Policing Insight and PolicingTV Publisher Bernard Rix recently met Wayne Parkes, who very recently retired as Chief Digital Data and Technology Officer at the UK’s Police Digital Service, the organisation leading UK Policing’s technology development and programmes. 

Prior to his time in a leadership role at the Police Digital Service, Wayne had spend over 30 years in police ICT roles. He was the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC’s) Chair of the National Police Technology Council (NPTC), representing 54 law enforcement CIOs on the national stage, and a former Program Director of the National Enabling Programmes, the national police transformation programme. 

He started his police career in Warwickshire, where he still lives. 

Bernard and Wayne met in Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of playwright William Shakespeare. On their walk around the town, they discussed the current state of UK police ICT, and explored where the opportunities for significant improvement lie. Acknowledging that this would be the first year in many that he was not due to play a leading role at the Police Digital Summit – the major UK Policing conference taking place in the second week of May – Wayne reflects on the work of PDS and the Summit, as well as on policing partnerships and collaborations, both successful and abandoned. Why do some work and others fail?