Technology has always shaped the evolution of policing. Radios improved coordination, computer-aided dispatch transformed response, body-worn cameras enhanced transparency, and data analytics improved situational awareness.

However, today’s technology environment represents a different kind of challenge. Many of the same tools that create operational advantages for police agencies are also available to criminal organizations, extremist actors, hostile foreign governments, and individuals seeking to evade detection or disrupt public safety operations and emergency response.

The emerging threat is not a single technology. Instead, it is the convergence of widely available commercial capabilities, including artificial intelligence (AI), drones, connected devices, social media, synthetic media, and vast amounts of publicly available data, that is changing how threat actors conduct surveillance, gather intelligence, deceive the public, and target police and emergency response personnel.

For police leaders, the challenge is not simply adopting new technology. It is understanding how technology changes the threat environment.

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