Policing is operating in a context of particularly rapid change. Police forces are operating under considerable stress, faced with reduced budgets at the same time as changing patterns of demand. Crime is changing, in part driven by the technological revolution we describe in this report. New skills are being demanded of police officers. The public is increasingly tech savvy and expects the police to be so too. This transforming context inevitably requires far reaching change in the nature of policing.

This report looks at how the police can meet this challenge by the imaginative use of data-driven driven technologies. In particular the report focuses on how data-driven policing can contribute to public value.