How Upcoming Digital Vetting Technology Can Help Policing
Public trust in policing has been in the spotlight recently to an extent like very few times before. According to an October 2021 YouGov survey, 48% of people are ‘unconfident’ in the police’s ability to address local crime adequately, with only 43% being ‘confident’.
One way this perception can be changed successfully is by ensuring that the vetting process is as efficient, thorough, and most importantly, secure as possible.
How Digital Can Help
There are two relevant areas of vetting technology for policing - the ability to request pre-employment checks, and the ability to validate identity documents through upcoming IDVT technology. Conducting both of these aspects digitally can help policing in several ways:
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Reduce Likelihood of Error
Technology can reduce the number of errors throughout the vetting process by identifying mistakes and discrepancies in the candidate’s details, minimising the number of fines issued for erroneous applications, and ensuring that candidates are exactly who they say they are.
Validating identity documents digitally also has myriad benefits, including being able to identify the latest techniques used by fraudsters better than the naked eye, and reducing the manual effort required by the hiring police service in receiving the original copy of the document and confirming its validity in-person.
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Time & Money Saved
As has been alluded to, technology can make the whole document validation and vetting processes more efficient.
Errors are more likely to be spotted before any applications are sent, and the fact that digital applications and processes do not take as long to complete and return as manual, paper-based, applications mean the new hire can start their new role sooner, safe in the knowledge that they are fully vetted.
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A More Well-Rounded Vetting Process
Technology enables oversight into the vetting status of the entire workforce in a way that manual applications just cannot provide.
It is possible to see if any longer-serving employees require an update to their vetting status with technology, due to its ability to store worker information, and a clear database of what vetting checks were conducted when. This brings safeguarding and security to the forefront of the vetting process, rather than treating it as a pre-employment box-ticking exercise.
These benefits combined, in particular the ability to monitor the vetting status of every worker constantly, can, in time, lead to greater public trust in the police as the greater emphasis on safeguarding becomes clear.
Technology in Practice
It is one thing to say the technology exists, but showing it works is another. Moving to a digital solution can be daunting, particularly if there is any uncertainty about whether there will be a long-term improvement.
The performance of the technology in other sectors should put minds at ease, however. As an example, by moving to a digital solution, Essex County Council have managed to:
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Save over £250,000 annually thanks to increased efficiencies in the pre-employment processes
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Save 10,000 manual hours manually due to the increased ease of the vetting process
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Reduce their average time to onboard from 2 weeks to 4 days
Final Thoughts
IDVT and the extension of digital ID verification as a result of overwhelming demand from organisations shows that the technology not only exists, but works across a variety of high-compliance sectors.
Policing should not shy away from this. The technology works – let's use it.
Author:
Tom Conlon, Talent Clouds
Georgie Morgan
Georgie joined techUK as the Justice and Emergency Services (JES) Programme Manager in March 2020, then becoming Head of Programme in January 2022.
