Key points:

• The ongoing developments in digital technologies and the fourth industrial revolution are opening up huge business opportunities - both legal and criminal.
• The attributes that give start-ups advantages over traditional businesses - agility, shrinking costs of entry, digital access to global markets and ability to scale rapidly - apply more to business models of criminal syndicates than law enforcement.
• The globalised, networked nature of criminal activities poses particular challenges to law enforcement, which has relied on prosecution and criminal penalties in local jurisdictions.
• Law enforcement and police will need to evolve and adapt operating models to deliver on their core missions of community safety and security.
• New operating models need to balance technology and capability advances with human to human interactions, built on trust, social legitimacy and ethics.

Policy Recommendations

• Law enforcement agencies and police should focus on trust and legitimacy with the community as they adopt new technologies.
• Agencies should adapt internal systems and ways of working to ensure frontline officers can act quickly and reliably in fast paced, digitally enabled environments.
• Agency cultures and leadership styles should evolve to enable closer collaboration and partnerships, to ensure agencies can access necessary skills.