1.34 Proportionality and use of force

Academic team: Professor Graham Pike and Dr Zoe Walkington
Policing partners: West Midlands Police
Academic partners: Professor Mark Levine and Dr Richard Philpot from Lancaster University
Status: Complete

Proportionality, particularly as it relates to ethnicity and legitimacy, is very important for policing and the issue is high on every force agenda.

The goal of the current project is to explore interactions that involve use of force between West Midlands Police officers and citizens, by analysing body-worn camera footage.

The research aims to determine whether the actions and behaviours of both officers and citizens differ depending on a range of factors, including ethnicity.

News

Findings from an evaluation of the pilot application of AI for witness statement and report generation

Dr Paul Walley and Dr Helen Glasspoole-Bird have published an evaluation report entitled “An Evaluation of the Pilot Application of Artificial Intelligence to Witness Statement and Report Generation at Hertfordshire Constabulary”.  The work studies the outputs of version 1 of an AI application that takes audio from Rapid Video Response interviews with victims of domestic abuse and converts this into relevant summary documents including MG11 witness statements.

15th May 2025