This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can policing increase the scientific expertise of our workforce to drive scientific thinking across the service?Policing’s Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) are underpinned by three enduring challenges that are relevant to all of the question groups, which reflect our seven service lines. We are keen, therefore, that they are given prominent consideration in everything that we do. 1.	Building and maintaining public trust 2.	Future workforce and training 3.	Responding to the climate crisis 2. Future workforce and training: We seek to increase the scientific expertise of our specialists and our wider workforce, to drive scientific thinking across the service. We need our specialists to have the latest skills and knowledge, and we need our workforce to be intelligent consumers and users of science and technology. Thus, underpinning each of our ARIs is a need to consider workforce skills and capabilities, as well as novel methods of delivery. Where possible, this is likely to involve ‘democratising’ science and technology so that it can be used by many while our specialists focus on acute and complex cases.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can policing increase the scientific expertise of our workforce to drive scientific thinking across the service?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can policing best assess and evidence the benefits of crime prevention initiatives?Crime prevention is the ability to understand and respond to drivers and inhibitors of crime, including crowd management, public trust, mental health and wellbeing. Policing are interested in identifying both where further testing of crime prevention initiatives is needed and where initiatives may be having disproportionate impacts that are biased or discriminatory. Furthermore, policing are interested in crime prevention approaches that consider the breadth of public services and, in doing so, help root policing’s role in public health responses.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can policing best assess and evidence the benefits of crime prevention initiatives?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.What methods and expertise can policing utilise from evaluation programmes in education and health?Crime prevention is the ability to understand and respond to drivers and inhibitors of crime, including crowd management, public trust, mental health and wellbeing. Policing are interested in identifying both where further testing of crime prevention initiatives is needed and where initiatives may be having disproportionate impacts that are biased or discriminatory. Furthermore, policing are interested in crime prevention approaches that consider the breadth of public services and, in doing so, help root policing’s role in public health responses.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

What methods and expertise can policing utilise from evaluation programmes in education and health?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.What cybersecurity threats exist for the use of drones in policing and how can they be mitigated?Mobility is the ability to move to/from locations quickly to prevent, detect or respond, including to access difficult locations safely to maximise intelligence and minimise risk. Autonomous vehicles, and particularly a combination of drones and fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles, offer a faster, safer, cheaper, and more sustainable means of frontline deployment and advanced evidence capture. The National Police Air Service and the National Police Chiefs' Council’s National Lead for Drones have a joint strategy that sets out in detail the technical challenges we must overcome to be able to operate a suite of complementary response options. These relate to concerns over line-of-sight flying, safety, cybersecurity, costs of replacement and maintenance, expertise required to use, and poor battery life. Each of these need to be addressed alongside extensive consultation to ensure policing’s use is understood by the public, considered proportionate, and supported.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

What cybersecurity threats exist for the use of drones in policing and how can they be mitigated?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.What risks to personal privacy are emerging from the increasing ability to identify data characteristics unique to a person?Identification and tracing is the ability to trace, attribute, and confirm the identity of a person, location or activity to evidential levels, such as tracing missing persons. Emerging biometrics can be used to ascertain or impersonate a person’s identity. Advances in analysing microbiomes (the combination of microbes unique to individuals) and genetics could lead to new ways to identify and track criminals from traces left behind. Similarly, as computational power increases, so the ability to measure and identify data characteristics unique to a person increase. This puts at risk people’s right to privacy while, simultaneously, providing new ways to demonstrate beyond reasonable doubt a person’s location, supporting existing forensic approaches. We are keen to understand what potential criminal and investigative opportunity is emerging and what the limits are of biometrics.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

What risks to personal privacy are emerging from the increasing ability to identify data characteristics unique to a person?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can the police service measure the quality of its analytical data?Analytics is the ability to synthesise information to draw insights that can lead to actionable decisions, often in combination with other information and at scale. The value of analytics to policing rests on the quality of the data on which it can draw. We are therefore interested in technical and behavioural methods that can be used to improve the quality of data within police systems. Our core interests relate to reducing the burden on users, correcting inputs, measuring data quality, and enriching data from other sources where it is legal and proportionate to do so. There are near-term opportunities through Robotic Process Automation, but we are equally interested in novel solutions and system changes that advance how we create, store, and utilise our diverse data sources.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can the police service measure the quality of its analytical data?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can policing advance its interconnectivity both within policing (e.g., AI supported call and response routing), on multi-modal devices, and across organisations?The ability to pass information quickly, accurately, and securely, and the ability to intercept or disrupt communications of others. The effectiveness of many aspects of policing, from working with public health partners, to engagement with the criminal justice system and the management of a large-scale emergency, all require efficient information sharing. How can policing advance its interconnectivity and further deliver seamless interaction with the Crown Prosecution Service and legal representatives? The challenges here are diverse because the forms of information and types of queries vary across needs. Nevertheless, today’s workforce expects connectivity to be as easy and as seamless as they experience outside of work, and so this is what we strive for.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can policing advance its interconnectivity both within policing (e.g., AI supported call and response routing), on multi-modal devices, and across organisations?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can policing utilise smart assistants, such as to manage the logistics of police deployment and tasking or to ensure that victims and witnesses receive the best possible support?The ability to pass information quickly, accurately, and securely, and the ability to intercept or disrupt communications of others. Our interests here relate to how policing can better service the public and victims to that they have easy and timely access to information. This might consider the use of possible ‘self-service’ options or smart assistants to provide assurance to victims on their case progress. This interest is not about reducing the person contact the pubic have with the police workforce but being able to use that contact in a smarter, more effective way. Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can policing utilise smart assistants, such as to manage the logistics of police deployment and tasking or to ensure that victims and witnesses receive the best possible support?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.How can sensors and other advanced technologies in next generation police uniforms be powered efficiently in the field?Personal safety is the ability to protect policing’s workforce and members of the public. Combining advanced materials and sensor technologies offers significant opportunities for a lightweight, multi-functional, well-fitting personal protective equipment. We wish to learn about the main candidate materials and what might be possible with connectivity and sensor functionality. For example, how could we utilise and power sensors to provide environmental and situational awareness? These developments are all of interest, though ultimately policing will need to balance cost and functionality.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

How can sensors and other advanced technologies in next generation police uniforms be powered efficiently in the field?

This problem is a UK government area of research interest (ARI) that was originally posted at <a target='_blank' href='https://ari.org.uk/'>https://ari.org.uk/</a> by a UK government organisation to indicate that they are keen to see research related to this area.What are more carbon-efficient practices that the police should look to adopt when responding to incidents?Mobility is the ability to move to/from locations quickly to prevent, detect or respond, including to access difficult locations safely to maximise intelligence and minimise risk. To work effectively, policing needs a vehicle fleet capable of delivering performance and performance-weight differentials that exceed those required in the commercial market (e.g., emergency vehicles carry heavy tactical equipment). We are therefore keen to see novel developments of sustainable fleet alternatives as part of a wider effort to meet our Net Zero target. We are also prioritising research and design-focused interventions that allow us to identify different ways of responding to incidents. That is, we see moving to a carbon neutral service will require a combination of new technologies and new ‘carbon efficient’ practices.Contact detailsWe welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways: • If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants. • If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible. • If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research. • We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/ Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading.

Office of Police Chief Scientific Adviser (GB)

Octopus publications