Technology and equipment

ANALYSIS: Shoplifting has become a focus for policing in the UK and around the world, amid claims that the retail sector is experiencing a theft epidemic fuelled by organised gangs, social media and a poor police response; Professor Graham Farrell of the University of Leeds and Professor Rachel Armitage of the University of Huddersfield explore the veracity of some of the key recent assertions made about shoplifting.

INTERVIEW: After his first six months leading the National Cyber Resilience Centre Group – a not-for-profit partnership that enhances the cyber resilience of small businesses – Detective Superintendent Ian Kirby has ambitious plans for growth and a call to arms for police officers around cyber prevention, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

LONG READ: Having explored the challenges and opportunities faced by policing in collating and analysing the huge growth in data sources – including the potential for technology to offer solutions, the skillsets required and the ethical concerns – what does law enforcement need to do to tackle these issues? In the last in the series of five features, Policing Insight’s Keith Potter spoke to police practitioners, stakeholders and specialists about the way forward.

INNOVATION: Social media platforms identify and remove huge volumes of online terrorist and violent extremist content on a daily basis, with much of the detection relying on artificial intelligence and automated processes; a new white paper by the Tech Against Terrorism Europe and NOTIONES projects examines the scale of the problem, and suggests steps that could improve and expand the response to such potentially damaging content, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: Policing is understandably keen to embrace the latest technology in its efforts to protect the public and fight crime; but Dr David Lydon, a former police officer and now Senior Lecturer in Policing at Canterbury Christ Church University, believes that the move towards technocracy inevitably threatens the service’s ability to operate a consensual model in line with the principles and features of traditional community policing.

FEATURE: As we welcome in 2024, Policing Insight Editor Keith Potter looks back over what the past 12 months have meant for policing in the UK and internationally, how those issues have been covered by Policing Insight, and the continuing challenges and opportunities for the year ahead.

FEATURE: The latest report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services into the police response to group-based child sexual exploitation in England and Wales has found that inconsistent definitions are fuelling a lack of understanding of the scale of the issue, with some officers still engaging in victim-blaming language, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INTERVIEW: With cyber threats on the rise, Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth spoke to Professor Stuart Macdonald, Director of the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC), about the current threat landscape, the cyber challenges for 2024, and how new regulations are combatting online terrorist propaganda.

INNOVATION: In the final instalment in a series exploring Essex Police’s Hothouse technology innovation programme, Policing Insight examines how the force is adopting new approaches to tackle drug-driven violence, and what it tells us about how policing could work with the tech sector, as James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: This year saw Cleveland Police emerge from the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services ‘Engaged’ status with some impressive performance figures; Tom Gash, Managing Director of strategy and decision-making consultancy Leapwise Advisory – which worked with the force on its improvement journey – sets out some of the key steps forces need to take to achieve a successful turnaround.

OPINION: The proposed closure of 29 police stations in Scotland is symptomatic of a wider problem in UK policing’s role and relationship with the community, believes former Police Scotland Superintendent Martin Gallagher – one which will require innovative thinking coupled with a refocusing on policing’s core functions if it is to be successfully addressed.

FEATURE: A new study from academics at Stirling University and the University of Edinburgh imagines how biometric artificial intelligence (AI) could be deployed by policing in the future, setting out both the potential risks and the opportunities that tools such as facial recognition drones could bring, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

OPINION: Stop-and-frisk is a controversial policy in US policing, but formed a key plank of Philadelphia Mayor-elect Cherelle Parker’s campaign manifesto in an effort to tackle gun violence; Arizona State University Professors Michael D White and Henry F Fradella believe stop-and-frisk can be used effectively and without contravening the constitution, if coupled with careful controls and a change in culture and accountability.

FEATURE: The growing application of artificial intelligence (AI) by law enforcement has been the topic of much discussion and debate, including the importance of oversight and the potential need for regulation; the recently agreed European Parliament political deal on an AI bill means progress can now be made towards introducing Europe-wide regulation on AI, with significant exemptions built in for its use in critical situations by police, as Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth reports.

OPINION: Recent suggestions that policing could use facial recognition more widely – including to check against the UK passport database to identify shoplifters – prompted an outcry from some MPs, academics and campaigners; but Dr Asress Gikay, Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation and Law at London’s Brunel University, believes the benefit the tech delivers, public support, and existing safeguards mean campaigns to stop the police use of facial recognition are likely to fail.

INNOVATION: A recent one-day summit hosted jointly by Essex Police and BT explored the opportunities for policing to leverage the maximum potential benefits from new technology; in the second in series of articles on the event, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports on how the force is using innovative approaches to data and tech to protect children from serious harm.

FEATURE: As the UK’s Covid-19 public inquiry continues to hear testimony from politicians, police chiefs and many others involved in the response to the pandemic, lessons around the importance of disaster planning and preparation are already emerging; Policing Insight’s Andrew Staniforth looks at the work of the EU-funded CORE project, which is studying the impact of and response to several major international disasters to highlight the key learning points.

LONG READ: The investigative opportunities and challenges offered to policing by the huge growth in digital data bring with them a much wider debate around the ethical use of such data, the importance of transparency and governance, and the need to ensure that policing maintains legitimacy with the communities it serves – issues which Policing Insight’s Keith Potter explores in the latest in a series features looking at the police use of data.

FEATURE: The first five-year strategy to tackle fraud, economic and cyber crime was recently published by the City of London Police – the lead force on the issue for England and Wales – in an effort to redress a decade of ‘deprioritising’ fraud compared to other crimes; the strategy looks to improve the service to victims, prevent the continuing escalation of fraud, and secure more successful justice outcomes, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

INNOVATION: With the growing UK national focus on the benefits of robotic process automation (RPA) – including the appointment of a new National Police Chiefs’ Council lead – local innovation in this area is all the more interesting; Essex Police are among those trying to leverage the maximum potential from this and other new technology, and highlighted some of those developments at a recent one-day conference, as this first in a series of articles on the event by Policing Insight’s James Sweetland explains.

LONG READ: Having previously considered some of the wider issues around policing’s approach to the exponential growth in volume and complexity of data sources for investigations and intelligence gathering, in this latest in a series of features on the police data challenge, Policing Insight’s Keith Potter looks at the concerns around staffing – from skills gaps and accreditation to leadership literacy and implementation.

FEATURE: Remote sensing tech to spot knives, off-the-shelf drones, real-time fingerprint matching at crime scenes, and deepfake detection algorithms – the UK’s recent Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and National Police Chiefs’ Council Partnership Summit highlighted a wealth of potential new applications of science and tech, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: The Forensic Science Regulator Code of Practice, which sets out the standards for forensic science activities in crime investigations across England and Wales, came into force in October; while the Code will deliver greater consistency and quality across forensics in law enforcement, the implementation will also create challenges around accreditation, capacity and training for forces working towards compliance, as Richard Cockerill, Digital Forensic Laboratory Operations Director with technologists CACI, explains.

INTERVIEW: A cold case review team led by Leeds Trinity University’s Dr Kirsty Bennett is calling on forces to be more open to sharing information and working in collaboration to meet the increasing demand from grieving families looking for justice for their lost loved ones, as she explained to Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.