These Technologies Are Being Used To Prevent Crime

The Ministry of Justice gathered around 30 technology firms, among them Microsoft and Amazon Web Services, to talk through new ideas for prisons, probation and courts. According to the ministry, the meeting launched a drive to bring bold digital thinking into daily justice work.

Ministers pointed to electronic curfew tags as proof that gadgets can cut crime. The study they shared shows that keeping offenders at home during risk hours has trimmed new offences by twenty percent. Staff spend less time on late-night call-outs and more time on victims and complex cases.

Probation chiefs now want data dashboards that spot danger early. The department has set aside eight million pounds for tools that read case files in seconds, flag high-risk clients and free officers from paperwork. TechUK, the trade body that helped arrange the gathering, said open discussion should speed up those plans.

A larger showcase is due later this year. Firms will pitch working products, and ministers will pick pilots. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood told attendants that an “analogue system in a digital age” cannot keep streets calm; she urged the sector to move fast.

 

What Digital Kit Are Police Using Daily?

 

Parliament’s Horizon Scan report from October 2024 lists gear already on patrol. Forces run hotspot software that maps where burglary or robbery could flare next. Drones and number plate cameras aid traffic stops and missing person searches. Automatic call triage directs minor queries to chatbots, sparing human handlers for life threat calls, the report shows.

A Police Foundation paper published in February adds more detail. Bedfordshire Police now uses a redaction tool named DocDefender; one officer trimmed an 800 page bundle in an hour instead of 15. The same force lets chatbots answer property loss and animal welfare queries, dealing with about 20% of online questions.

Live translation apps make frontline work easier too. An officer who meets a resident with limited English can open the phone based interpreter, hear the reply in an earpiece and pull up database checks at once. Interviewees in the study said such quick exchanges build trust and cut delays.

 

 

Can Cameras On Vans Cut Knife Attacks?

 

Knife violence has dominated headlines this year… A government report recounts stabbings in Birmingham, Woolwich and Southport, with victims as young as 12. The same piece describes government funding for four police vans fitted with live facial recognition software, part of a £550 million package for crime spotting tech.

LFR vans park near busy transport hubs and shopping streets. Cameras scan passing faces and compare them against watch-lists for rape, robbery and weapon offences. Former policing minister Chris Philp said early deployments netted more than 100 suspects.

According to the article, 15 arrests followed in 1 day, covering offences such as grievous bodily harm and class A drug supply, after alerts sent officers to the right corner at the right moment. Police leaders argue that taking a wanted person off the street can stop a knife being drawn later.

The government’s plan runs is for more than just cameras, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in The Sun that online knife sales must face 2-step identification checks. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised laws to drive knife crime down by half within 10 years and to tackle gangs that recruit children.

Even so, watchdogs warn that public consent is needed. The Horizon Scan calls for clear rules on accuracy, privacy and bias testing before any nationwide rollout. The Police Foundation agrees with that message, urging officers to treat machine alerts as guidance and keep a human mind in every decision.

Supporters say the blend of tags, data dashboards and real-time cameras shows how technology can back up traditional foot patrols. Critics will watch each pilot closely, but early results point to a justice system that is learning to think in code as well as cuffs.