Anticipating public disorder

Current police intelligence practices could miss community tension and large scale criminality, according to analysis by the Universities' Police Science Institute. The Universities' Police Science Institute (UPSI) at Cardiff University was asked to consider the intelligence processes in place within police forces before the August 2011 disorders in England by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The Institute was also asked to propose options to enhance the Police Service's capability to monitor environmental conditions in which public disorder and criminality might break out. Their findings were outlined in the recent HMIC report The Rules of Engagement: A review of the August 2011 disorders. UPSI found that there is a potential for intelligence failure around anticipating public disorder of the type that occurred in August 2011 because of a lack of analysed information. However the Institute also concluded that it is not clear whether these events could have been predicted or pre-empted. The work was led by Professor Martin Innes, Director of UPSI: "The information environment in which the police are working is developing rapidly thanks to the spread of social media technologies," said Professor Innes.