National security and policing agencies - United Kingdom

New Report: In the latest report from the CoPaCC National Police ICT User Survey 2018, officers and staff share the challenges they face in managing digital evidence. A story of unreliable and incompatible systems, insufficient data bandwidth forcing the use of physical media plus a shortage of skills and resources, all against a backdrop of ever increasing volumes of evidence required for disclosure. Read the results and analyses here in the CoPaCC Digital Evidence Management: User Perspectives Report.

LIVEBLOG: Policing Insight's Live Blog of the Police Foundation Annual Conference 2018, taking place on Wednesday, 24th October 2018 in central London. The conference, whose theme was "Innovation and learning in policing", included keynote speeches from some of the best policing leaders, thinkers and practitioners.

OPINION: Clue provides investigation and intelligence software to around a half of all UK police forces. In this exclusive article for Policing Insight, Clue’s Commercial Director, Thomas Drohan, provides an insight into his thinking on joining The Police ICT Company’s vendor management service as a managed vendor and what the future might have in store.

Opinion: Earlier in the summer techUK brought together a group of senior police officers, civil servants, and tech industry leaders to explore how technology can best be harnessed to combat fraud. techUK's Henry Rex shares the group's recommendations.

INSIGHT: Published today, the "Police ICT: User Perspectives 2018" report includes articles providing a range of views on the results and what should happen next. Policing Insight's editor, Tina Orr Munro, here acknowledges that some progress on police ICT has been made since last year's survey - but widespread frustrations reveal the police service still has a very long way to go.

ANALYSIS: Yesterday's National Audit Office report on policing was damning on the Home Office's failure to understand the impact of budget cuts on the financial sustainability of police forces. Rick Muir of The Police Foundation examines the report's findings and the need for a clear national strategy on policing.

Analysis: With an online crime reported to police every ten minutes, forces are investing in cyber security training. In the final of our three part series focusing on cyber-crime, CEO and co-founder of Cyber Security Intelligence Alfred Rolington says whilst forces are making progress, there's a long way to go.

Long Read: In the second of our three-part series on cyber crime and its effects on  UK policing, CEO and co-founder of Cyber Security Intelligence Alfred Rolington offers a detailed insight into the current cyber crime landscape and how UK policing is managing the threat.

ANALYSIS: The scale of the challenge involved in protecting the UK's borders is unprecedented. Professor Babak Akhgar of Sheffield Hallam University explains how the work of Project ROBORDER - testing innovative surveillance technologies - could help border security address emerging threats.

INSIGHT: Our new series, exclusive to Policing Insight, examines the impact of cyber-crime on UK policing. In the first of three articles, CEO and co-founder of Cyber Security Intelligence Alfred Rolington explores the '4th Industrial Revolution' and the factors leading to the emergence of cyber-crime.

OPINION: The strain on police efficiencies is greater than ever, with one of its key contributory factors - siloed data - potentially costing police officers up to 28 days of productivity a year. Coeus Software’s CEO Simon Hall explores the effect of this and how the latest cloud and mobile technology developments, changing software procurement practices and wider digitisation in policing can help the frontline.

ANALYSIS: In the second of three extracts from Vigilant Research’s latest in depth report on police technology futures, Director Stephen Roberts examines futures capability in other public sectors.

ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at Amnesty International's Trapped in the Matrix which examines the Metropolitan Police Services' Gangs Violence Matrix which it concludes is unfit for purpose.

INTERVIEW: Exclusive: Greater collaboration and more licensing agreements are high on the new head of the Police ICT Company’s to-do list. CEO Ian Bell outlines the direction of travel for the company.

Analysis: Vigilant Research's latest report launched this week examines the current police technology futures landscape and offers a set of objectives towards a centralised police technology futures capability. In the first of three articles, Director of Vigilant Research Stephen Roberts explores the current state of police technology futures operations.

ANALYSIS: Report Watch summarises the main findings of reports that impact on policing and includes responses from the main stakeholders as well as media reaction. Here we take a look at the NCA's The Cyber Threat to UK Business 2017-2018 which details significant and emerging threats to cyber-security.

INSIGHT: Drones must be managed and maintained to the same exacting standards of manned aircraft. David Hunkin discusses how this can be achieved

OPINION: Management Consultant and former Head of Innovation for Kent and Essex Police Martin Wilson believes simplifying the police's ICT strategy could bring clarity to what the service is trying to achieve and where it wants to be in the future.

OPINION: On 1 December 2017, the Police ICT Company entered into collaboration with a Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME). Boyd Mulvey, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Chorus Intelligence Ltd describes the journey to becoming an approved vendor with the hope of having a single contract with the police service. He reflects on what it’s like to be one of the first SMEs on board, the requirements placed on vendors, and explains why, although imperfect, the process is worth supporting and will give the police market a nudge in the right direction.

ANALYSIS: The BTP Leaving Home research project investigates the impact of the proposed integration of the BTP into Police Scotland on BTP officers and staff in Scotland, exploring issues of organisational identity, community, and attachment. Independent researcher Dr Kath Murray and Dr Colin Atkinson of the University of the West of Scotland explain their findings

ANALYSIS: The Police ICT Company has announced its latest collaboration with Chorus Intelligence which they believe has the potential to save thousands of hours across UK policing. Northamptonshire Police has already successfully trialled the software and is now looking to extend its use. Tina Orr-Munro reports.

ANALYSIS: CoPaCC's Police ICT User Survey had its first public airing this month when CEO Bernard Rix presented its findings to a conference of police ICT suppliers. But what can the service and suppliers learn from the results of the survey?   

Analysis: The way in which the police investigate fraud prompted a member of the Home Affairs Committee to recently wonder if the police could be accused of having ‘slopey' shoulders. The reality is far more complex.

ANALYSIS: There was a sense at this year’s Police ICT Summit 2018 was that there was much to celebrate about the progress police ICT has made in the last few years, but there is still much to do. The ambition and the commitment are there, but are the police service and the public on board?