The NEXT Agency

Society is changing…

Demographics are changing and becoming increasingly diverse, cities are growing more crowded, people are living longer lives, and more people are seeking refuge within the safety of the Dutch borders. We have become a knowledge and network society very quickly, where technical possibilities are endless. Every day brings a new and deeper meaning to our sense of security and safety. We aren’t just vulnerable in the streets, but at our computer and on the phone as well. We are anonymous and at the same time more is known about us than we were able to anticipate just a few years ago. And a new economy is emerging where an integral value approach and the resilience of the earth and humankind replace our focus on financial profit.

 The police are changing as well…

The new economy introduces new forms of crime and the police is responding accordingly. The police have to become NEXT GENERATION. Cybercrime demands new detection methods. With self-learning algorithms, cases of fraud and cold cases are being solved and predictive enforcement will become business as usual within a few years. The new composition of society brings new challenges and tensions. The role of the police officer is becoming increasingly diverse, but also increasingly diffuse. The changing society offers room and opportunities to reinvent and redefine the police. Not driven by enforcement, but as a source of inspiration for society.

What about housing…?

That is the context of the search for innovative solutions and concepts the police is currently entertaining. The housing needs to be supporting and future-proof and able to embrace the ever-changing role of the police in an ever-changing society. A living room with 24/7 facilities. Sometimes transparent and sometimes private. And always safe and asshole-proof. The housing issue facing the police cannot be reduced to a single innovation or solution. It demands an integral, new perspective of the working environment of the police. A perspective where servitude and service, supported by new technical capabilities, are included in a flexible housing concept.

The NEXT Agency (www.thenextagency.nl) offers a concrete solution for finding answers to several challenges facing the police. The NEXT Agency is a place (a police station) combined with a new type of collaboration between the Red and Blue team, where innovations are tested and bundled, resulting in a future-proof police station.

The NEXT Agency

The NEXT Agency represents the new officer: the new police work in a changing environment. Right in the heart of society. The NEXT Agency is an existing or a new police station with a research & development mission with a facilitating environment where surprising and innovative solutions are developed and tested. This is where the changing role of the officers is shaped. This makes the NEXT Agency a permanent beta version and sustainable solution to the greatest challenges facing the police.

User Centred Design Thinking

The user is the starting-point for The Next Agency. The people who work there. And the visitors. The police station must always meet their wishes. The environment must be hospitable, offer a pleasant atmosphere, promote effectiveness and growth, offer comfort, inspire. And often all of that simultaneously. This demands an interplay of personal services, smart use of technical capabilities and a flexible environment. That is what we will be developing. Together with the users, we map the challenges in design sprints, and proceed to design solutions that will be tested, validated and scaled. With our process skills and our concrete knowledge of smart services, smart technology and smart construction.

Changing from the inside

The NEXT Agency is being developed by the police: innovation teams and people from operations. They make up the Blue Team. The NEXT Agency is their practice and development environment as well as their learning environment. Officers from all over the Netherlands are coming here to learn how to work with new technologies and new working methods. They are developing the new police work in The NEXT Agency. And they are translating their new ways of working to cultural interventions. And to a new organisational composition. So that the police recruitment department can compete with tech companies. The police are spreading all the knowledge and ‘practices’ themselves, through a sophisticated knowledge programme. The Blue Team is supported in all of this by the Red Team. Within adaptive environments (housing) that allow the police to perform its tasks optimally and make changes achievable.