Analysing data, facial recognition and drones to bring Queensland Police into the future

Data analysis, facial recognition and drones - here’s the technology bringing Queensland police into the future.

ANALYSING data to predict crime trends, will put cops one step ahead of the crooks, as police look to exploit technology into the future.

The ability to analyse data will play a significant role in future policing, with Queensland Police already looking at ‘Big Data’ and how to best tease out the information to predict crimes, rather than react to crime on the Gold Coast.

Drones and facial recognition technology will also start to play a significant role in policing on the Coast, with police aiming to tap into technology and be ahead of the curve.

Assistant Commissioner Brian Wilkins said with the expansion of tech and connectivity, the more data there would be to analyse.

Assistant Commissioner Brian Wilkins said the expansion of tech is helping police. Picture: Jerad Williams

“There is a lot of work happening in the data analytics space, we’ve got all this data, and none of it is joined up and talking to each other,” Mr Wilkins said.

“The ability to run some sort of analytics across all of these silos of data and pull out information that we need to make sense of it. There is that much data that is available, we need the analytical capacity to pull it out and interpret it.”

He said it won’t be police doing the role, rather specialist data analysers, who won’t need police powers, to work alongside cops to help predict crime.

“It will definitely move into some sort of predictive analysis, rather than us working on a case and place management scenario, where a lot of work is done in relation to hot spots, crime and people.

“With the analytical capability, not only will it examine what’s happened in the past, it will look at the future and it will predict where offences are next likely to happen, particularly in relation to volume crime like house breaks, vehicle theft and then even assaults.

“This data will be analysed and it will give us the opportunity to get one foot in front of the criminal, rather than reacting to something happening, we’re on the front foot, preventing it before it happens.”

Exploiting technology to stay ahead of criminals.

Mr Wilkins said it was about exploiting technology and staying ahead of the criminals.

“I see technology as an enabler, it enables us to frame a response, whether we use facial recognition, whether we use drones, or increased CCTV network coverage, it’s all about exploiting the available tech and the emerging technology.

“It’s about ensuring that our people remain one step ahead of the crooks.

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“Crimes that are happening that weren’t around years ago, which will continue to evolve, it’s about us, not only from a legislative perspective to make sure we have the necessary legislation there to actually support us, but our people being adequately equipped and trained to address the particular crime type.

“We’re recruiting individuals with particular skills, do we look at the expansion of specialist roles that don’t actually need police powers, or employ specialist civilians to undertake specific taskings, but they actually just work with police.”

Police are also working closer to find root causes of crime. Pic: Keryn Stevens

He said police working closer with other State Government and non Government agencies to find the root cause of crime would be a focus moving forward.

“A lot of these issues are broader than the police.

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“Crime is far broader than a policing issue, there is a lot of influencers on crime, that then roll out into the policing environment.

“The economy, the environment, unemployment, all those sort of thing, impact on society as a whole and therefore has an impact on crime.

Many issues driving crime are far broader than a policing issue. Pic: Keryn Stevens

“It’s no longer about Government departments working in their own little silos, it’s about Government departments working together in a collaborative manner.

”Addressing the causal factors around crime, rather than deal with the crime that has happened, what is driving the crime, is it alcohol abuse, drugs, the economy, or a whole vast array of other things.

“We’re very, very good at a policing response, but to understand the problem as a whole, you need to come together with a vast group of people, to sit down and say, ‘we’ve got a problem here, what is driving this issue’, by consulting broadly about the problem and working as different agencies, we get a better understanding of the environment.”