Policing the Digital Age: Can Law Enforcement Keep Pace with Emerging Technology?
In an age where threats are increasingly borderless, instantaneous and data-driven, law enforcement is under pressure like never before. Crime is evolving at pace, from cybercrime and ransomware to misinformation and digital exploitation. Yet the tools available to police and national security agencies are often tied to outdated systems, slow procurement cycles and legacy mindsets.
The question is no longer whether technology will reshape policing. It already has. The real question is whether our systems, institutions and capabilities are evolving fast enough to keep up.
Having spent more than three decades in law enforcement, including time as Deputy Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force, I have witnessed the evolution of policing up close. While the fundamentals of policing: trust, presence, community engagement and operational discipline remain critical, the environment we operate in has changed profoundly.
This article follows on from my previous Expert Insights piece on national security resilience. In that article, I wrote about the importance of trust, preparation and sovereign capability in the face of increasingly complex threats. This time, I want to turn our focus to the frontline. To the people and systems that keep communities safe and ask a more confronting question: are we truly ready for what the future of crime and safety will demand?
The Pace of Change
The velocity of technological change is extraordinary. Artificial intelligence, encryption, blockchain, quantum computing and deepfake technology are no longer futuristic concepts. They are tools already being used for both good and harm.
Criminal networks are leveraging encrypted communication platforms to organise operations. Malicious actors are using AI to generate convincing fake identities and exploit digital systems. Online environments, from social media to the dark web, are being weaponised to radicalise, defraud and manipulate, often at a scale that overwhelms traditional investigative methods.
In this context, traditional law enforcement tools and processes are being outpaced. We cannot rely on outdated systems or siloed information flows to detect, respond to and disrupt these threats. Doing so puts public safety and institutional trust at risk.
The Cost of Falling Behind
Technology, when not properly integrated into policing, can become a barrier rather than an enabler. I have seen this first-hand in environments where frontline officers lacked access to timely, accurate or complete information. In operational contexts, even small gaps in data, whether due to poor system design, lagging interoperability or fragmented access, can result in missed opportunities, slower response times or compromised safety.
This is not just a technical issue. It is an issue of public trust. Communities expect law enforcement to be equipped with the tools needed to respond swiftly and effectively. When technology fails or lags, it is not only operational outcomes that suffer. It is confidence in the very institutions that exist to protect and serve.
The broader cost to the nation is also mounting. Over the past five years, cybercrime has cost the Australian economy tens of billions of dollars. In a single year, estimated losses reached $33 billion, with costs continuing to rise across government, business and critical infrastructure sectors. These are not abstract figures. They represent real impacts on public safety, economic stability and national resilience.
If Australia is serious about becoming the most cyber secure nation by 2030, then government and industry must work in close partnership and invest accordingly. This is not a challenge we can address incrementally. It requires coordinated, urgent action that prioritises both technological readiness and operational effectiveness.
Getting the Balance Right
In recent years, I have had the opportunity to work not only in frontline and executive policing roles, but also alongside government and industry partners at the intersection of strategy, technology and national security. Through this experience, I have come to understand just how critical the balance between innovation and operational practicality really is.
When technology is designed in isolation from operational realities, it fails. When systems prioritise data collection over data utility, frontline users disengage. And when information is not made available quickly enough, accurately enough or comprehensively enough, it can actively hinder decision-making.
Data integrity should enhance policing, not slow it down. The systems we build must serve the people who rely on them under pressure, officers, analysts, responders and community leaders. We need to design with outcomes in mind. That means building systems that are intuitive, fast, secure and capable of integrating multiple streams of intelligence, all while maintaining the necessary safeguards, legal frameworks and ethical standards that underpin community trust.
The Role of Trusted Partners
No agency can solve this challenge alone. Public institutions need to work with trusted private sector partners who understand not just the technology, but the operational and security environment in which that technology must perform.
This includes understanding the weight of public service, the importance of timely and accurate information sharing, and the consequences of failing to deliver when lives are on the line.
It also includes recognising that partnerships must be grounded in shared values, accountability, service, integrity and a deep respect for the national interest.
Conclusion
These challenges are not hypothetical. They are already unfolding across the law enforcement and national security landscape. From leading critical operations as Deputy Commissioner to advising on national security strategy at the executive level, I have seen what happens when technology outpaces operational capability.
In my previous Expert Insights article, I spoke about the role of trust and sovereign capability in strengthening national security resilience. This next chapter continues that reflection by focusing on how law enforcement must evolve to meet the demands of a digital age.
It is also why I have chosen to align with CAN.B Group. While the company may be emerging, it is led by professionals with deep, practical experience delivering outcomes where technology and policing converge. They understand not only what effective integration looks like, but also what happens when we fail to strike the right balance. When information is not made available quickly enough, accurately enough or in a way that is fulsome and trusted, outcomes suffer. In policing, that can mean missed opportunities, delayed responses or compromised community safety.
Data integrity should not hinder operations. It should enhance them. The future of policing depends on getting this balance right but if we fail to act now, how long before the pace of change outstrips our ability to protect the very communities we serve?