What methods for data fusion and linkage across datasets best retain the anonymity of identifiers?

Background

"The ability to pass information quickly, accurately, and securely, and the ability to intercept or disrupt communications of others.

The scale and complexity of police information means that fast, reliable, and flexible fusion and linkage across datasets is not a straightforward process. We are interested in all methods, but they must be usable within the character of our working environment, in terms of varying data protection impact assessments, data quality, and the proportionate need for access. Methods that retain the anonymity of identifiers are of particular interest as they can enable us to better work with our partner agencies."

Next steps

"We welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways:
• If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants.
• If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible.
• If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research.
• We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/
Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading."

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Policing Areas of Research Interest

Similar ARIs from other organisations