Abstract Community safety in England and Wales underwent significant change a quarter of a century ago when community safety partnerships (CSPs) were introduced as part of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Measures to reduce or prevent anti-social behaviour and crime became the responsibility of not just the police but multiple public and third-sector organisations working in partnership. In Wales, additional complexity exists due to most CSP partners operating and working under both the UK, and Welsh Government remit. Findings from mixed-methods research into the training needs of community safety professionals in Wales revealed that support was needed in several areas of practice, including the practicing of meaningful ‘partnership’ working and problem solving. However, given the complex partnership landscape in Wales and lack of clarity around partnership governance, coupled with a seeming overreliance on the police and local government within community safety, the success of collaborative learning and development plans is limited.

In recent years, the use of public health approaches to address complex social problems has gained popularity. In England and Wales, the rise in low-volume, high-harm crime has accelerated this shift, with calls for public health interventions to tackle knife-crime, extremism and sexual violence made by politicians, policy-makers, welfare workers and the police service. Notwithstanding such appeals, how public health approaches are both operationalised and impact remain largely unknown. Drawing on findings from a qualitative study focused on the implementation of a specific initiative in the UK designed to reduce the risk of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) amongst young people, this article attempts to address tangible gaps in these two key areas of knowledge. Although generally supportive of a public health approach to CSE, an analysis of in-depth interviews with members of a multi-agency team reveals a number of quandaries and thorny issues when implemented within a specific policing and criminal justice context.

Sports settings have been identified as important locations for the prevention of violence against women, with numerous prevention initiatives currently running in many sports internationally. However, little is known about how those involved in sporting organisations, who are often tasked with delivering such initiatives, conceptualise the prevention of violence against women. This research draws on a survey of people who were invited to participate if they had professional experience in the development or delivery of violence prevention programs in their sporting organisation. We found that a cohort of participants had a limited understanding of primary prevention and how it applies to the prevention of violence against women through sport. Broadly, they were not aware of the difference between primary, secondary and tertiary prevention techniques. These findings suggest that there is a need for better education of those working in sporting organisations about the nature of primary prevention of violence against women as well as deeper consideration of the complex nature of doing violence prevention work through sport.

The policing of domestic abuse is a significant and problematic element of the frontline officer’s everyday business. Finding ways through which we can improve officers’ interactions with female victims has been none more pressing than in the post covid period, as the increase in domestic abuse continues to rise. This paper is based upon research of frontline officers as leaders in the practice of policing domestic abuse across four police areas and their perspective of emotional intelligence in risk assessing domestic incidents. What it revealed is two-fold; firstly, the considerable decline in its use with those officers who have attended multiple incidents of domestic abuse and how this decline has a negative impact on a victim’s long-term protection. Secondly, the motivation to find ways in which emotional intelligence can be reinvigorated and developed as a frontline leadership skill.

In the period since multi-agency working became the dominant approach to tackling domestic abuse, there has been ongoing development and innovation. However, little is known about what tends to enhance or inhibit the roll-out of such initiatives. This article examines the process of building an enhanced flagship multi-agency model for policing domestic abuse. We report on results from semi-structured interviews, observations of meetings and an online survey with stakeholders who were involved in the development of the principles underlying a new multi-agency risk assessment conference (MARAC) process. The participants representatives from policing, third sector, health, and probation organisation-described positive benefits of the process, whilst challenges coalesced around the focus on and engagement of perpetrators, and the problem of assessing the dynamics of risk.