police Service paedophile unit,
examine how Dean Hardy eventually confessed to, and was subsequently charged
and convicted of, sex offences against children – largely as a result of
forensic hand comparison evidence.
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Regional insight
The use of automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) technology as
an intercept tool has long been proven as an effective operational
tactic for police teams. But what about the abundance of intelligence
that sits in each force’s ANPR back office facility? Project Insight
was established to exploit this intelligence and develop new and
innovative ways of analysing such data on a regional basis. Kate
McCafferty explains how it was done.
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Beyond assessment
Safer Birmingham Partnership used the production of a comprehensive substance misuse needs assessment as an opportunity to look at Birmingham’s alcohol and drug problem in a different way. Analyst Helen Hodges explains how creating an analytical product could also provide valuable information on the underlying causes of the problem.
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