Technology and data science

The 20th century has experienced the continual development of various technologies, software, computer applications, and social media platforms. The expansion in information and data has labelled this epoch as the “Information Age”. The scale in which new data sources and methods of communication transform the way people live are creating new opportunities and challenges for law enforcement agencies. Whilst the police generally lag commercial enterprise in the use of technology, there is scope to manage information more effectively and efficiently. The chapter explores these issues and describes how the police need to improve their use of emerging data sets and technology. This includes big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning and data visualisation. The chapter will explore how law enforcement currently use this technology in an operational setting and examine how they can exploit current and future data opportunities to improve operational outcomes.