INTERVIEW: Keeping concealed and prohibited items out of operational police premises is a major security challenge, amplified by COVID-19 social distancing requirements. Professor Garik Markarian, CEO of Rinicom Ltd, explains to Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth the aims of Project Artifact, which advances non-invasive security screening to detect the hostile intentions of visitors, contractors and suppliers, as well as insider threats.

FEATURE: Police Rewired, the volunteer civic-tech community behind the annual policing hackathon Hack the Police, ran a new event this year – Hack Hate; organisation co-founder Lewis Westbury explains a bit more about Police Rewired, and how the hackathon against hate worked.

FEATURE: Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports on a new EU border security and surveillance system which could see unmanned, automated robots becoming the eyes and ears of a new Fortress Europe

UCL COVID-19 SERIES: In this latest in the series of COVID-19 briefing papers published by UCL’s Jill Dando Institute, Professor Martin Gill of Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International looks at the potential frauds emerging from the pandemic, and what the public, businesses and law enforcement agencies can do to deter the fraudsters.

INNOVATION: Big data can provide powerful insights into policing and improve performance, but getting it wrong leads to unreliable conclusions and poor policies. In the second of two articles, Professor Tom Kirchmaier, Director of Policing and Crime at the Centre for Economic Performance of the London School of Economics (LSE), outlines his team’s work with British policing and some of the important principles of using big data.

INTERVIEW: Incorporating new technology, collaborating with partners and maintaining social legitimacy are just some of the challenges facing Chile’s PDI in the future, explains Director General Héctor Espinosa, in the second half of his two-part interview with Policing Insight.

OPINION: In recent years major changes to policing have included a transformation of recruitment practises that have changed the workforce demographic; Ian Lithgow, IBM’s Partner responsible for Talent and Transformation, explains how a more strategic approach to workforce planning can make a difference.

OPINION: The coronavirus pandemic has put significant pressures on policing, which in turn have been significant catalyst for change. In this recently published white paper, former Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey explores how UK policing can use the current appetite for radical change coupled with technological advances to improve performance.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: ‘Triple A’. What automation, artificial intelligence, and augmentation really mean and their potential application to law enforcement. In this article, Adam Etches, Technical Director for Chorus, explains what they are and walks us through some practical applications.

INTERVIEW: In the fourth in a series of articles linked to this month’s Policing in the Time of Pandemic workshops organised by the London Policing College, Policing Insight talks to President of the College and former Met Police DAC Rod Jarman – and poses five key questions on the police-public relationship – ahead of his workshops on the issue later this week.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, chief technical officer at 7Technologies, examines the potential uses of new technology in border control and missing person identification, and how intelligent technologies could help to combat modern slavery.

INTERVIEW: Dubai Police recently became the first force to win seven IACP awards in one year, recognised for its work in areas ranging from forensics and research to victims’ services and highway safety. Policing Insight spoke to Dubai Police Commander-in-Chief, Lieutenant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, about the force’s success, its efforts to tackle challenges such as COVID-19 and transnational crime, and how high-tech and happiness are crucial elements of the force's long-term strategy.

ANALYSIS: The benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for policing are increasingly recognised and discussed, but what about the criminal threats from such technology? Keith Potter looks at a new report from UCL’s Dawes Centre for Future Crime which highlights some of the main risks to the public from AI-related criminal activity.

ANALYSIS: Nic Pole, one of the authors of the College of Policing's recent Future Operating Environment 2040 report, explores the concept of 'futures thinking' as well as some of the key challenges and opportunities for UK policing over the next 20 years – and how the service will need to prepare for them.

OPINION: The challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic have stretched emergency services around the globe in strikingly similar ways; Oscar Bachs, from Barcelona technology company Unblur, describes how innovations such as AI and situational awareness software could be used to enhance the safety and effectiveness of blue light workers.

INNOVATION: A review of Lancashire Constabulary's Force Control Room, which receives more than 1.2 million calls a year, led to the development of an award-winning voice to text system which will significantly improve the force's call handing and service delivery to the public. Project leaders Chief Supt Ian Dawson and Insp Andy Doran explain the background to the project, the actions already completed, and the potential for further advances.

OPINION: Ian Stevenson, Chair of the Online Safety Technology Industry Association (OSTIA) and CEO of Cyan Forensics, outlines the ever-increasing challenge facing police digital forensic teams targeting issues such as online child sexual abuse, and highlights the opportunities for transformational change by utilising new technology to tackle such crimes.

FEATURE: An industry body for security professionals has drawn up a blueprint for the lawful use of facial recognition technology; but, as Sarah Gibbons reports, thousands of leading international academics are warning that the algorithms and data used in such systems inevitably reinforce racial bias and prejudice.

OPINION: As policing by consent and the basis of police interaction with the public are widely debated, Dr Brian Moss of the University of Southampton argues that a hardening of police tactics – such as increased used of CEDs and predictive policing – have been met largely with silence by the UK police inspectorates.

OPINION: Adrian Timberlake, Chief Technical Officer at Seven Technologies Group, explains how new technology and the improved use of data could help police to prevent and reduce knife crime.

OPINION: UK police forces are under constant pressure to deliver more services with limited resources. IBM Services Associate Partner Luke Mundy explores how augmenting existing human resource with a digital, automated workforce could increase capacity, freeing up officers and staff to concentrate on nuanced, skilled, high-value tasks.

OPINION: With the Coronavirus dramatically accelerating discussions around digitising police legacy systems, Ben Austen of technology consultancy Tisski outlines some of the main benefits – for both the police and the public – of improving cloud-based digital evidence and forensic case management systems.

INNOVATION: Big data can provide powerful insights into policing and improve performance, but getting it wrong leads to unreliable conclusions and poor policies. In the first of two articles, Professor Tom Kirchmaier, Director of Policing and Crime at the London School of Economics, outlines his team's work with British policing and some of the important principles of using big data.

Opinion: With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) on the increase, Policing Insight contributor Andrew Staniforth discusses the progress of the ROXANNE project in discovering criminal networks and identifying their members by capitalising on certain aspect of AI technologies.