Artificial Intelligence

ANALYSIS: High-harm domestic abuse offenders are likely to have a criminal record and several police interactions before they are first reported for partner violence – and a small number go on to cause disproportionate harm – so could algorithms and machine learning help to target them early? This was one of the key questions considered by New South Wales Police Superintendent Andrew Hurst at last week’s rescheduled Australia and New Zealand Society of Evidence-Based Policing conference.

INNOVATION: With pressure on police call handlers back up to levels not seen for many years, Steve Little from Frazer-Nash Consultancy assesses the options facing police leaders: either keep recruiting more staff in an ‘arms race’ that they can never win, or follow other sectors and turn to AI solutions that will deliver an automated experience for the citizen.

POLICING FRIENDSHIP TOUR: Sopra Steria’s Public Safety MD Paul Bergin believes policing already has the technology to predict future crimes and identify future criminals; the bigger question is how that tech and data is used ethically, as he explained to Policing Insight Publisher Bernard Rix on a recent leg of the Policing Friendship Walking Tour.

INNOVATION: The recent European Police Chiefs Convention was the setting for the first Europol Excellence Awards in Innovation, with a project creating a new tool to target online child sex abuse and a multinational collaboration tackling global malware scooping the prizes; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the two award winners, as well as the wider issue of the importance of innovation in policing.

INNOVATION: As delegates gather in Coventry for this week’s BAPCO public safety technology event, Simon Hall, CEO of police digital mobility platform PoliceBox, looks back at the predictions he was invited to make regarding police IT in 2006 – and the success stories, disappearing initiatives and surprise arrivals on the policing technology scene over the intervening 15 years.

INNOVATION: With global digitalisation, an increasingly complex international security landscape and the rapid advances in technology, new intelligence gathering tools and techniques are developing at pace; now a new European collaboration of 15 intelligence and security agencies has been established to focus and share research and development, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INNOVATION: Advances in technology, particularly in artificial intelligence (AI), could deliver real benefits for policing – but get it wrong and the impact can be hugely damaging; ahead of next week’s NPCC Conference on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion, Sharon Moore, Public Sector Chief Technical Officer at IBM, looks at some of the initiatives already underway to ensure issues such as racial or gender bias in AI don’t become barriers to public trust and accountability.

FEATURE: With police legitimacy being challenged and examined more than ever, the law enforcement use of technology and data is also coming under close scrutiny; information and intelligence management expert Giles Herdale, and former NPCC ethics lead Dave Lewis, look at some of the key debates around these issues, which were up for discussion at the recent Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec) live event.

FEATURE: There is widespread discussion about the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) across society and its relevance to policing, but for many it’s still a baffling subject; Andy Wilkins, CEO and Co-Founder of Futr – which has developed AI services for the police, local government, and the corporate and charitable sectors – explains what AI can do for critical services, why it’s important, and the difference it can make.

OPINION: The Home Office recently put out a revised draft of the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice for public consultation in the UK; Tony Porter, the former Surveillance Camera Commissioner and now Chief Privacy Officer at Corsight AI, believes there is a need for more guidance and clearer governance of surveillance cameras and facial recognition technology, and that regulation of their use and deployment should be a role for the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office.

ANALYSIS: COVID-19 has seen fraudsters taking advantage of the pandemic economy, and Africa has not escaped the attentions of those intent on fraud; Research Associate Nataliya Mykhalchenko and Lecturer Jörg Wiegratz, both of the University of Leeds, set out some of the key findings from their latest research into the responses to fraud, and the major characteristics of anti-fraud measures, across 11 African countries.

INTERVIEW: Professor Paul Taylor, who became the UK’s first Police Chief Scientific Adviser in May, believes policing leaders recognise that science and technology will be crucial to the service going forwards; he spoke to Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons about what his role will be, the importance of partnerships with education and industry, and how the National Crime Laboratory will drive evidence-based good practice in communities across the country.

ANALYSIS: As technology evolves, policing faces new challenges protecting the rule of law and victims online, while serving the online community; in Europol’s latest Spotlight position paper, Dr Mary Aiken, Professor of Forensic Cyberpsychology at the University of East London, and Dr Philipp Amann, Head of Expertise & Stakeholder Management at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, explore these key challenges, and consider the question of where to draw the cyber blue line.

FEATURE: As recent experiences in the US have highlighted, public infrastructure and supply chains are increasingly a target for hackers with a wide range of motives, and the growing dependence on digital technology increases the risk of cyber attack for public sector bodies; but as Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth reports, new European Commission Horizon funding is available for forces in the UK and Europe to strengthen their digital defences.

OPINION: Already referred to as ‘the most surveilled nation on Earth’, the UK looks set to invest in more CCTV through a funding boost to the Safer Streets initiative; but Professor William Webster of Stirling University believes that expanding the existing disparate and fragmented CCTV ecosystem neglects the wider societal change required for women to feel safer in public places.

New report: With growing volumes of increasingly complex demand, police contact management was already facing significant challenges before the arrival of COVID-19; but a new report by CoPaCC highlights how forces have responded to more varied public channel choice, adopted and developed new technology, and adapted working practices and reporting structures to meet the challenges of both the increasing demand and the pandemic.

INNOVATION: With increasing pressure on policing restricting opportunities for research and innovation, a new EU funding programme – to which UK forces still have access – could offer fresh avenues for transformation and change that will enable law enforcement to tackle existing and emerging threats, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

INNOVATION: With the first round of security projects funded by the S-TRIG programme now presented publicly, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the advantages of the early stage funding competition, and the success of Project Artifact, a screening and detection system that received a £30,000 grant through the process.

ANALYSIS: More than a year after Sir Craig Mackey submitted his review of UK serious organised crime, last month the Government published an ‘Executive Summary’ only, adding that plans to tackle SOC would now come under the Integrated Security Review; Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett reports on the challenges, concerns and lack of detail in the fight against organised crime.

OPINION: While COVID-19 and other immediate challenges have seen many sectors including policing focus on the present, the challenges of the future still need to be considered and addressed; Police Superintendents’ Association President Paul Griffiths looks at some of the key issues highlighted by futures thinking, and the steps the service should be taking to address them.

INTERVIEW: Ahead of this week’s launch of the UK’s new Police Digital Service, Policing Insight Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons spoke to CEO Ian Bell about the transition from the Police ICT Company,the pace of technological change in policing, and the aims and ambitions of the new organisation.

FEATURE: Just two months after the NPCC launched a programme establishing a network of not-for-profit Cyber Resilience Centres, the UK went into lockdown: Joanna Godard of delivery partners BRIM explains how the project has continued to progress despite COVID-19, and highlights some of the benefits it is already delivering.

INNOVATION: Intelligent automation is delivering significant savings, greater efficiency and improved job satisfaction for many forces across England and Wales; Christy Hopkins and Andy Willmer of consultancy Deloitte highlight some of the key benefits already realised by this automated addition to the police workforce.

Interview: West Midlands Police data ethics committee could see its role expand into a national portfolio building on its success of scrutinising police use of artificial intelligence-led operations and acting as a vehicle to build public trust in new policing techniques. Policing Insight's Deputy Editor Sarah Gibbons talked to one of the committee's creators about its work and the teeth it has despite being only an advisory body.