What is police intelligence?

Intelligence is information which the police receive or collect. It could be information about drug dealing in your community. It could be information about suspicious behaviour. Or it could be information about a possible drink driver.

Specialist officers look at the information and assess the risk to a person. We then decide if, and when, we need to act on this information.

Something you’ve seen or heard may seem insignificant. But your information could be the missing puzzle piece we need. It could help us to catch a criminal and keep people in your community safe.

We need you to tell us what's going on where you live or work.

If you see or hear something that doesn’t seem right or causes you concern, we want you to tell us about it.

If you aren't sure if what you have seen or heard should be reported as a crime, our online form will help. Remember if a crime is happening now and someone is in immediate danger, call 999.

If you would like to tell us about something you have seen or heard, please click the link below. 

• Include your name and contact details. This is so we can contact you for more information if we need to.
• Include names and nicknames.
• Include people descriptions, for example, height, hair colour, clothing, any distinctive features.
• Include relevant addresses or locations.
• Include vehicle descriptions and registration plate.
• Let us know if you have any photos or CCTV.
• Tell us how you know this information? Did you see it yourself or has someone told you?
• Tell us how many people know this information?
• Tell us if you have you told anyone else this information?

The information you give us, along with your details is confidential. We have specialist officers who process the information that comes into us. Giving your details is helpful as our specialist officers can contact you if they need to.

But, if would like to stay anonymous, you can give information to independent charity, Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111.

We know that when you tell us something you need to have the confidence that we will listen.

But sometimes the information you provide, on its own, isn’t enough for us to be able to do something right away. There are thresholds that we must meet before we can apply for a warrant or arrest someone.

Your information may alert us to something we didn’t know about, and we can begin to monitor the situation. Or it could verify other information we already have, enabling us to act.

But it’s important for us to manage your expectations when you tell us something, as you may not hear back from us.

We understand that this may seem like we’ve ignored your information or that it’s not useful. This isn't the case. We could be assessing the information or checking it with other information we have. We may be doing our own research like non-uniformed patrols or talking to the community.

We ask that this doesn’t put you off from telling us something. Your information could be the missing puzzle piece we have been looking for.

Here are examples of how community information has helped us to catch criminals.

Cannabis grow

A member of the public told us about suspicious activity at a house in Essex. They said that the curtains were always closed and the property had a flume.

A specialist intelligence officer was able to speak to the member of the public and find out more. This enabled the officer to develop the information and get a warrant to search the address.

Thanks to this information, we found more than 300 cannabis plants at the property.

The specialist intelligence officer said:

“If it wasn't for this person raising their concerns with us, we wouldn’t have found the cannabis grow.
"What made a difference was being able to speak to the person who gave us the information. I was able to find out more and develop the intelligence. This enabled us to get a warrant from the court to search the property."

Gang members prosecuted