Reflections on the Futurescot Digital Justice & Policing 2025 Conference

Reducing administrative burden

A recurring theme was the strain caused by manual, fragmented processes. Police Officers reported spending up to 40% of their time on administrative tasks, reducing their capacity for frontline work. Conversations with operational staff underscored the urgent need for digital tools that free officers to focus on policing rather than paperwork. This highlights the importance of solutions designed around real workflows and built to integrate – not add to – existing system complexity.

Private AI for smarter case preparation

At the conference we showcased one of Storm ID’s private AI solutions, the Storm AI Workbench, which enables organisations and teams to harness large language models (LLMs) securely within their own environment.

By bringing AI to the data, rather than sending data to external cloud services, this approach helps maintain confidentiality while unlocking efficiencies in case preparation, evidence review, and report generation.

The strong interest and discussion around secure, explainable, and operational AI make it clear that justice and policing organisations are ready to explore this technology, provided it’s built on trust, transparency and robust governance.

The Storm AI Workbench featured in Paul McGinness's masterclass session entitled 'Harnessing Private AI: Analysing Sensitive Case Data with Confidence', which was well received.

Channel shift in Police contact

Justice sector organisations are also prioritising digital contact transformation, shifting more public engagement to digital channels to improve accessibility and relieve pressure on call-handling. As a long-term digital partner to the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) we’ve seen first-hand how user centred design and digital first solutions, such as the Witness Gateway, can simplify interactions for victims and witnesses while improving service quality.

Ethics and trust

With every step toward digital adoption, maintaining transparency, fairness and data integrity remains essential to public confidence.

At Storm ID, we share these values. We’ve signed up to the Police Industry Charter, aligning our work with the five guiding principles that promote responsible innovation in policing. This commitment ensures our solutions are privacy-respecting, inclusive and trustworthy by design.

Justice Jenga - sparking conversations about AI

To make discussions at our stand more engaging, we also introduced Justice Jenga - a lighthearted but thought-provoking way to explore AI in justice and policing.

Visitors were invited to remove a Jenga block and read a question printed on it, each designed to spark conversation about the opportunities and challenges of AI in public safety, data ethics and trust.

It proved to be a real hit - people loved it, and it opened up some of the most interesting and candid discussions of the day.

Collaboration across the ecosystem

One of the most encouraging aspects of the conference was the open dialogue between justice partners, policymakers and technology providers. There’s a shared recognition that transformation won’t be achieved through technology alone, but through collaboration, blending domain knowledge, design thinking and secure data innovation.

Reflections and next steps

The event reinforced that justice and policing are ready for meaningful change, but progress depends on connecting ambition with practical implementation.

Here are some steps we believe can accelerate the journey:

• Start small, but design for scale – Pilot digital and AI initiatives in contained use cases, but with architecture and governance that enable wider adoption.
• Invest in trust – Embed ethical review, data protection and transparency at every stage of solution design.
• Empower people – Technology should support the workforce, not overwhelm it. Co-designing with users ensures adoption and impact.
• Focus on measurable outcomes – Shift from technology outputs to tangible service improvements: time saved, decisions improved and confidence strengthened.

If these priorities resonate with your department’s challenges, Storm ID can help bridge the gap between aspiration and delivery.

We bring a proven record of data-driven transformation in government, combining AI strategy, governance frameworks and MLOps capabilities to help departments move beyond productivity tools toward real digital transformation.

Explore what’s possible

Start your journey with a free AI Discovery Workshop, a focused, one-day session tailored to your organisation. Together, we’ll explore practical use cases, assess readiness and define clear implementation pathways aligned to your goals.

Whether your next step is scaling successful pilots, implementing private AI solutions, or establishing strong governance frameworks, we’d love to discuss how we can help you make it real.