Law enforcement is an occupational group that is more “at risk” of physical and psychological harm, as its members are called on to be first responders to critical incidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and traumatic events. This paper explores how the COVID-19 pandemic has provided new and somewhat unique conditions under which police must serve their communities. The scope of involvement and implications for the physical and psychological health and safety of law enforcement officers across the world is unprecedented—impacting every frontline officer on every shift. Build-ing on an evidence-based review of research from previous events such as the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, this paper develops key insights about the likely impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of police. A call to action for police chiefs and their leadership teams, including actionable recommendations to guide strategic and operational plans, is presented. Consideration must not only be given to the issues faced by police during the active COVID-19 period. Police chiefs and police leadership teams must plan and prepare now to meet the mental health legacy that COVID-19 will leave in its wake, months and possibly years later.

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The prevalence and impact of cyber fraud continues to increase exponentially with new and more innovative methods developed by offenders to target and exploit victims for their own financial reward. Traditional crime reaction methods used by police have proved largely ineffective in this context, with offenders typically located outside of the police jurisdiction of their victims. Given this, some police agencies have begun to adopt a victim focused, crime prevention approach to cyber fraud. The current research explores with a sample of two hundred and eighteen potential cyber fraud victims, the relationship between online victimization risk, knowledge and use of crime prevention strategies. The study found those most at risk of cyber fraud victimization despite accurate perceptions of risk and knowledge of self-protective behaviors in the online environment underutilise online prevention strategies. This research has important implications for police agencies who are designing and delivering cyber fraud education. It provides guidance for the development of effective prevention programs based on practical skills development.

Promotion systems form a fundamental pillar in the development of organisational leadership capability. Surprisingly, little empirical research focus has been directed towards the specific decision-making processes of officers that influence their participation and engagement in the police promotion system. Importantly, gender differences must be examined as female police now represent the biggest demographic change in the pool of potential police leaders. Based on a study of police officers employed in one Australian state police jurisdiction, the research concludes that similar factors are generally associated with engagement with the police promotion system regardless of gender. Notably, gender differences only exist for factors related to support of higher-ranking officers in the promotion application process, support of colleagues once promoted, confidence in readiness for promotion, increased work hours and child/elder care difficulties and change in renumeration. The research highlights that gender equity policies designed to encourage female participation/engagement may result in unintended, negative consequences. Almost 80% of male officers in this study strongly indicating that females are promoted based on gender rather than skills and experience. The research has significant implications for police agencies who seek to support female officers moving into leadership positions.