Innovation in policing: Part three – crime prevention

So far in our innovation in policing series, we’ve analysed the current innovation landscape across police forces in England and Wales and drilled down into analytics as a means of enabling officers to make actionable decisions based on data insights.

In this blog, we’re focusing on crime prevention – namely how digital innovation can directly or indirectly lead to greater success in reducing and preventing crime and harm. Or, as the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Advisor (OPCSA) puts it: “the ability to understand and respond to drivers and inhibitors of crime, including crowd management, public trust, mental health and wellbeing.”

Prevention is, of course, the ultimate goal for any police force. The more effective prevention measures are, the more resources can be saved and the safer society will be. Crime prevention directly connects to the three mission areas established in the Office of the Police Chief Scientific Advisor’s (OPCSA) Science and Technology Strategy:

•    To engage widely
•    To evolve strategically
•    To embed the best science and technology in a way that is trusted by the public

There is nothing that can be more effective in driving community engagement, enhancing strategic operations, and building public trust, than finding ways to proactively prevent crimes from taking place. The challenge is understanding how technology can be used to deliver an advantage.

Attention on prevention

Whilst innovation is likely to trend most heavily towards Analytics, it would be no surprise to see forces focusing significant innovation attention on Crime Prevention. Forces have sought to create and implement new and innovative ways to get ahead of potential criminal activity and understand its underlying triggers. While data is the natural avenue to explore in science and technology, there is clearly a place for scientific methodology to prevent and tackle crime from the root.

Innovation in this space aligns directly to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) National Prevention Strategy, which focuses on:

•    Reducing harm by tackling the root causes, drivers and vulnerabilities associated with victimisation in both the physical and virtual environment
•    Reducing offending by tackling the causes and opportunities that facilitate offending

It’s all about enabling police forces to better tackle crime proactively rather than reactively. If issues can be understood at the start, there is a far greater chance that forces can stop them from happening in the future.

There are some obvious applications of this approach – most notably around youth crime, domestic abuse, and violence against women and girls (VAWG). Indeed, a number of forces have developed models and predictive insights across these areas in an attempt to enhance preventative capability.

One notable example is a predictive knife crime model developed by a force in South East England. The model assesses 12 different risk factors and drivers that indicate an individual’s risk and involvement in knife crime, helping the force to understand who and where to focus their attention.

Separately, two other forces have focused attention on tackling VAWG and domestic abuse, creating two different models that assess the likelihood of VAWG incidents and individuals likely to commit domestic abuse crimes. Both models go some way towards helping the forces actively prevent crime before it occurs – guiding them with greater awareness, strategic intent and effectiveness in preventing crime.

Though models and predictive tooling are one avenue to prevent crime, forces are also looking at other innovations including behavioural science, greater and more granular understanding of force wards and environments, and various forensic programmes. One force, for example, has developed a simple yet effective behavioural programme for perpetrators of domestic abuse crimes that helps these individuals understand their crimes and change their behaviours. More innovations, such as these, are just as critical in preventing crime across England and Wales.

Proactive victim protection

Our Intelligence Lead Assessment Service (ILAS) – a branch of AI that uses inference and reasoning to replicate and operationalise expert human tradecraft – is an example of a specific technology that is having an impact in the area of crime prevention.

In one specific use case, a male serving a prison sentence for drugs trafficking offences was due to move in with a mother and her 14-year-old son – who had previously been found in possession of cannabis – upon his imminent release. This link wasn’t clear on the child’s personal record, but ILAS was able to take a broader view of risk into account and infer a relationship between the adult and child that was not present in the records management system.

The system drew a connection between different contextual indicators and identified a valuable safeguarding opportunity that otherwise would have been missed. It recognised a potential threat and triggered an intervention that likely prevented future child exploitation and drugs-related crimes.

This is a powerful example of how crime and harm can be prevented using digital tools. Innovation in this area should be continued as a priority. As a result, this will enable police forces across England and Wales to improve their responses, make more strategic decisions, and focus their resources and efforts more effectively.