March 2020 by Steve Gould

One of the exciting Futures workshops and keynote addresses that I facilitated this year, was with the ‘Pearls of Policing Program’. This program brings together policing personnel from across the globe to a central location. It is in this location that the nature of serious Futures Questioning took place. This questioning process is a deliberate act to disrupt thinking and ways of knowing the future. It involves and demands from the individual, both solace and courage. I had the privilege to facilitate individual questioning and solace work with participants. These workshops took place both in Norway 2019 and twice in New York 2019/20.

_{Pearls of Policing Futures - New York, June 2019 & March 2020}

Policing is difficult and challenging, yet I sensed, very rewarding work. There is so much more involved than the observable presence of policing. There are many of us who value and appreciate the role of policing and most importantly the many contributions it makes to a society. Equally, society too, has its challenges in working collaboratively with policing. If we are to answer the question of 'What does the future of policing look like?” then, we must first ask society, “How would society in the context of policing, like to be policed and governed?” not only for today, more importantly into the future.

History has shown and continues to show how this symbiotic, yet mutually satisfying dynamic takes place between policing and society. What will this relationship between the function of policing and society look like into the future? What issues will society bring to this relationship and what will it take to trigger asking for help? What might policing support look like?

_{Pearls of Policing - Norway, March 2019}

We can safely assume that we are now in a digital world. For some, not all societies, we are connected in transparent and also invisible ways - ways which create relational spaces. However, these spaces are now digital more than ever. How does society support, govern and protect itself in the digital age? What expectations will we place on our policing functionality? How will we, as a society, decide what it is that needs protecting? In what ways will we evolve, resource and support our policing functions?

_{Digital Crime Futures}

These and many more pertinent policing questions are currently being explored. The answers are signals in the noise - signals are found from asking layered futures questions. Asking yourself futures questions is not for wimps. Futures questions are designed to be psychologically disruptive, yet are vitally important to reflect upon to invoke synthesised wisdoms. It takes courage and commitment, and acts of service to self. Service acts are being performed by amazing people, whom I humbly respect. Similarly, I liken these acts of service to those of the pearl divers, who risk their lives for the pearls that society so much values!