How emerging technology will transform tomorrow’s police force

It’s common to have barriers to innovation.

How do you invest in effective exploration of new technologies with limited budgets? How do you safely migrate legacy systems to the cloud in the face of cost and security considerations? Or stop siloed data restricting the opportunities to share?

What’s clear, however, is that large-scale digital ecosystems must meet the police’s needs on a realistic, practical level so they can simply do their job.

To achieve this we need to start with all UK forces having the same technology foundations. This will enable efficiencies and the ability to share data with ease, while allowing officers and staff to use emerging technologies effectively and consistently.

It’s important for digital suppliers and police professionals to talk the same language in order to solve policing challenges together. Understanding what’s integrable, usable and possible in the future requires a shared approach to innovation.

It’s also worth remembering that innovation that isn’t useful and practical is merely a gadget.

Development is always constrained by budget. Building fail-fast testing that thoroughly assesses a technology’s potential and pitfalls into the innovation process is necessary. But financially hard to do.

At the moment, each police force has its own processes, demographics and types of crime to deal with. So coordinating all UK police forces – getting them to integrate and share the same technological systems – requires careful management and a collaborative approach.

The last 15 years have seen rapid technological change. And while the pandemic accelerated digital adoption, it’s clear that the police forces with a connectivity infrastructure in place are better prepared for transformation.

Surrey & Sussex Police showed how improving connectivity enabled these two forces to handle data and utilise their body-worn video, resulting in reduced operational costs and increased efficiencies.

This demonstrates that having the right network connectivity and advanced digital ecosystems is the foundation for positive digital transformation change. Adapting to change is crucial to the integration of those ecosystems, however.

The good news is that by ensuring digital, data and technology capability is built across police forces, adoption can accelerate and policing organisations get what they truly need. This is especially true if it involves representatives from all stakeholder groups in business change.