For many in policing, the Beating Crime Plan beats to a familiar drum. Neighbourhood Watch, community policing and Safer Streets are all rooted in localism, with the overarching aim of preventing crime. To paraphrase Sir Robert Peel, crime by its very absence is evidence that policing in the area is working.
Machine learning and artificial learning have weaponised data to give forces a new tool in their arsenal to fight crime, and hot spotting as a policing tool is about to become even more effective.
However, delivering the crime strategy’s objectives of ‘Fewer victims, peaceful neighbourhoods, safe country’ could be a tall order for police forces already stretched to the limit. Especially given the pressures that continue to exist within the criminal justice system.
The vision to deliver local policing “increasingly focused on proactive preventative activity” – as set out in the Policing Vision 2025 – also needs to be underpinned by greater accuracy in pin-pointing exactly where and when police resources will have the most impact.
While the Beating Crime Plan might not signal a radical departure from tried and tested policing methods, what is new are the advances made in technology since it was first introduced back in the 1990s.
Machine learning and artificial learning have weaponised data to give forces a new tool in their arsenal to fight crime, and hot spotting as a policing tool is about to become even more effective.
Focused deterrence
Focused deterrence has always been very resource intensive; consequently, the pull on resources has made it unsustainable to deploy for prolonged time periods. But that is set to change.
It’s now more possible than ever to adopt a laser-like approach to micro-targeting, where the data being analysed relates to hours and minutes, rather than days and months. Specific officers can be pushed information while out on patrol and directed to micro-locations, where they can use situational awareness to judge situations and take the relevant action.
The improvements in computing capacity, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) mean larger quantities of data can be rapidly sifted to systematically identify patterns and trends.
This enables forces to predict outcomes and to get one step ahead of offenders, by effectively ringfencing a key location for short periods at the right time, to deter crime – for example, by introducing 15-minute patrols of one or two floors in a housing block, rather than a whole estate.
Safer streets
Providing the data in their system is of sufficient quality, forces can evidence with far more accuracy the exact period where patrols will locally have the most impact.
This will make better use of an officer’s time and allow forces to more effectively respond to local demand, securing wider community buy-in as it frees capacity to better target offenders and protect the most vulnerable.
Improving data-sharing in real time between partners from probation, health and education will also mean a far more targeted and agile approach can be taken to combatting knife crime, domestic violence and County Lines.
New technology can help forces strike the right balance between driving down crime in an area while maintaining reassurance and public confidence. Using data to micro-target can help officers find longer term solutions to preventing and reducing crime by sharing information with local partners.
Improving data-sharing in real time between partners from probation, health and education will also mean a far more targeted and agile approach can be taken to combatting knife crime, domestic violence and County Lines.
The primary objective of round three of the Safer Streets Fund is specifically to improve the public’s perception of safety in public places, as well as their actual safety, with a particular focus on tackling violence against women and girls. The advances in situational awareness technology can help forces deliver this strategic policing priority.
Real time notifications can be pushed to specific officers or teams along with tailored tasking relevant to the issue, area, time, and officer profile. For example, as they enter a location, they can track down high-harm offenders, or have dedicated patrols at specific times and dates based on the analysis of risk.
Delivering more with less
Allocating resources effectively remains a key focus for all forces as they continue to grapple with increased demand and stretched budgets.
Although officer numbers are set to be boosted by an additional 20,000 by 2023, the reality is to offset the number of officers who leave each year and the increase of young in-service officers who lack policing experience, 50,000 new officers need to be recruited within three years – a fact recently acknowledged in the 2020 State of Policing Report.
Accessing good quality data so an evidence-based approach to operational and workforce planning can be adopted is therefore vital going forward. Young-in-service officers will also be able to get up to speed far quicker and make a tangible difference to local policing from the get-go.
Adding validity to a stop and search
Being tasked through specific pushes of information and data relevant to the time and location will help address any unconscious bias and give officers more confidence to use the tool effectively.
Although forces have been granted more scope to deploy stop and search powers due to a relaxation of conditions under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, there remains concern around its deployment within some communities.
Giving officers greater access to real-time data will give more surety around the basis for the stop and search, adding validity to the stop.
Being tasked through specific pushes of information and data relevant to the time and location will help address any unconscious bias and give officers more confidence to use the tool effectively.
Real-time micro-intelligence pushed to them as they enter an area will result in officers making a more informed decision when conducting a stop. Harnessing up-to-the-minute intelligence within the context of the geofenced area will bring greater transparency around the use of the power.
Given the continuing competing demands on officers’ time, real-time quality data can play a vital role in helping forces deliver the visible policing outlined in the new crime strategy.
By dramatically reducing the size of location and the time spent there, officers will have greater opportunities to intervene and prevent crime before it happens.
New technology has enabled a harder data-driven approach that goes beyond just putting cops on dots, and will help forces deploy resources more effectively.
