Policing and Partnerships: Shifting Responsibilities
New York City, USA
The 13th Pearls in Policing Conference was hosted in New York City, USA, from 22 – 26 June 2019 and was organised by the New York Police Department and the Pearls Secretariat in The Netherlands. The theme of the conference was “Policing and Partnerships: Shifting Responsibilities”.
During the Pearls Conference discussions were based on the research conducted by the members of the International Action Learning Group (IALG), inspiring interactive sessions and peer to peer consultations. The annual conference is the culmination of a year of continuous learning undertaken by the IALG. The 2018-2019 IALG has presented its findings, based on the assignment which has been formulated during the previous Pearls in Policing conference in Medellín, Colombia, to the Pearls delegates at the start of the conference: As our world becomes more digital, it is clear that police agencies will be required to respond to a new reality where traditional policies, strategies and tactics will require adaptation and adjustment. Police forces must learn to harness digital technology and understand the impact of digitization to transform the way that policing is delivered. The IALG will focus their research on the following questions: What is the current and future role of the police in the digitalized world? Does an appropriate legal framework exist to support policing in a digitalized world? To what extend and under which conditions do we need to partner with others? Are (international) police agencies able to engage in true collaboration with non-police partners? What are the implications of sharing information with non-police partners? What is the impact on the accountability mechanisms? What are the responsibilities, limits and conditions of private actors and the impact on policing? And how do police services ensure that they can transfer all material in a digital format to the criminal justice system?