Technology and equipment

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of articles focusing on last month’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to Dr Nicola Millard, Principal Innovation Partner and BT Business Chief Technology Officer, about the importance of people-centred innovation, the need to recognise ‘easy’ as a driver for technological change, and the potential for mixed reality to transform police responses to major critical incidents.

ANALYSIS: With the complex digital underground increasingly offering ‘crime as a service’ facilities to both traditional organised crime groups and cybercriminals, understanding how the approach works is essential for law enforcement; Policing Insight’s Andy Staniforth looks at the latest information from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), and new research funding that could help police organised crime investigators, analysts and experts tackle the problem.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: A rising tide of online child sexual exploitation (CSE) cases has left UK police forces swamped. Technology provides a solution. How can forces harness technology to get through swathes of evidence and extract the insight they need to bring predators to justice faster?

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of articles focusing on last month’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to Brent Wild and Dr Steve Conn, IT connectivity and network specialists for Surrey and Sussex police forces, about the challenges around policing connectivity, the potential benefits from improving networks and interoperability, and the importance of understanding user needs in delivering new technology.

FEATURE: With worryingly high levels of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the UK and other countries, tackling these crimes will require effective leadership and greater leverage of the digital landscape by police investigators; ahead of next week’s London Policing College workshop focusing on these issues, College Director and former Met Police Chief Superintendent Parm Sandhu explores some of the policing opportunities and challenges in the fight against VAWG.

OPINION: While Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) have been in existence for several decades, modern technology to clone VINs for stolen cars, ‘title wash’ damaged vehicles and create fraudulent records has contributed to Canada’s growing car theft problem; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, argue that provincial governments have a key role to play in tackling this issue through physical VIN verification services.

INTERVIEW: Declining levels of public trust and confidence in policing can be attributed to a wide range of issues, from cuts creating a lack of visibility and overwhelming demand, to high-profile misconduct and serious crimes committed by officers; in the latest in a series of articles focusing on this month’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to Mike Lattanzio, Chair of the National Police Technology Council and Chief Information Officer for the Thames Valley and Hampshire forces, about how technology can help to regain that public trust and confidence.

INTERVIEW: The University of Tennessee’s Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC) established a global reputation for forensics training, but more recently has become recognised for innovative approaches to issues including leadership, communications and culture; Policing Insight’s Christine Townsend spoke to LEIC Training Specialist Jeff Hundley about the institution’s evolution, training challenges, and its student demographic.

ANALYSIS: Last month the cross-party UK Home Affairs Committee published its latest report on drugs, which included calls for a reform of legislation, greater cross-departmental collaboration in combating drugs, and more emphasis on protecting children and adopting a trauma-informed approach to the problem; Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons explores some of the key recommendation from the Committee.

FEATURE: The findings of the Policing Productivity Review across forces in England and Wales are due to land on the Home Secretary’s desk at the end of this week; in the latest in a series of articles focusing on the topics and debates from this month’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis explores some of the key points highlighted by review lead Alan Pughsley, who gave Summit delegates an update on the work of the review so far.

FEATURE: With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) expanding rapidly across society, police face increasing opportunities and challenges around its safe, ethical and reliable adoption and implementation; Caitlyn Kennedy, Policy & Research Officer for the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA), outlines the context and key points behind the Agency’s recently launched Australia New Zealand Police Artificial Intelligence Principles.

INTERVIEW: In the final part of our extended interview series with Professor Laurence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland sought the views of the Metropolitan Police Chief Scientific Officer on misconduct, making tough choices, and how artificial intelligence and live facial recognition might transform the nation’s largest police force.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: The London Policing College 5th International Conference Nov 2023 is focused on the leadership challenges for police education considering specifically the digitalisation of policing, violence against women and girls, and the response to tactical changes in public demonstrations and disorder. How to manage the transition to a new digital model for policing and its implications for leadership in the law enforcement sector set against lower levels of trust and confidence and challenges to performance.

OPINION: As the opioid crisis continues to grow in countries around the world, more police forces in the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere are looking to equip officers with overdose reversal medication naloxone to save lives; Vernon White, former Chief of Police for Ottawa Police Service, and Joe Carlebach, former Hammersmith and Fulham councillor, argue that with enforcement showing little signs of ending the opioid crisis in the near future, naloxone should become standard issue for officers.

ANALYSIS: The rapid expansion of the metaverse will leave police facing a whole new raft of challenges and potential criminality; in the second in a series of articles highlighting key topics and debates from last week’s UK Police Digital Summit, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to technology expert Dr David Nugent about policing the metaverse, the balance between free speech and accountability, and how verified digital identities could help to reduce and detect crime while freeing up police resources.

ANALYSIS: Last week police officers and staff, industry experts and stakeholders gathered in Brighton for the UK Police Digital Summit; in the first in a series of articles highlighting key topics and debates from the two-day event, Policing Insight’s Graham Jarvis spoke to keynote speaker, Police Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Paul Taylor, about facilitating innovation and how forces can collaborate to make the best use of technology.

INTERVIEW: In an exclusive interview in Stockholm, Swedish National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg spoke to Policing Insight’s James Sweetland about the country’s approach to law enforcement, the importance of international collaboration, rising gang crime, new tech, and the need to balance economic goals with public safety.

INTERVIEW: In the third part of our extended interview with Professor Lawrence Sherman, Policing Insight’s James Sweetland spoke with the Met’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) about the controversial topic of stop and search and the force’s new ‘precision’ approach to tackling violent crime on the streets of London.

INTERVIEW: In the latest in a series of interviews with leading figures involved in the research and investigation of organised crime, Policing Insight’s Dr Chris Allen spoke to Matt Horne, Former Deputy Director of the National Crime Agency (NCA) and now Head of Policing and Government at Clue Software, about why organised crime is like a virus, the importance of legislation to tackle economic crime, and why focusing greater effort on the enablers of organised crime is a key strategy.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Please join us for the National Body Worn Video (BWV) Conference, supported by Policing Insight and PolicingTV, taking place near Bristol on Tuesday 10th October 2023. In its second year, this event brings together keynote speakers, current UK suppliers and delegates from across UK policing, our partner agencies and beyond, for what will be a collaborative and informative day.

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FEATURE: As police leaders and practitioners, government and industry prepare to gather for this week’s Police Digital Summit, Martyn Underhill, a former police officer and police and crime commissioner who is now a consultant on policing issues, reflects on a similar Cityforum summit from earlier in the summer which focused on the challenges, progress and future potential for the police delivery of digital forensics.

ANALYSIS: A new report from the Police Foundation assesses the implications, opportunities and risks for the police service of adopting new contact and engagement technology as it seeks to rebuild public trust and confidence; the Foundation’s Research Director Andy Higgins explains more about the key points from the report.

OPINION: Improving system interoperability has been something of a technology holy grail for UK policing, and key to overcoming the frustrations felt by frontline officers as well as operational ineffectiveness and inefficiency; Wayne Parkes, former Chief Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Officer for the Police Digital Service and now a DDaT policing consultant, believes the wider adoption of Integration Platform-as-a-Service (IPaaS) could be the solution.