Promise of a hi-tech grip to long arm of the law by 2026

THE Policing 2026 review promises a hi-tech revolution – despite budget constraints and the collapse of the i6 supercomputer project last year.

Top brass hope they can make major savings by cutting officer numbers and ensuring those who remain operate more efficiently, freeing up cash.

This would be used to buy body cameras, which have been trialled but ruled out due to concerns over cost.

They allow officers to record eyewitness testimony at the scene of a crime, removing the need for filling in paperwork.

Their use could also reduce pressure on courts as the existence of video footage of incidents is likely to reduce the number of people pleading not guilty, leading to fewer trials.

Police also hope to harness mobile phone technology by encouraging the public to email or text images of crimes. This could trigger the despatch of officers to catch the alleged criminal, with the images stored for future use in criminal proceedings.

The plans are likely to lead to concern about the risk of the public being targeted by the thugs they are recording – and the risk of the wrong person being filmed.

In one possible scenario outlined in yesterday’s report, a series of thefts is reported at a fictional Glasgow shopping centre.

On-site security staff review the information gathered and a guard logs on to the police ‘self-service portal’, enabling him to report the thefts quickly and easily on a ‘smart device’. He securely uploads evidence such as CCTV footage.

Police Scotland staff review and assess the report and use facial recognition software to attempt to identify the culprits.

The suspects are eventually found with stolen property and officers ‘capture digital fingerprints and obtain DNA at the scene’, removing the need for a trip to the station.

The 2026 document says that by ‘becoming a digitally enabled organisation’, the police will ‘provide the public with a seamless, consistent first point of contact regardless of how they choose to engage with us’.

A series of predictions in the review includes a forecast of more flooding caused by climate change, putting extra pressure on police.

The report also forecasts that ‘advanced chat-bots are likely to provide an alternative to human-to-human interaction’ by 2026.