Multi-million pound investment in data centre to tackle crime and free-up officer time

The new Centre for Police Productivity will be the first of its kind in British policing and will use new tools to spot emerging crime trends and tactics to drive efficiency. It could save the equivalent of an additional 20,000 police officers’ worth of time.

It is being created with government funding as part of its commitment to invest more than £230 million in technology such as facial recognition and drones as first responders.

The centre will work with police forces to develop new tactics before testing and sharing them to tackle crime early on and save officer time.

It follows the Government’s independent Policing Productivity Review, which identified huge potential to save police officer hours by improving productivity.

Previously announced in the Spring Budget, the Government investment will go towards innovation such as knife detection and AI, including automatic redaction and translation, and will enable officers to spend less time in the office and more time in communities.

The Home Office has selected the College of Policing, as the standards setting body, to house the new Centre for Police Productivity

One of its first tasks will be to work with partners in policing on a central hub for police data.

The productivity centre will include expert teams who understand data and behaviour change, visiting police forces across the country to ensure high quality and consistent information is being shared and used to create new tactics to tackle criminals and enhance productivity.

With high quality data the centre will be able to share AI solutions that can significantly reduce the hours officers have to spend going through thousands of records.

Chief Constable Andy Marsh, chief executive officer at the College of Policing, said this will be one of the largest collaborative pieces of work ever undertaken by the service.

“This is a significant moment for policing and gives us an unprecedented opportunity to use data and new technologies that will allow officers to spend more time on the front line keeping our communities safe,” he said.

“We can make huge gains in productivity by turning to technology so that we can spot crime trends without officers having to trawl through thousands of pieces of data.

“Using data-driven insights and innovation will mean officers can make their organisations more efficient and effective so that more time can be spent on frontline policing to keep the public safe.”

Policing Minister Chris Philp said: “It is critical that our police officers are out on our streets, stopping criminals and supporting the public, and we will continue in our plan to remove any barriers that keep them from this.

“I want to see cutting-edge innovation ingrained in our policing, and the new Centre for Police Productivity and our reforms to cut red tape will remove the bureaucracy that holds officers back.

“By investing millions in facial recognition, AI, and new knife detection technology, we will continue to give police the tools they need to rise to the challenge of modern policing.”

In addition to fighting crime, the work of the centre will mean national standards can be set for productivity so that there is consistency across England and Wales.

Rachel Tuffin, director at the College of Policing, said: “This new centre will complement the knowledge we have from the What Works Centre for Crime Reduction where police use evidence and knowledge to make informed decisions.

“We now have an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate policing’s use of data and new technologies by taking a more joined-up and evidence-based approach to keep the public safe.”

The Productivity Review also recommended many initiatives that the government has already started implementing, including the expansion of facial recognition, with £55.5 million committed to its rollout across the country over the next four years. This will include at least £4 million for bespoke mobile units that can be deployed in crowded areas to identify people wanted by the police.

The expansion of Right Care, Right Person, which sees those experiencing a mental health crisis receiving the most appropriate treatment in the right environment by health and social care professionals, could save up to a million police hours a year.

If just 500,000 officer hours were saved, the Review estimates that officers in England could attend an additional 250,000 incidents of domestic abuse or more than 300,000 burglaries.

The Productivity Review highlighted a range of work that can save police time, and the Government has already started on much of this in the past few years.

Last year, the Government also signed the National Partnership Agreement with health authorities and the police that will see Right Care, Right Person implemented in all police forces in England.

The Home Office says this approach will “free-up considerable amounts of police time to focus on keeping our communities safe”.

Created by Humberside Police and the NHS in 2019, it is now much easier for staff in police control rooms to identify the right agency to respond at the outset when dealing with calls about individuals experiencing a mental health crisis.

Changes have also been made to the Home Office Counting Rules, so all reported crimes for a single incident will now consistently be recorded under the ‘principal offence’, rather than as multiple entries on a database that effectively duplicates information.

A core recommendation in the Review, the National Police Chiefs’ Council report estimated that 443,000 officer hours can be saved by simplifying crime recording – freeing-up time that could be better spent cutting crime and keeping the streets safe.

The Government is also going beyond the Productivity Review’s recommendations with technologies, including investing in the piloting of drones as first responders.

This will look at stationing ‘drones in a box’ in strategic locations for deployment to incidents prior to the arrival of emergency services, to provide support to frontline policing and police operations by enabling enhanced response times, informed decisions prior to arriving on scene, and increased safety of the public and officers.

Alan Pughsley QPM, lead reviewer from the Policing Productivity Team, said: “I am pleased that the work of the Policing Productivity Team has been recognised and welcomed by the Home Office. Our focus has and continues to be on delivering better outcomes for the public by helping policing to be more productive.

“Our recommendations will mean more police officers on the street, responding to incidents, and investigating crime. In turn, this will help to build trust and confidence in policing.

“We echo the message from the Home Office about police leaders working together to make the most of the productivity opportunities that exist, and it is encouraging to see funding for a Centre of Policing Productivity to support this.”