Police forces throughout the world have realized that resources are strained as far as they can go, and that only by shifting the emphasis from traditional, reactive policing—solving crimes after they have happened—to a proactive, prevention agenda, can they meet these new challenges head on.
Pursuing fresh opportunities
A more proactive model requires changing processes and adopting new technology to focus a police officer’s time on tasks that have the greatest impact. This can be achieved in five key areas:
- Informed prevention. A more systematic approach to gathering and analyzing data that reveals trends in criminal activity will lead to a more effective use of resources to target crime and prevent it from happening.
- Multi-agency working. By working closely with other agencies, the police will be able to catch criminals quickly, respond to serious incidents in a joined-up way and to find new methods of protecting people who are at risk of crime.
- Taking it mobile. Tomorrow’s police force needs to be fully informed when out in the field with more widespread use of secure personal mobile devices. Mobile working will also reduce the need for officers to return to the office to write up a case.
- Citizen-led policing. The force will need to engage with its citizens using social media and other technology to help the public become the extended arm of the law by gathering evidence and stopping criminals in their tracks.
- Fighting cybercrime. Tomorrow’s force must be ready to address cybercrime head on, warning citizens of behaviors or sites to avoid and tracking new behaviors and criminals across the web.
As this CGI white paper reveals, these new ways of working and the technology that supports them are not the far off dreams of ivory-tower academics. They are already being introduced across different forces today, helping police manage their budget cuts successfully, while reducing the time it takes to gather evidence and solve more crime.
