The Future Of Policing In The Digital Age

We live in a time where the global sharing of threat intelligence is not only possible; it’s vital to the security of our global infrastructure, and this digital revolution is not going to slow up but will increase in its revolutionary capacity.

So far, the biggest challenges have revolved around technology, laws, and cost, but still, over the past year, there has been a major push toward making this process more approachable and globally-impactful.

In the UK the police force’s use and understanding of the cyber/digital age came under scrutiny with a conference that took place at RUSI (Royal United Service Institute) in Whitehall on the 21st June.

By having such a police focused cyber meeting in the first place is a very good overall sign that the UK police want to stay on the moment and to understand their current and future cyber/digital requirements. And this positive indicator is a valid indication of the digital progress being made in the UK’s police. They link with the different intelligence services and practices both in government and in the private sectors better than most other national police forces.

However, what also became apparent, and to the delegates apparently something they were unaware of, is that within most of the UK police force there is still a real lack of coordination and inter-force digital information sharing. 

We now live in an integrating and cross communicative society where access to social media and information has become a global activity and yet the UK police force still is situated in the old industrial age structure with 43 different forces policing most of the UK – only Scotland has an integrated police force. 

The rest of the UK has not learnt the lessons of digital integration that suggest that the management and the 43 individual police forces should not only electronically integrate, but also the higher level of management should be reduced and combined. The old Dixon of Dock Green understanding, going back to the 1950s, is often still considered to be at least partially relevant. Yet we now live in a world where information and the global criminal element means that law breaking can take place in the EU or Asia and yet the crime happens in Australia, the US or UK or all three places or of course criminals from the West attack subjects in the East. 

The lack of real understanding on a force by force level concerning digital analysis and the required training and effective outcomes have only been partially implemented into around 9 of the 43 forces and even in the nine forces the levels of understanding differ and the equipment is often not up to the required levels. 

The understanding exits within the UK police force but the need to co-ordinate and integrate the 43 forces has yet to be really engaged with as the senior police management understandable don’t want to move into the new Digital Age, co-ordinate and management-merge as they would be in fear of losing their jobs.

For more information and analysis please contact: Cyber Security Intelligence