Technology and equipment

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: With digital forensics units across the UK are under increasing pressure, find out how Leicestershire Police is tackling these challenges head-on, collaborating with Telefónica Tech to develop a Digital Forensics Blueprint. Register for this exclusive webinar showing how that vision is being put into practice.

INNOVATION: With a wide range of potential applications for artificial intelligence (AI) in the law enforcement arena, Fernando Escudero, Tech Analyst at Spanish AI specialists ISID, takes a look at some of the most effective and beneficial current and potential police uses of the new technology.

FEATURE: The latest figures released by Action Fraud, the UK fraud reporting agency run by City of London Police, show that overall reports of investment fraud have fallen but the amount of money stolen by fraudsters has increased, with cryptocurrency scams, ‘pig butchering’ schemes, and pension and recovery fraud all cause for concern, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The World Police Summit 2025, supported by Policing Insight as media partner, is to take place in Dubai this May, bringing together thought leaders, law enforcement professionals, and global speakers from over 100 countries. Register your place today!

FEATURE: Following an inspection into the force’s prevention, protection and prosecution of domestic abuse, and the support for victims, a new report by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate (now the Policing and Community Safety Authority) calls for more multi-agency measures, better management of offenders and the adoption of a force-wide domestic abuse strategy, among more than 50 recommendations aimed at improving current approaches, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: Recent arrests and seizures suggest drug traffickers are increasingly switching to chemically concealed cocaine (CCC) to move tonnes of shipments around the world, largely undetected; in the third in a series of articles on CCC and organised crime, Policing Insight’s Chris Dalby looks at growth of extraction labs across Europe and into the UK, the wealth of evidence, information and intelligence that the discovery of such labs can provide, and the vital role of forensic investigations.

INTERVIEW: Marking his first full year in post, Ontario’s Inspector General of Policing Ryan Teschner has launched a new three-year strategy for policing in the province, along with a promise to be a ‘right-touch regulator’ who will propel Ontario to become a global centre of excellence; he spoke to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons about the aim of the strategy, his ambitions for the service, and how his role and the new organisation he leads has been welcomed by police agencies across the province.

FEATURE: A report on police investigations into crime in England and Wales, published recently by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, warns that overstretched officers, increased time pressures and a lack of experience are inhibiting the ability of officers and staff to develop an “investigative mindset” and hampering the quality and effectiveness of investigations, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, Chief Philip Lukens looks at the potential of agentic software engineering which, by empowering software with autonomous decision-making capabilities, can offers huge possibilities in analzying data and predicting crime patterns, but also raises concerns around accountability, bias, privacy, and the possible lack of human oversight.

INNOVATION: With the European Union’s draft Civil Security for Society Work Programme 2025 – which attracts significant funding from the Horizon Europe programme – already available online, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the opportunities for police forces in the UK, New Zealand and Canada to form consortia and submit innovative proposals tackling issues ranging from AI-driven cybersecurity to crime prevention and crisis response.

ANALYSIS: A new report exposes the financial mechanisms that are enabling the online sexual exploitation and abuse of children on a global scale, as well as highlighting that financial institutions, tech companies and online payment platforms are also profiting from this “grotesque marketplace”, as Deborah Fry, Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh and Global Director of Data for Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute, explains.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Ten years after a landmark report called for decisive police action on domestic abuse, Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) has risen by 37%, reaching what authorities now label “epidemic levels” across England and Wales. While underreporting remains a significant challenge, new technologies and initiatives—like embedded domestic abuse specialists and Digital Evidence Management systems (DEMs) —are being deployed to improve police responsiveness and prosecution outcomes.

FEATURE: A new report from the Vulnerability Knowledge Practice Programme analysing police-recorded child sexual abuse and exploitation (CSAE) highlights the scale of the crime, gaps in reporting, and threats that could contribute to further increases in CSAE, as well as legislation and other measures that could improve the police response, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

FEATURE: A new report from the Financial Action Task Force explores the financial drivers behind the “heinous” crime of online child sexual exploitation, with the increasing prevalence of live-streamed sexual abuse of children and the financial sexual extortion of children creating millions of embarrassed and vulnerable young victims around the world every year, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: In the latest in a series of articles exploring the opportunities and challenges presented to police by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI), Chief Philip Lukens explores the potential offered by intelligent holographic surveying, which combines AI, augmented reality and holographic imaging to create 3D images that can help police recreate crime and accident scenes, assist in search and rescue operations, and simulate scenarios for tactical planning and emergency response.

FEATURE: Last month the Spanish Council of Ministers adopted draft legislation that could introduce punitive fines for tech companies who fail to correctly label artificial intelligence (AI)-generated content, in a bid to tackle ‘deepfakes’; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the aims of the bill, as well as the impact more widely of the European Union’s AI Act, which could have significant implications both for tech companies and for the police use of AI.

INTERVIEW: As the Conservative Party approaches the end of its first year as the Official Opposition to the UK’s Labour Government, Matt Vickers, the Shadow Minister for Fire, Policing and Crime, spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the Tories record in office and their claim to be the “party of law and order”, the need for politicians to provide police officers with more clarity and backing, and why policing should be making more use of the “wonder tool” that is facial recognition.

INNOVATION: A new Winston Churchill Trust report exploring the international policing responses to cybercrime, written by Queensland Police Service Detective Chief Inspector Michael Newman, has highlighted a range of learning opportunities and practical takeaways around prevention, detection, investigation, and capability to improve Australia’s law enforcement efforts to target cybercriminals, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

OPINION: New South Wales Supreme Court recently found a police officer guilty of the manslaughter of a 95-year-old care home resident, who died a week after being Tasered by the officer; Deakin University Criminology Lecturer Dr Emma Ryan believes the case represents a watershed moment in the debates around police use of force, what the public expects of police, and how courts choose to reinforce those expectations.

OPINION: Europol’s recently published 2025 Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment (SOCTA) highlighted the evolving trends of SOC on the international stage; former South Wales Police detective Steve Dodd, a subject matter expert on intelligence professionalisation and advocate of the community intelligence-led policing methodology, argues that the SOCTA also reinforces the key role that frontline officers and the Neighbourhood Policing Pathway have to play in tackling that SOC threat.

INTERVIEW: With terrorist and extremist groups looking increasingly to online platforms as a way to radicalise internet users – particularly young people – the European Commission’s Prevention of Radicalisation Unit is working hard to counter their activities; in this second in a two-part interview, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Unit Policy Officer Friederike Wegener about the EC’s efforts to tackle the online terror threat, the role and impact of legislation, and the challenges of the future.

INNOVATION: The continuing development of multi-channel public contact is a key issue for policing across England and Wales; in the last in the recent series of Policing Tech Forum webinars produced by PolicingTV, Content Guru Business Development Director Shub Naha, Humberside Police Chief Digital and Innovation Officer Scot Dunn, and David Jackson from the NPCC’s Digital Public Contact Programme, explored the opportunities for AI to improve service delivery as well as staff and officer wellbeing, but not to replace humans in the process.

OPINION: Data-driven evidence-based policing has the potential to enhance both public safety and community trust; however, Dr Vidal Chavannes, Director of Strategy, Research and Organizational Performance at Durham Regional Police Service, warns that without community-centric data governance, where policing co-creates data policies with those communities most affected by them, such an approach risks becoming “another mechanism for control rather than a tool for genuine reform”.

INNOVATION: With increasing recognition of the opportunities for artificial intelligence (AI) to significantly reduce the time and costs associated with some policing activities, the push for wider use of such technology has never been greater; in the last in a series of articles on AI in policing, Matt Palmer, Product Director, Public Safety from NEC Software Solutions, explores the key issues around ensuring the technology is used ethically and transparently.