In May 2022, Graham Farrell, Anthony Dixon and Nick Tilley submitted written evidence to the UK parliamentary inquiry into government actions to combat waste crime. The evidence focused on their study of waste crime fly-tipping in the pandemic and recommendations for the improvement of data collection and the need for problem-solving analysis to promote waste crime prevention.
In February 2022, Graham Farrell and Shane Johnson presented on ‘Crime in the Pandemic’ to the Future Crime / Changing World series of the Home Office and the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
On 15 October 2021, Graham Farrell featured on Radio 4’s Today Programme, on BBC Scotland, Radio Sheffield and BBC Three Countries discussing the crime risks of increased limits on contactless card payments.
On 15 October 2021, the BBC News report Shoppers start to use new £100 contactless payment limit featured an interview with Graham Farrell on the long-term risks of increased crime and criminality.
On 27 August 2021, the JDI Special Report #26 on the crime risks of increased limits on contactless card payments by Graham Farrell and Nick Tilley featured in a BBC news report.
On Tuesday 5th May 2021, we welcomed Dr Sarah Hodgkinson to the project team as Research Fellow in Crime Science.
On 16 April 2021, project work relating to the use of face coverings by criminals was discussed in the Guardian: ‘Rise in suspects using face coverings to mask identity, says Kent police‘.
On 09 March 2021, members of the research team presented on ‘Burglary in the Pandemic‘ to the Danish Crime Prevention Council’s research panel on burglary.
In January 2021, the team welcomed Dr Michael Frith as Research Fellow.
‘The great opportunity: how covid transformed crime‘ by Laura Spinney in The Guardian newspaper on 27 Dec 2020 discussed the project’s findings on crime trends as published by Halford et al., and interviewed project partner DCI Halford of Lancs police, then discussed the risks and prevention of vaccine-related crime with reference to ‘Preventing a coronavirus vaccine crime wave‘ by Farrell and Johnson.
On 09 December 2-4pm the project team hosted an online research seminar with six original research papers, four of which showcased aspects of the ongoing project research. The seminar was attended by 70-80 people.
The project has been engaged with Operation Talla, the national police response to COVID-19, for some time. We are currently working with Op Talla to develop a Delphi exercise that is designed to inform policy and practice.
On Wednesday 28 October 2020, Graham Farrell gave a public lecture hosted by the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region at Anglia Ruskin University, titled ‘Reducing the crime harms of the coronavirus pandemic’. Slides available here.
The team welcomes Dr. Samuel H. Langton who joins us as Research Fellow in Crime Science from Monday 12 October 2020.
On 28 August 2020, issue 7 of the Statistical Bulletin on Crime and COVID-19, titled, The First Local Lockdown, offered what we believe to be the first analysis of the crime effects of the local lockdown in the city of Leicester.
In August/September 2020, Graham Farrell and Shane Johnson participated in the Government Office of Science panel on crime prevention as part of the Rebuilding a Resilient Britain initiative.
Our thanks to Dr Emily Sheard who stepped in at short notice and contributed significantly to the development of the project work from June through August 2020.
In August 2020, Policing Insight, the leading publication read by police practitioners, began reproducing issues of the JDI Special Papers on COVID-19.
The project Twitter feed is to be found at https://twitter.com/covid_crim .
University of Leed’s news report of project’s study of lockdown effects being quoted in The Economist, 23 July 2020
The first issue of the new series, the Statistical Bulletin on Crime and COVID-19, produced and published under the auspices of the project, was published on 13 July 2020. The series is edited by project investigator Prof Graham Farrell and project data scientist Anthony Dixon.
The Economist article ‘How Britain’s cops spent lockdown‘ which refers to the project’s study of crime in lockdown, 9 July 2020.
The project has partnered with Neighbourhood Watch with a view to develop a national survey of crime experiences during the pandemic.
In addition to national-level partners, the project has partnered with three regional police services: Durham, Lancashire and Metropolitan police. These partnerships are designed to facilitate the development of practitioner-informed research and practice.
The project team have initiated partnerships with the Home Office, the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs Council, and a representative from each sits on our national advisory group.
Project investigator Prof Nick Tilley and UCL’s Prof Gloria Laycock established and are series editors of the Special Papers on COVID-19 published by the UCL Jill Dando Institute for Crime Science. While many of the papers published in the series have been authored by members of the project team, the series has become a focal point for researchers more generally.
Project investigator Prof Kate Bowers, editor of the peer-reviewed journal Crime Science, initiated a special collection on COVID-19 and crime as the project was in preparation in May 2020.
Project funding announcement by N8-PRP on 19 June 2020.
University of Leeds News site announcement of project funding, 09 June 2020
University of Leeds, School of Law research project page.