Blog: Why technology will decide the future of British policing reform

The British model of policing has always rested on a delicate balance: local accountability, national legitimacy, and public consent. The Government’s proposal to create a National Police Service is the most radical attempt in a generation to rebalance that system for a digital age.

Having witnessed three decades of change in the police service, and as a retired senior officer, at first glance, the Home Office’s White Paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing, is about structures - fewer forces, clearer leadership, stronger central coordination.

But beneath the organisational charts lies a more fundamental truth. Those who have worked in policing know this reform will succeed or fail not on structure alone, but on how technology, data and trust are incorporated into the system.

Policing has become a data problem

Crime today is increasingly digital, cross-border and fast-moving. Yet policing remains constrained by fragmented systems, inconsistent data and limited interoperability. The White Paper is explicit that this fragmentation has left policing struggling to keep pace.

The creation of a National Police Service is, in effect, an acknowledgement that policing now requires national data infrastructure, not just national leadership. Without shared platforms, consistent standards and real-time intelligence, structural reform alone will not deliver better outcomes. This is why treating data as a strategic operational asset, rather than a by-product of policing activity, will be essential.

From experimentation to operational AI

Perhaps the most significant signal in the White Paper is the treatment of artifical intelligence (AI). The proposed Police.AI capability is not framed as a lab or innovation hub, but as a mechanism to identify, assure and scale AI nationally.

This matters. Policing cannot rely on isolated pilots or force-by-force experimentation. AI will increasingly underpin investigation, prevention and productivity - but only if it is deployed responsibly, transparently and consistently.

The challenge is not whether policing should use AI, but how to do so in a way that strengthens public confidence rather than undermining it.

Trust is a design constraint, not an afterthought

British policing operates by consent. That consent is fragile. The White Paper recognises that technology must be governed, explainable and subject to meaningful oversight.

From public registers of AI use to mandatory standards and ethical frameworks, the direction of travel is clear: trust must be engineered into systems from the start. Technology that delivers efficiency but erodes legitimacy will ultimately fail, reinforcing the need to lead with trust before accelerating digital change.

National platforms, local outcomes

A central risk in any national reform is the loss of local responsiveness. The White Paper repeatedly stresses that national platforms must enable - not override - local policing.

Well-designed technology can make this possible: shared data foundations, common analytics capabilities and interoperable systems that allow local teams to act faster and more effectively, while contributing to a national picture of risk and harm.

This is not about centralisation for its own sake. It is about coherence without uniformity.

A moment of opportunity

The creation of a National Police Service offers a rare opportunity to modernise policing for the realities of the 21st century. But technology will not be a supporting factor in this reform. It will be decisive.

If data, platforms and AI are treated as strategic national assets, designed with ethics, resilience and trust at their core, policing can become more effective, more consistent and more legitimate.

If not, structural reform risks repeating the mistakes of the past, at greater scale.

There is nothing inevitable about success here - national reform at this scale has failed before, and policing leaders are right to be cautious.

The challenge now is to ensure that technology serves the principles of British policing - not the other way around.

Five leadership choices that will shape success

In recent years I have witnessed the growing number of policing leaders who not only understand the problem, but who are already pioneering the right approach and setting out the requirements for future reform.

These are leaders who understand technology as a strategic asset and a force for good, not just a costly back-office function to be maintained. Those who have been prepared to drive forward innovation and outcome-led change programmes, who have understood the need to build genuine trusted partnerships with the private sector and who understand the need for integration over standardisation.

I strongly believe that if this reform is to succeed, policing leaders - locally and nationally - will need to focus on a small number of critical success factors.

1. Treat data and technology as core operational infrastructure

National structures will only deliver value if data platforms, analytics and AI are designed with the same rigour and resilience as frontline operations. This means investing early in foundations: data quality, interoperability, security and governance.

2. Lead with trust and legitimacy, not speed

The White Paper is clear that public consent remains non-negotiable. Leaders will need to be disciplined about how new technologies are introduced, explained and governed. Ethical assurance, transparency and clear accountability cannot be bolted on later. They must be visible from day one.

3. Balance national consistency with local effecticeness

Standardisation should enable better policing, not constrain it. National platforms must be flexible enough to support local priorities and frontline decision-making, while still contributing to a coherent national picture.

4. Focus relentlessly on outcomes

This reform will only be judged a success if it improves productivity, investigative outcomes, prevention and public confidence. Leaders should resist the temptation to measure progress solely in terms of structures, programmes or technology deployed.

5. Find the right technology partners who understand and care about policing

Whilst the sector has not always been treated well by vendors, having trusted technology partners who are equally invested in policing outcomes is essential for success. This means not having your own data held to ransom, and the end of slow, costly “change requests” to legacy systems, in favour of trusted partnerships whose only interest in your data is keeping it safe, and who are able to leverage leading technologies for the benefit of policing and communities.

How partners who understand policing can contribute

Delivering this level of change will require partners who can operate comfortably at the intersection of strategy, data, technology and trust - and who understand the realities of delivering transformation in policing and the wider public sector.

The organisations best placed to support this transition will not be those selling technology in isolation, but those able to:

• Design and deliver national scale data and AI platforms

• Embed governance, ethics and assurance into delivery

• Work credibly and build trust with senior leaders and frontline teams

• Stay focused on outcomes rather than implementations

For policing, this reform represents a moment of genuine opportunity. For those supporting it, success will depend less on bold claims and more on quiet credibility, delivery experience and a deep understanding of what policing needs to make change work - today and in the years ahead.