Addressing Top Police Force Challenges in 2025

Police officers operate in a high stakes environment, often dealing with stress, danger and complex situations. Their work involves navigating threatening circumstances and making split second decisions that could mean the difference between life and death.

In 2025, law enforcement officers will face significant challenges that further complicate their already demanding roles. These challenges include large workloads, staff shortages, difficulties in building community trust, and a rise in cyber and cross border crimes.

While addressing these issues requires a multifaceted approach, technology solutions can significantly enhance efficiency, derive actionable insights from complex data, optimize the allocation of resources and staff, and ensure a more effective approach to overcoming policing problems

Recruitment and Retention

Staff shortages are a familiar challenge in law enforcement, as departments deal with resignations, retirements and the need to train new hires.

In the year ending March 2024, the voluntary resignation rate among police officers in England and Wales reached a record high of 3.4%, consistent with the previous year’s rate of 3.3%. 

Additionally, a “What Cops Want” officer wellness survey based on a sample of 2,833 law enforcement personnel in 2024 revealed that 69% of US police officers surveyed reported high levels of fatigue with 28.9% experiencing very high fatigue.  

Insufficient staffing levels mean that existing officers are often overworked, leading to decreased efficiency and burnout. Additionally, tight budgets can often hinder the ability to provide training, which is essential for officers to stay up to date with the latest policing technologies.

Technology solutions can help address these challenges in various ways:

Reduction of manual work: Video and image analytics can automatically identify and flag suspicious objects, weapons or violent behavior in public safety security camera footage, removing the need for human personnel to monitor the footage. This allows for faster officer response to a crime scene and more effective resource deployment. This is just one way tech can help reduce manual work.  

Automated case management systems also play a role in streamlining law enforcement operations. These digital tools handle evidence collection, case tracking and reporting among officers and investigators. By reducing or automating paperwork and administrative tasks, officers can concentrate on higher value duties like investigations and community engagement. These systems improve efficiency, minimize mistakes, and improve communication within law enforcement agencies. 

Smarter allocation of staff: Law enforcement officials can use crime analysis software for smarter resource allocation and strategic planning. Police can leverage crime analysis software to analyze crime trends and as a result allocate more personnel and resources to high crime areas, adjust patrol routes, and deploy Smart City cameras and sensors more effectively.  

Information Overload 

As criminals adopt increasingly sophisticated tactics to conduct crimes and to evade detection, law enforcement teams struggle to keep up. They face a flood of urgent cases and vast amounts of data, all while under constant pressure to resolve those cases quickly. Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) emerges as a critical capability for investigators and analysts, enabling them to analyze data from all layers of the web to uncover suspicious activities and critical clues for investigations. 

With technology and data rapidly advancing, policing now requires officers skilled in data science, data engineering, coding and statistics. However, there is a significant shortage of these skills. Additionally, law enforcement agencies struggle to retain skilled analysts due to more lucrative opportunities in other sectors.  

Decision intelligence platforms offer a transformative solution by bridging the gap between an overwhelming influx of data and the critical need for data driven decision-making. A decision intelligence platform enables officers to derive valuable insights from complex data even without specialized skills. This approach allows law enforcement to combine all relevant data sources into one holistic view, visualize data, and generate actionable insights such as suspicious patterns, trends, hidden connections and new investigation leads.  

Decision intelligence platforms allow investigators and analysts, not just academics or data scientists, to harness the power of AI and analytics effectively for police work. 

Community Relations

As societies grow increasingly diverse, police must adapt to varied cultural norms, languages and community expectations. Building and maintaining trust with diverse community groups poses multifaceted challenges. Technology can play a crucial role in building trust between law enforcement agencies and their local communities, but only if approached thoughtfully and with a community-minded perspective. Otherwise, it risks exacerbating existing tensions and challenges in community relations.

Law enforcement can engage community stakeholders to build digital trust by using technology in a more transparent way and involving the community in decision-making, thereby fostering accountability and enhancing community confidence. Collaborating on smart city technology allows citizens to influence the future of policing and their community. Deploying emerging technologies to address long-standing crime challenges and improve public safety demonstrates a commitment to community well-being.

As AI use increases, concerns about its potentially negative impact grow. Consequently, demands are rising for enterprises and government organizations across all sectors to adopt a Responsible AI approach. Law enforcement authorities are increasingly adopting AI-powered tools and platforms. Due to growing calls for adopting Responsible AI principles, authorities must ensure that any AI systems they use, whether developed in-house or by external vendors, adhere to Responsible AI principles.

Authorities will need to focus on considerations around privacy, reliability, model explainability and governance in their AI systems — both when selecting solutions from external vendors and when developing solutions internally. Authorities must ensure that AI-powered systems deployed support a Responsible AI approach by guarding against bias, ensuring transparency and implementing guardrails against negative outcomes.

The more police forces use AI, the greater the demand will be for them to adopt Responsible AI practices, making it not just an ethical choice but a requirement. The implementation of ethical guidelines and transparency strengthens community trust.

Navigating the AI Role in Policing

As AI adoption accelerates this year, its implications for law enforcement face increasing scrutiny. Global regulatory frameworks, like the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, shape how AI is applied to policing by emphasizing fairness, transparency and human rights. Additionally, the recently signed Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence – the first legally binding global treaty on AI – underscores the need for robust oversight and governance. 

As AI use evolves, concerns about its ethical and societal impacts intensifies. In 2025, enterprises and government organizations are expected to recognize Responsible AI principles but also begin demonstrating their active implementation. As AI-powered tools and platforms are increasingly being adopted, especially in larger law enforcement organizations, there are heightened expectations for transparency, accountability and fairness. Law enforcement authorities must ensure that any AI systems they use, whether developed in-house or by external vendors, are aligned with Responsible AI principles and compliant with regulatory standards. 

Authorities must continue to focus on considerations around privacy, reliability, model explainability and governance in their AI systems – both when selecting solutions from external vendors and when developing solutions internally. Authorities must ensure that AI-powered systems support a Responsible AI approach by guarding against bias, ensuring transparency, and implementing guardrails against negative outcomes. 

Rise in Cybercrime

Cybercrime poses a growing threat around the world, manifesting in increased cyber attacks, online fraud and more.  

In 2024, cybercriminals executed some of the most significant attacks in recent memory, targeting critical industries and high-profile organizations. These included the “Mother of All Breaches” (MOAB), which exposed billions of records from social media and financial institutions, and a widespread focus on healthcare organizations, where over 137 million individuals were affected by data breaches. 

The global cost of cybercrime rose from $8.15 trillion in 2023 to $9.22 in 2024 and is expected to surge in the next four years to a whopping $13.82 trillion in 2028. 

For instance, German companies faced approximately 267 billion euros ($298 billion) in losses due to cybercrime and sabotage, marking a 29% increase from the previous year. 

In the first half of 2024, cyber attacks against government entities remained a prime target. The first half of the year also saw an increase in nation-state APT attacks, mainly against government entities. Cyber attacks against the healthcare industry also increased by 50%.  

Looking ahead to 2025, cyber attacks are expected to become more sophisticated, driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and the emerging capabilities of quantum computing. AI will play a dual role—enhancing cyber defense through predictive analytics while enabling threat actors to scale attacks using automated phishing and malware. 

Quantum computing’s immense power threatens traditional encryption, making quantum-resistant security imperative. Meanwhile, ransomware and phishing are rising as attackers exploit new tech and weak spots. Adopting Zero Trust strategies, enhancing cyber hygiene and fostering public-private threat intelligence collaboration are key to staying ahead.

The Growing Threat of Ransomware  

Are law enforcement crackdowns contributing to the ransomware ecosystem? During the first half of 2024, nine new ransomware groups emerged, with five appearing in April alone. 

Ransomware remains a significant threat, causing substantial damage to enterprises and organizations. Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) platforms are driving this threat, providing a model where threat actors can use ransomware developed by others to conduct their own profitable attacks. These attacks typically involve encrypting files on targeted networks and systems, with different groups or individuals managing the ransom demands and tactics. In some cases, ransomware groups threaten to leak stolen data on dark web extortion sites if victims refuse to pay, adding additional pressure to comply with ransom demands. 

Multiple new ransomware variants are still emerging, almost on a monthly basis, despite law enforcement crackdown. More than 150 ransomware sites have emerged in the last year, according to LUMINAR’s CTI group, according to a recent analysis conducted by Cognyte’s CTI group.

Efforts to combat ransomware have made strides. In 2024, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) led a major disruption of the LockBit ransomware group, seizing infrastructure, freezing cryptocurrency accounts, and identifying key operatives.   

Police agencies must adopt advanced threat intelligence solutions to enhance capabilities in monitoring all layers of the Web, including dark web forums and sites, and mitigating diverse types of cyber attacks and threats. 

While this has significantly degraded LockBit’s operations, ransomware threats persist. Organizations must remain vigilant, adopting robust cybersecurity practices to protect against evolving threats in a landscape where cybercriminals adapt quickly to exploit vulnerabilities. Also, police agencies must adopt advanced threat intelligence solutions to enhance capabilities in monitoring all layers of the Web, including dark web forums and sites, and mitigating diverse types of cyber attacks and threats. 

Cross border crime

Transnational crime organizations exploit sophisticated global networks, making it difficult for local or even national police forces to tackle these issues alone. A conservative estimate by the United Nations has said that transnational organized crime generates as much as $870 million a year. According to a Europol 2024 report on the EU’s most threatening criminal networks, the 821 most threatening criminal networks operate in or have an impact across all 27 EU member states. The majority have a reach that extends beyond the EU, particularly to neighboring countries, but also more distant locations. This global reach is also reflected in the composition of these criminal networks, with 112 nationalities represented among the members of the 821 most threatening networks. Sixty-eight percent of the networks are composed of members from multiple nationalities, while 32% have members from only one country.  

Source: Europol 2024 report  

Law enforcement agencies have dedicated significant resources to tackling cross-border crime. Despite their efforts, the dynamic nature of organized crime has enabled it to evade removal and avoid prolonged disruption. Today, organized crime operates in a fluid, networked manner, linking individual criminal operators and smaller groups through information brokers and contract facilitators. These networks are bolstered by service providers offering expertise in law, finance, logistics, and other specialized fields, enhancing their operational capabilities. Adding to the complexity, these crime groups operate across multiple criminal domains, rather than being siloed in one criminal domain such as drugs, property crime, trafficking, etc.  

In addition, the crime-terror nexus is increasingly significant, with organized crime networks often linking up with terror groups, posing new challenges for law enforcement and necessitating enhanced intelligence and international cooperation. 

Cryptocurrencies

The rise of cryptocurrencies has introduced new challenges for law enforcement. Criminals exploit cryptocurrencies to launder money, facilitate cross border transactions and fund illicit activities. Cryptocurrencies provide anonymity, decentralization and global accessibility, making them attractive tools for criminals.  

To combat this, international collaboration is crucial. Agencies must share intelligence, track crypto flows, and trace illicit transactions across borders. Sophisticated blockchain analytics tools help investigators follow the money, identify patterns and dismantle criminal networks. By staying ahead of technological advancements, law enforcement can disrupt crypto-enabled crime and protect communities.  

Technology solutions play an important role in helping law enforcement officials overcome police force challenges, offering AI-driven capabilities like decision intelligence, blockchain analytics, threat intelligence, and more. Harnessing these solutions can help police optimize resources and staff, tackle emerging threats, and bolster public safety efforts more effectively.  

Click here to learn more about how these solutions can help address police force challenges.