Proactive policing in a fast-changing world

The function of enforcing law and order, also known as policing, is at a critical inflection point.  While residents of Bangladesh have a mixed impression of the effectiveness of policing, the capabilities of police departments are increasingly being challenged through new type of crimes. A complex interplay among rapid urbanisation, change in demographics and technological advancements is driving such changes.

Citizens increasingly expect the police to keep them safe in public, private and online spaces. This has increased workloads for officers and requires new capabilities to be developed. Officers increasingly operate across a complex range of familial, societal and mental health issues, and they have to refer to case histories more frequently than before.

Criminals are using more advanced techniques to target vulnerable groups. Emerging crime types, such as cybercrime, cannot be prevented or detected by the traditional model of policing. Such crimes are generally not bound by a geographic location, though there are victims and offenders. Police organisations are finding it harder to keep pace with new methods of disguised crimes, particularly crime on the internet. 

At the same time, new technologies are changing how the police can operate in the future. The explosion of digital data and its proliferation into almost every aspect of peoples' daily lives, together with the power of computing, has created an opportunity for more effective law enforcement.

Increasingly, crimes are moving indoors and online, and away from the streets. Domestic violence, child and elder abuse are taking place behind closed doors, while traditional police patrolling happens on the streets. Digitalisation has helped the proliferation of cybercrimes that do not occur in the physical world and are borderless. Today, citizens of Bangladesh spend a significant amount of time on the internet and social media platforms. According to an analysis conducted by a leading social media management platform Hootsuite, in 2016, Dhaka had the second largest number of active Facebook users among all the cities in the world. Communities have moved online, and thus they require policing there too. This creates new types of challenges for the law enforcement agencies.

The policing profession of the future will be a technology-enabled job.  A typical officer will be more likely to spend time in preventing a cybercrime than a crime on the street. This will require officers to specialise in the field of cyber protection and digital behaviours. Police departments of many countries have responded to this change by opening up cybercrime branches within their departments. The officers of such branches build capabilities on cyber defence systems and cyber protection services. It is imperative that the Bangladesh Police also start building capabilities to protect citizens from cybercrimes.

Demographic changes around the world have led to the rise of a new generation called digital natives. This group of people has been growing up within and is habituated to an environment full of cyber-physical systems. Digital natives expect speed and agility from all service providers, including state-owned service providers like the police. They also expect digital interaction with these entities. Police departments of many countries have responded to this change by allowing online reporting of crime.

The website of the Bangladesh Police has several features that enable interaction with citizens. It lists all important helpline numbers, including special contact details for the expatriates. It also offers online application for police clearance certificates. The department already maintains a page on Facebook for communicating messages to the public. In addition, it has also launched a mobile app for interacting with citizens. This is the right time for the department to build digital interfaces for crime-specific interactions, such as online reporting of a crime, providing online updates on an investigation to the respective complainant, and publishing performance metrics regularly.

Proactive policing also involves a scientific analysis of data and optimal deployment of resources to maximise crime prevention. The role of data and algorithms will be most important in the future of proactive policing. Data are available in the police records of past crimes.  Additionally, data need to be procured from other external sources such as other government departments, telecom databases, digital communication providers, and social networks. Ingesting and harnessing such large and diverse troves of data will require proper clarity on organisational vision and goals. Many police departments have already started building this data infrastructure.

Data alone cannot serve the purpose unless it is supported by powerful algorithms. Today, algorithms can help in predicting the hotspots—that is, the areas where crime is most likely to take place within the next few hours. Algorithms can also predict the type of crime with reasonable certainty, such as whether it is going to be domestic violence or a gang war. While domestic violence would require officers to demonstrate skills of empathy and communication, a gang war would require officers to demonstrate skills in weapon use and mob management. Algorithms can help deploy officers with relevant capabilities to different geographic zones and thus maximise crime prevention.

Proactive policing will also require appropriate fund allocation for building policing infrastructure and developing personnel capabilities.  While the fund allocation for the Public Security Division in Bangladesh has risen steadily in the last five years, proactive policing will require focused budgetary allocation and monitoring of the allocated funds. As per the budget of 2018–19, the division will be spending about Tk 1,222 per citizen. Compared to this, a typical West European country will be spending 14–20 times this amount during the same period only on the policing function.

Proactive policing is going to be the new normal of the law enforcement function. Police departments in Bangladesh and stakeholders should plan and prepare themselves for this fast-changing world.

The writer is partner at PwC. The views expressed here are personal.