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Perspectives

The future of policing

The policing innovations shaping the future of law enforcement

New technologies, new methods, and new ideas have brought significant change to law enforcement. Police and law enforcement agencies across the country are driving the change, pioneering creative ideas, adapting to changing contexts, and incorporating insights from officers and community partners. The innovations that are shaping the future of law enforcement begin with emerging technologies that support new concepts of operations, enabling the interventions and relationships that keep society safe.

The next century of policing

Law enforcement is about keeping society safe. So it is no surprise that as society has changed, so too has law enforcement. New technologies, new methods, and new ideas have brought significant change to the profession. But at its core, law enforcement requires the same dedication to communities, the same sense of duty and sacrifice, and the same integrity it always has.

As law enforcement continues to evolve, it is important to look back at its history, with resources like the National Law Enforcement museum opening on October 13, to understand where we came from and what we can do to solve our most pressing challenges.1 To understand those challenges, a museum can be a fantastic tool—allowing visitors to walk in the shoes of an officer and experience the dangers and stresses they face every day—but, we also must look forward at the future trends shaping that officer's day.

Today, the pace of technology is accelerating faster than ever. New devices and services seem to appear every day. We can now order anything, anywhere—from groceries to software to a ride from a complete stranger—using only a phone. We can reach anyone, or millions of people, in an instant.

Our capacity to learn and to do good, and the capacity of some to do harm, is greater than ever. Technology is changing core aspects of how we interact as a society, and as society changes, so too will the tools, techniques, and concepts the men and women of law enforcement use to keep us safe.

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Law enforcement innovation

Innovation is not just about the latest gadget—it's about finding new ways to do things better. Innovations can take the form of new concepts, new methods, or new tools. But innovation tends to work best when all these forms come together to enable police and law enforcement agencies to have greater insight and impact than ever before. The innovations that are shaping the future of law enforcement begin with emerging technologies that support new concepts of operations, enabling the interventions, and relationships that keep society safe.

Police and law enforcement agencies across the country are driving the change, pioneering creative ideas, adapting to changing contexts, and incorporating insights from officers and community partners. To understand how these innovative practices may transform the future, we must begin by understanding the journey an officer takes from evidence to insight. Officers need to be able to assess their environment rapidly, leverage technology as they pursue public safety, mine data for insights on what to do next, scale up their successes, and get deeply involved in their communities.

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Top five innovations shaping the future

Combining emerging technologies to gain greater awareness, faster

Every investigative journey begins with collecting facts about the world. Traditionally, this work has been tough. It could mean relying on a officer's memory of a license plate to look out for, or long hours searching for the right pieces of information. It often means being there, to see, to hear, and to deter—and no department can be everywhere. However, new technologies, like the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart sensors, can be there when needed.

Smart sensors can be used to compile many different types of information to help officers do their jobs faster and more effectively.2 New capabilities can log locations, listen for gunshots, stream video, flag license plates, scan databases, and go on virtual patrol, allowing officers unprecedented awareness in their environments.

These capabilities can provide the raw data which more detailed analytics can use to likely enhance efficiencies and expedite investigations. Most importantly, these technologies can help officers be in the right place, at the right time.

Harnessing digital technologies to improve officer and citizen safety

IoT and distributed sensing are about leveraging new technology to gather information about the world, and point in the right direction. But what should officers do on the scene? New technologies and practices are developing that can help guide action in the world. Advances in areas such as 5G communication, electronics miniaturization, and augmented reality allow people to see, hear, and act in ways that were previously impossible.3

For example, an officer arriving at an unfamiliar situation can now use augmented reality glasses to see pertinent information about prior calls for service from this address, find exits from a building, or see the recent crime history on the block.4 With this information an officer could take precautions to protect themselves and even better serve the public.

If an officer first walking up to a house saw that the occupant has a history of medical conditions, she could immediately bring an Automated External Defibrillator saving time and possibly a life. New technology can also provide digital back up in the field. Small autonomous drones, for example, can be programmed to follow officers, scout locations, and provide video streams so that no officer ever has to go into any situation truly alone.

Leveraging mountains of data to prevent crime

We live in a world awash in data. And as many departments deploy technology solutions like augmented reality, body cameras, license plate readers, and smart sensors, they will likely generate more data each day than in their entire analog histories.5 The success of future law enforcement strategies rests on being able to quickly and efficiently harness these immense volumes of data to support investigations and enforcement actions. But these mountains of data are too vast for any human to comb through, even if they dedicated an entire lifetime to searching.

To gain real insight, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning will be key to future investigations.6 For example, each year more than eight million tips on the location of missing children must be analyzed by a team of just 25 investigators.7 AI is being deployed to help those investigators sift through the data and find the most likely leads to identify exploited children and reunite them with loved ones. AI is already demonstrating its value around the world by helping police in England analyze CCTV video, officers in India find 3,000 missing persons in just four days, and the Dutch to find promising leads in cold cases. 8

By analyzing patterns, sensor feeds, and databases of records, AI could help law enforcement identify critical places to be, find key linkages between suspects, and explore other insights hidden in a sea of data. However, with civil liberties group already calling for bans on technologies such as predictive policing and facial recognition, law enforcement needs to find uses of AI that are effective but also consistent with community expectations. 9

Rigorously testing what works and scaling key insights

AI and machine learning can help find the clues to target a patrol or forward an investigation, using simple rule sets to test new hypotheses, identify what works, and scale successes. A similar approach—evidence-based policing—can also be applied to the methods of police work itself. Evidence-based policing includes using advanced forensic techniques to extract more information from the same amount of evidence, but it also goes beyond this to examine the heart of police activities.

Evidence-based policing can analyze data about the outcomes of police interactions to help find the most effective methods and tools while minimizing the use of tactics that tend to make situations worse.10 In an era when many police officers are being asked to do more and more with fewer and fewer resources, evidence-based policing seeks to pair them with outside assistance, such as academic researchers or computer programmers, to help focus their efforts on the most effective police work. That is exactly what the national police of New Zealand found when they established their Evidence Based Policing Centre.

Researchers are now able to comb through data and identify where enforcement actions could be most effective (for example, targeting drug distribution at the island nation's airports) and when officers' time could be better spent elsewhere (using traditional Māori-led decision making mechanisms to improve outcomes for young Māori).11 Using these methods, police were able to design more effective strategies to combat the most complex safety issues facing society, from domestic violence to cybercrime, while redirecting other issues to community support structures.

Forging stronger local networks to improve public safety

The mission of law enforcement is the safety of the community, and a strong relationship with the community is critical to the success of every law enforcement organization. Building close ties within the community is about traditional police outreach and local involvement, but it's also about leveraging tools to help people communicate their needs and their risks directly. New technologies can help police develop their ties to the community, by enabling officers to be more aware of and responsive to the needs of their constituents.12

For example, many communities are now using apps where citizens can report minor issues such as graffiti or suspicious activity to police, giving police real time awareness, dynamic prioritization of calls, and the freedom to focus on the most pressing challenges.13 But human relationships cannot be managed by technology alone. Combining innovative approaches such as evidence-based policing can help to re-baseline these relationships by changing the ways and times officers interact with the populace.

Departments can create more opportunities for positive interactions, while working to leverage the expertise, resources, and local knowledge of key stakeholders in the community. Using both technology and training, departments could make it easier for constituents to support public safety, helping to make community-law enforcement relationships healthier and more productive.

A new beat to walk

Change is inevitable, but law enforcement agencies can take proactive steps to prepare for the future. Along with these future trends, changing demographics are shifting what the officer of the future will look like and how they will spend their day.14 Law enforcement leadership must recognize these changes not only to recruit the right personnel, but also to manage them effectively in a world shifting from bricks and mortar to bits and bytes.

The millennial officer of the future will be the one in uniform as departments struggle to transition today's policing standards to tomorrow's. To make that transition as seamless as possible, one requires not only knowledge of the trends shaping the future, but also a deep understanding of law enforcement's past. By studying the history of law enforcement with resources like the National Law Enforcement museum, and by understanding the innovations that will drive the future, the law enforcement agencies of tomorrow will potentially be better prepared for change—and use it to their advantage.

And though technologies, methods, and tools may continue to evolve, the core of law enforcement remains the same: tirelessly working to improve community engagement and public safety. Innovation is likely to bring greater insight and safety than ever before, but the same professionalism and discipline that brought law enforcement through the last century will continue to be keys to success in the next one.

Endnotes

1 https://lawenforcementmuseum.org/
2 Max Meyers, Claire Niech, William D. Eggers. “Anticipate, sense, and respond: Connected government and the Internet of Things: The Internet of Things in government.” Deloitte Insights. August 28, 2015.
3 Joe Mariani, Brenna Sniderman, Cary Harr. “More Real than Reality: Transforming work through augmented reality.” Deloitte Review, Issue 21. Deloitte Insights. July 31, 2017.
4 Ray Briggs, Ed Dobner, Jennifer Dul, Joe Mariani, Pankaj Kishnani. “Digital reality in government: How AR and VR can enhance government services.” Deloitte Insights. August 24, 2018.
5 Melanie Basich. “Catching it all on camera.” Police Magazine. December 6, 2017.
6 William D. Eggers, David Schatsky, Dr. Peter Viechnicki. “AI-augmented government: Using cognitive technologies to redesign public sector work.” Deloitte Insights. April 26, 2017.
7 “The Future of AI in Law Enforcement: Intel-powered AI helps find missing children.” Intel.
8 Anthony Cuthbertson. “Indian Police Trace 3,000 Missing Children in Just Four Days Using Facial Recognition Technology.” The Independent.
Alejandro Tauber. “How the Dutch police are using AI to unravel cold cases.” The Next Police. May 23, 2018.
9 “Will artificial intelligence make us less free? Experts consider how the growing use of AI will impact civil liberties” American Civil Liberties Union.
10 “Strong partnerships at core of new Evidence Based Policing Centre.” New Zealand Police. Press Release. December 14, 2017.
11 “New Zealand's Evidence Based Policing Centre opens.” New Zealand Institute of Environmental Science and Research. Media Release. December 21, 2017.
12 Deloitte Center for Government Insights. “Customer Experience in Government.” Deloitte Insights. Interactive Graphic. 2016.
13 Brian Rokos. “Need to file a police report? There’s an app for that.” The Press-Enterprise. February 3, 2018.
14 Carolyn O’Boyle, Josefin Atack, Kelly Monahan. “Generation Z enters the workforce
Generational and technological challenges in entry-level jobs.” Deloitte Insights. September 19, 2017.

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