Made Tech has contributed to techUK’s new Policing Solutions Book, sharing what our work on the Victim Pathfinder taught us about data sharing, fragmented systems and designing services across criminal justice boundaries.
How can policing share data more effectively between organisations, improve services for staff and the public and avoid creating more digital silos in the process?
These are some of the challenges explored in techUK’s Policing Solutions Book, which brings together contributions from across the technology industry in response to 13 problem areas identified by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Made Tech contributed one entry, drawing on our work with the Ministry of Justice on the Victim Pathfinder project and what it taught us about joining up data and services across the criminal justice system.
For Alina Graham, Principal Consultant at Made Tech, one of the most important aspects of the Pathfinder was being able to explore those problems through delivery.
“Lots of people across the criminal justice system already know that data and services are fragmented. What the Pathfinder allowed us to do was test what that actually means when you try to build something that crosses those boundaries. It helped us understand where things break down, but also where there are opportunities to join things up and reuse what already exists.”
The Victim Pathfinder Project
Made Tech worked with the Ministry of Justice on the Victim Pathfinder project to explore how data and digital services could improve victims’ experiences in the criminal justice system.
The work exposed a fundamental challenge. Victim information is held across police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service, HMCTS, and other agencies, but it does not flow easily between them. Legacy systems are secure in isolation, creating silos that prevent staff from accessing a trusted, up-to-date view of a case and leave victims unsure of what is happening.
Rather than just documenting the problem, the Pathfinder used live delivery to test how boundaries could be overcome. The team developed a victim-facing Track My Case service, giving people clear information on where and when their case would be heard, alongside guidance and support. They also worked with HMCTS to create a lightweight API exposing court data in a reusable form, extending value beyond the Pathfinder itself.
The product strategy connected user-facing services and reusable platform components around accurate, shared data. The goal was to reduce duplicated administration, free staff to focus on those needing support, and provide victims with timely, transparent information. These principles address wider policing challenges, such as community-based offender management, drawing on our discovery work into VCMS and Victim Liaison Officers, where staff need secure access to cross-agency information.
The Pathfinder showed that solving local problems with isolated technology deepens national fragmentation. Reusable components, common data standards, and secure data-level access enable joined-up services without weakening controls. The research, learning, and code remain available to build on, offering a tested foundation for criminal justice services that are more efficient, transparent, and capable of strengthening public trust.
Building on the work
While the Victim Pathfinder was one project, the issues it uncovered are much wider. People and cases move between different parts of the criminal justice system, while the technology and data supporting those journeys often remain constrained by organisational boundaries.
The work also demonstrated the value of creating reusable capabilities rather than solving the same problems separately in different places. Some of that value remains available now, from the research and code produced through the Pathfinder to the API work that made court information easier to reuse.
Alina added: “The important thing now is not to lose what has already been learned. We know more about the barriers, we have reusable work that can be built on and we have shown that it is possible to work across criminal justice system boundaries. The more we work in that way, the more normal it becomes, and ultimately that should mean better services for both staff and the people using them.”
The Victim Pathfinder is one contribution to a much broader discussion in techUK’s Policing Solutions Book about how technology can help policing tackle shared challenges. Read the full Policing Solutions Book on the techUK website here.
If you’re working on similar challenges around fragmented data, legacy systems or services that need to work across organisational boundaries, talk to Made Tech about how we can help you turn those challenges into working services.
About the Author
Alina Graham
User-Centred Principal
As a chartered human factors specialist and user-centred principal, Alina Graham excels at creating effective and impactful user experiences. Her career spans designing operator environments at JCB, enhancing manufacturing processes at Aston Martin and improving digital prison services. Her consultancy work with government departments like the Home Office and GDS highlight her dedication to accessible and intuitive design for diverse user groups.
