Why policing needs connection across counties before replacement

Policing cannot afford to wait years for a single future system before improving how information moves between forces, counties and partner agencies. Interoperability is now a policing priority. The 2026 Police Reform White Paper says nine in ten crimes have a digital component and argues for less fragmentation and clearer national standards. Better data sharing will be central to making that ambition practical.

As techUK’s March 2026 forum highlighted, the goal is not simply to connect systems for its own sake. It is to help policing and justice partners share structured, meaningful information securely, so they can build a fuller view of people, incidents, intelligence and risk, including when cases move across county lines.

However, the magnitude of the task is significant. Data still sits across 43 forces, national systems and local platforms. The Police Digital Service handbook positions interoperability as essential to sharing data across organisational boundaries, reducing duplication, and enabling analytics and AI at scale. Many operational systems do what they were designed to do, but they were built around local needs rather than consistent information sharing between forces and criminal justice partners.

Why delivery remains difficult

These challenges are often compounded by legacy estates and years of bespoke development, which can stall progress as systems describe data differently, APIs vary in openness, and governance is applied unevenly. That is especially problematic when officers need a real-time view of relevant information beyond their own force area.

Procurement adds further pressure, as forces must balance local operational needs with national ambitions while supporting ageing systems. A single replacement system may sound attractive, but large programmes take time and can distract from the immediate need: secure data sharing across the systems policing already depends on.

Healthcare has faced a similar challenge: how to connect sensitive information across complex organisations without disrupting frontline services. Its experience shows that replacing everything at once is rarely the most practical route.

Shared Care Records offer a useful example. They connect sensitive information across NHS, local authority and care settings, giving staff access to more complete and up-to-date information while frontline systems remain in place.

The same lesson can apply to policing. Better data access and governance do not have to wait for structural reform. Forces can start by making the information they already hold easier to share securely across counties and partners, while local systems modernise over time.

Why data fabric deserves attention

A data fabric approach is well suited to this challenge because it connects existing data sources rather than requiring forces to replace systems that still support daily operations. By creating a secure, governed layer across multiple environments, it can give authorised users a more coherent view of operational information in real time.

Policing needs pace as well as consistency. The NAO’s 2025 report on police productivity noted that the Home Office does not yet have an agreed definition or standard methodology for measuring police productivity, and that the data needed to understand productivity is fragmented and inconsistent. A data fabric approach can help address that fragmentation by improving access to governed, usable data without waiting for a single national application.

Used effectively, it can support secure, auditable access across force and agency boundaries and provide a stronger foundation for analytics and AI, which depend on timely, high-quality, well-governed data. Without that foundation, advanced analytics will be constrained by the same fragmentation that already slows decision-making. With it, policing can reduce repeated data entry and build a more reliable operational picture.

It also avoids making interoperability an all-or-nothing programme. Local systems can continue to evolve while the interoperability layer provides continuity across different systems and stages of maturity.

A practical route forward

The priority now is to turn broad support for interoperability into practical delivery through open APIs, shared standards, clear governance and stronger use of maturity assessment tools.

Procurement should also reward interoperability by design, so suppliers are assessed not only on functionality, but on how well their systems support structured, meaningful data sharing across organisational boundaries.

Policing should not have to wait for a single future system before making better use of the information it already holds. By taking a pragmatic route - keeping effective systems in place and connecting them securely - forces can improve cross-county access to data and create the conditions for better operational insight.

That is the faster path to better decisions, reduced duplication and stronger public safety outcomes. In a sector where information can shape response, safeguarding and trust, progress on interoperability cannot afford to wait.

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