Law & order
Cops
of the future? British bobbies get a sci-fi makeover
Exclusive: Home Office
Robocop wishlist revealed at behind-closed-doors event in the summer following
a Guardian FoI request
The ‘Robocop vision’ was
presented to companies by the director of the Home Office’s Centre for Applied
Science and Technology. Photograph: Studiocanal/Allstar
Monday 15 December 2014 13.05 GMT
Home
Office researchers are looking into a range of sci-fi equipment that will
transform British police officers into figures closer to Robocop than Dixon of
Dock Green.
Innovations on the
Home Office wishlist includes a robotic exoskeleton to take the load off weary
legs, a range of wearable computers including Google Glass-type spectacles and
body armour made from graphene (the novel material that earned its discoverers
a Nobel prize in 2010).
The glimpse into the
future was contained in a presentation to companies by the director of the Home
Office’s Centre for Applied Science and Technology (Cast), which has been
released following a Freedom of Information request by the Guardian.
Rob
Coleman was speaking at an evening event behind closed doors in central London in July hosted
by TechUK, an umbrella group for the tech industry. While a list of the
companies that attended the meeting has not been made public, TechUK’s
membership ranges from small firms through to major players including Apple,
Google and BAE Systems.
Coleman’s presentation
to the TechUK event included a slide that introduced the “digitally enabled
officer of the future” as an area the agency is considering. The slide shows an
image of a modern-day police officer with a robotic exoskeleton fitted to the
officer’s knees designed for “power generation” to help them chase criminals.
An experimental version of similar technology featured
in the opening ceremony of the football World Cup in June at which a
paraplegic man used a robotic suit to kick a football.
The slide also showed
examples of a range of equipment that could be issued with in future including
a camera, “wearable computing” (such as a smart watch) and what appear to be
Google Glass-type spectacles designed to enhance “situational
awareness”.
The latter term refers
to officers being better informed about incidents on the ground before they
arrive at the scene. One scenario could involve police at a large public event,
for example, keeping abreast from public tweets or posted photos or video from
cell phones. Likewise, images on Google Earth could give officers information
about potential escape routes for suspects they are pursuing.
The Home Office wants
wearable tech such as Google Glass. Photograph: John Minchillo/AP
The police have tried
to roll out devices such as BlackBerrys and handheld computers to frontline
officers to increase efficiency and reduce bureaucracy. But so far, the results
have been limited. In a report in 2012, the Public Accounts Committee said the
£71m mobile information programme scheme had achieved savings of just £600,000.
Another priority area
for research is graphene armour. Made from a sheet of single atoms arranged in
a honeycomb structure, graphene is a thin, tough and very flexible material.
Less futuristically,
the presentation features a body camera worn by the officer. This is already
being trialled by police in London.
The drive for the
police to harness new digital technology featured in thechancellor’s
autumn statement this month. It said the technology
heralded “new ways of working” and would reduce costs and delay: “For example,
police should be able to capture evidence digitally at the scene of a crime,
uploading case information using mobile devices without needing to return to
the police station.”
Some observers have
sounded a note of caution about the drive towards digitally enhanced policing
though.
Colin Rogers, a former
police inspector who is now a professor of police sciences at the University of
South Wales, said there were potential upsides and downsides: “While officers
might traditionally have to return to the station to fill in forms or do
paperwork – in future we might see technology that allows them for example to
take finger prints on the street and file reports from there, enabling them to
stay active and remain more visible.”
But he added: “There has
been a problem perhaps with some forces in that they are beginning to look
almost paramilitary. That, I think, is not conducive to good community
engagement. The additional changes in looks that come with technology might in
some cases ‘harden’ that look.”
Coleman’s presentation
was a pitch to technology companies before the official unveiling on Thursday
of the Home Office’s new Security
Innovation and Demonstration Centre (SIDC) in Sussex. It is
part of a wider Security Export Strategy launched by the home secretary in
February as part of efforts to boost exports of UK-made security and defence
products to overseas markets.
The centre is intended
to bring together government, industry and academia to carry out research as
well as showcase the UK’s current and future policing capabilities in
supposedly realistic environments. It includes a mocked-up “neighbourhood
policing scene” and a “serious crime scene”, to demonstrate the benefits of
various technologies.
At the launch,
minister for organised crime, Karen Bradley, said that since 2010, the security
industry has grown five times faster than the UK economy as a whole and is
worth around £8bn, with exports accounting for about 40% of that.
Met police officers
are trialling body-worn video cameras in London. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
Bradley’s department
this year set aside £19m from a government “innovation fund” for projects that
support police forces to improve their digital capabilities. Bidding for
funding from next year’s fund closes in January.
Steve Barry, assistant
chief constable at Sussex police, said at the launch that technology would
allow police officers to become more effective, such as through being able to
provide “digital evidence” throughout the criminal justice system. He added
that work had started through the SIDC on enhancing body-worn video technology.
The Home Office
declined a request for an interview with Coleman about the presentation.
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