Representatives from twenty police forces that use NICE Investigate for Digital Evidence Management (DEMS) gathered for two days in the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield just outside Birmingham, England to share digital policing innovations, best practices and successes. Among the exciting innovations shared were: the use of predictive and generative Artificial Intelligence (AI); deploying facial recognition (live, operator initiated and retrospective) in the field; the Crown Prosecutions strategy for a new user centric system and the introduction of digital jury bundles; and update on the Digital Case File that will replace MG forms.
In addition to representatives from forces including Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, Lancashire Constabulary, North Yorkshire Police, Nottinghamshire Police, Surrey Police, Sussex Police, Thames Valley Police, South Wales Police and Gwent Police, the NUG also welcomed Nassau County District Attorney’s Office from the United States. Its Deputy Assistant Executive District Attorney shared their experience, as one of the 35 agencies in the U.S. that has chosen NICE Evidencentral in the past year.
The two-day event was also an opportunity to discuss the topics raised at the Police Digital Summit, which took place in Brighton several weeks earlier, with Richard Perkins addressing issues raised by the Policing Minister in areas such as AI and redaction, as well as force priorities, most notably budget constraints, managing demand, dealing with legacy technology and leadership driving change.
The ability to drive meaningful change throughout the force and the wider community was eloquently demonstrated through two initiatives that are leveraging NICE Investigate’s public portal, Single Online Home and a tight integration with NicheRMS365 to make it easier for citizens to report anti-social driving, by completing an online form and uploading dashcam footage. Attendees learned how the public had embraced the new opportunity, with approximately 5,000 forms submitted between January and August 2023. The result has been an improvement in evidence quality and reduction in officer time as the footage is already within NICE Investigate should the case proceed to prosecution.
Another force shared their experience of upgrading its BWV from one supplier to another (including the movement of 1.2 million files, equating to 300TB of data), and how through working with NICE, it was able to realise cost avoidance in the region of £280,000.
Forces were also introduced to the groundbreaking work being done by South Wales Police in the use of facial recognition technology (which is also able to utilise BWV) including its successful use at major sporting and music events. One attendee remarked: “Hearing how the algorithms have moved on sufficiently to deal with some of the ethics issues that we have talked about previously in policing, has certainly swung my view.”
With a glance to the near horizon, NICE shared updates regarding new features and functionality currently in development for NICE Investigate, as a result of force feedback, as well as a look at the transformative role AI is set to play in the completion of everyday policing duties, as well as during major investigations.
Sharing the many different ways forces are using NICE Investigate is incredibly powerful. NICE thanks all who attended, presented and contributed. We look forward to seeing you along with new forces beginning their DEMS journey at the next NUG in 2024.