At the 2024 Police Superintendents Association (PSA) (1) Annual Conference, our Managing Director, Tom Gash, was asked to speak on an esteemed panel of policing leaders and experts, alongside NPCC Chair CC Gavin Stephens QPM, CEO of the College of Policing Sir Andy Marsh QPM, and Police Foundation Director Dr. Rick Muir.
At Leapwise, we work with forces across the UK to help future-proof their organisations in the face of a rapidly changing societal and policing context. The PSA conference offered some invaluable insights into what that future will look like – offering plenty of food for thought for leaders across the sector.
Here are our own 4 key takeaways on the future of policing:
1. Technology as a force multiplier for public safety
Policing is, to its credit, increasingly recognising the value that technology can offer as a force multiplier for public safety. At last year’s APCC-NPCC Partnership Summit, CC Stephens committed (2) to a “quantum leap” around tech, AI, and data. At the 2024 PSA Annual Conference, the same message came through loud and clear from many attendees.
Our Managing Director, Tom Gash, provided one instructive example of how technology has already offered clear public safety benefits. As he noted, partly through medical advances (which have offset advances in weaponry), there has been a sharp drop in the effective murder rate in the USA. As people were able to get to more effective medical treatment, deaths through homicide fell too. This showcases how innovation can help policing achieve its overarching goals.
There are plenty of other examples too. The implementation of CCTV has made it easier to solve some crimes, with live facial recognition technology now increasingly used by the Met to identify wanted people too. Predictive analytics can help policing be much more targeted in preventing serious offences. And new developments around AI and automation can enhance efficiency, freeing up officers to focus on their core work of tackling crime. So, policing is right to push hard on embracing technology – the potential really is vast.
2. Renewed cultural and ethical challenges
Cultural and ethical challenges have become much more salient in the debate around policing in recent years. Policing’s always had to contend with its historical role as a powerful agent of social control – marginalised communities have long had a much less trusting relationship with the officers who patrol their streets. But recent confidence crises, including prominent examples like the Sarah Everard case, have created renewed focus on this important reality. And crucially, they’ve damaged public trust as well.
This has created complex challenges that aren’t easy for policing to solve. For example, questions around disproportionality, handling of violence against women and girls, vetting problems, and whether police culture is fit for the 21st century. As police forces strive to build better relationships with the communities they serve, it’s essential that they acknowledge past wrongs and take steps to create a culture of transparency and accountability.
Building back trust requires more than just dusting off the same old community relations programmes. It requires a firm commitment to ethical behavior and systemic change. Forces need to adopt policies and practices that address the root causes of these issues. This isn’t simply a matter of improving public perception, important as that is. It’s really about transforming the culture within policing to one that consistently reflects the values of fairness, equity, and justice.
3. Getting data in the right place
Just as new innovations have transformed modern society and modern policing, the digital revolution is having the same effect. As Tom noted, the average household in the UK now has 10 connected devices. That’s something that comes with obvious benefits – added convenience from smart devices, for example – but creates challenges as well. A much greater range of cybersecurity threat vectors now exists in the average household and, for a police officer starting an investigation, there’s often an overwhelming amount of data that they have to try and work through.
This is no different internally, of course. From body-worn video cameras to smart devices used by police officers, manual models of data processing are increasingly unfit for the task. Instead, police forces will need to keep investing in digital tools that can sift through vast amounts of information efficiently and with minimal bias.
However, it’s not just the sheer volume of data that presents a challenge. Emerging technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, introduce new problems for law enforcement as new sub-types of crime emerge. While there have already been (3) to project how future crime will evolve, policing will have to get better at identifying how things are changing. Digital literacy is one thing, but being able to scope information and innovation out in the world is the far bigger aspiration.
4. Building ongoing relationships with citizens through technology
Another core theme explored at the conference was how much further policing must go in modernising its approach to communicating with citizens. Rather than engaging with people through one-off interactions – and rightly striving for a good service there – police forces should shift to building ongoing relationships with citizens. This could help to improve trust and confidence, especially in the face of the cultural crises evident today.
Technology can play a crucial part here too. A good example of this comes from Humberside Police. As a recent HMICFRS report (4) set out, Humberside has developed a tool called ‘My Police Portal’. This sends victims push notifications, offering updates on their case at seven stages of an investigation. It’s had some demand reduction benefits – 101 calls for case updates dropped by 60% according to HMICFRS – but it’s also an example of a relationship where citizens are engaged with consistently throughout a police process.
It’s positive that HMICFRS say that seven other forces will use My Police Portal by the end of this calendar year. With citizens expecting more from their public services – perhaps even the same joined-up, data-savvy approach we see from leading supermarkets – police forces should view technology as a way to strengthen connections with their communities. That doesn’t mean abandoning bobbies on the beat. It means using new tech to make things like neighbourhood policing far more engaging than was ever possible before.
New technology, more data, same old priorities?
The future of policing will undoubtedly be much changed by new technology. The transformations we’ve already seen through the rise of digital may be dwarfed by how impactful AI proves to be. Similarly, to use CC Gavin Stephens’ language, live facial recognition could prove a “quantum leap” on CCTV. Generative AI might really match the hype. And policing might successfully exploit its data assets with a new, joined-up approach.
But it’s not only about innovation. Policing also needs to double-down on well-worn priorities. That includes building sustained relationships with citizens, learning from the best innovations of the private sector, and working with academic partners and others who can contribute external expertise. The future of policing isn’t just about tech, AI, and data, it’s about forging closer collaborations, with partners, on a shared mission to keep the public safe.
For further insights and to watch the full video of Tom’s presentation at the conference, visit this link.
