Artificial Intelligence

FEATURE: Despite the rapidly increasing use of technology in law enforcement intelligence gathering, humans continue to play a vital role in assessing, rationalising and contextualising data sources, based on their experience and expertise; and while officers may be susceptible to a degree of cognitive bias, digital methods can amplify those biases or trigger new ones, explains Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth.

OPINION: This week’s annual conference of the Policing Institute for the Eastern Region (PIER) supported by media partner Policing Insight, focuses on instigating change in the fight against child sexual abuse; ahead of the start of the two-day event, PIER Director Professor Samantha Lundrigan discusses the crucial importance of applied research in the field of public protection, and the positive change that is coming from these partnerships.

FEATURE: At last month’s Police Digital Summit in the UK, a panel of police, tech specialists and criminal justice stakeholders discussed how technology could help to meet the challenges of rape and serious sexual offences, and violence against women and girls; techUK’s Georgie Henley, who chaired the panel, highlights some of the key points from the discussion, and the collaborative approaches that can ensure improved responses in the future.

ANALYSIS: The recent horrific mass shootings in the US have once again highlighted how social media and online platforms are used to broadcast terrorists’ aims and actions; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at ongoing European efforts to target online terrorist content, including this month’s Terrorism and Social Media Conference in Swansea.

FEATURE: A new €7m European Commission research and innovation initiative has been launched to improve crime scene investigations relating to the transfer, persistence and background abundance of trace evidence, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth explores some of the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapid development of new technology in the police and law enforcement intelligence field, and how a pan-EU project could help agencies and providers maximise the potential benefits of emerging trends and capabilities.

FEATURE: With funding increases partially ringfenced for recruitment, more budgetary pressure is on the horizon for UK policing; Neil Amos and Richard Davis of PA Consulting spoke to a panel of police and crime commissioners and former and serving police leaders to discuss what could be done to build better partnerships with the private sector, and drive efficiencies and improved services.

ANALYSIS: As we approach the fifth anniversary of the Manchester Arena bombing, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the lessons that need to be learned in relation to protecting public spaces from terror attack, and the important balance between community security and the rights of individual citizens.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s Police Digital Summit, and a year after his interview for CoPaCC’s Future Police Contact Management report, PSNI ACC Alan Todd, the NPCC lead for contact management, spoke to Policing Insight about the digital contact developments over the past 12 months, the challenges still ahead, and next month’s launch of a new British Sign Language video relay service for emergency calls.

INNOVATION: With the continuing proliferation of technology and digital innovation across society, Tom Weeks, Technical Director of Informed Solutions, explores the importance of data science, standards, and citizen trust as drivers for sustainable policing success in a rapidly evolving digital world.

FEATURE: Greater use of data analytics in policing could offer significant opportunities to reduce crime, but the increased adoption of such technology is not without challenges; John Salt, CEO and co-founder of data recruitment specialists Only Data Jobs, explores some of the potential benefits of the new technology, as well as examples where law enforcement is already reaping the benefits.

ANALYSIS: A new survey of UK counter-fraud teams has highlighted a surging crime generating huge volumes of data, with specialists struggling to secure investment in technology and recruit staff; but despite the challenges, the report also points to pockets of best practice and opportunities to improve prevention, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

ANALYSIS: With artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly utilised in policing, regulation and governance of the new technology, as well as recognition of its limitations, will be crucial if communities are to support its wider use; Analyst Dr Teagan Westendorf of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute takes a closer look at the implications of AI for policing in Australia.

FEATURE: A new report from the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee has called for more governance and scrutiny of technology in the UK justice system, amid concerns that the lack of standards and transparency over the police use of artificial intelligence threatens human rights and civil liberties, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

INNOVATION: Virtual and augmented reality immersive technologies could provide valuable insights for police officers in both training and real-world scenarios; in the second in a series of articles from Emerging Tech in Policing Week, Stergios Aidinlis, Research Analyst at Trilateral Research, explores some of the potential benefits and the challenges of using this new technology.

INNOVATION: Artificial intelligence, automation and machine learning offer significant opportunities for improving performance in policing; but in this first in a series of articles from Emerging Tech in Policing Week, Matthew Cheesman, Technology Consulting Manager for Accenture, argues that the key to their successful adoption and implementation will be ethics, transparency and governance.

ANALYSIS: Fraud is now the most common crime in England and Wales, costing the UK economy £137bn each year; in this article, Richard Hyde, Scott Corfe and Bill Anderson-Samways of the Social Market Foundation (SMF) examine the inadequacy of police resource dedicated to tackling the problem, and call on the Government to take a comprehensive ‘systems approach’ to tackling fraud, enacting reforms that can endure over decades.

OPINION: For over a decade, public safety officials have recognised that the capacity to retain current highly trained staff and recruit next generation professionals is central to public service success; the University of Southampton’s Dr Fatema Zaghloul, and Justin Partridge of the University of Leeds, explore talent management in the public safety sector and reflect on previous endeavours to attract next generation professionals.

ANALYSIS: As investigations of poor behaviour by UK politicians and police highlight a perceived decline of standards in public life, efforts are underway across the EU to ensure that the use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning technologies within security and law enforcement is compatible with upholding the seven principles of public life, as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports.

OPINION: Despite many more people dying on the roads than from terrorism or knife crime, roads policing resources have been significantly cut back over the past decade; now the Police Foundation has called for roads policing to be made a Strategic Policing Requirement, and a new Road Safety Commissioner appointed, in an effort to reverse the de-prioritisation of roads policing, as Police Foundation Director Rick Muir explains.

OPINION: Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to be a gamechanger in law enforcement, but only if there is confidence in its deployment both inside and outside of the sector; Steve Ainsworth, Executive Director of Public Safety at NEC Software Solutions UK, argues the case for more transparency around the use of AI in policing.

ANALYSIS: Despite strong community rules and safeguards, some social media platforms remain a haven for a range of illegality, including the illicit trade in wildlife; University of Cape Town Research Associate Dr Rowan Martin, University of Oxford Senior Research Fellow Dr Amy Hinsley, and Dr Ana Nuno, Research Fellow at Nova School of Business and Economics, believe that trade can only be tackled effectively if experts, big tech and regulators adopt a united approach.

INNOVATION: The latest cybersecurity research and innovation opportunities published under the Horizon Europe programme offer police forces the chance to improve operational cyber monitoring and threat detection; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the opportunities available, and encourages UK forces to make the most of the funding available to strengthen security and detection through collaboration with EU partners.

INNOVATION: Four years ago Dubai Police launched its first Smart Police Station (SPS) driven by artificial intelligence (AI), as part of the force’s wider Strategic Plan for the use of AI: Dr Jorge Román and Khalifa Al Room of Dubai Police explain the reasoning behind the development of the SPS, how it works, and the impact it has already had on interaction between the police and the community.