Data Scientist

City of London Police; City Of London; On-site; GBP 58,000; Full time

Job summary

A municipal police force in London is seeking a Data Scientist to enhance its analysis capabilities in tackling fraud and cybercrime. This role will involve working with data from various policing sources and requires strong skills in statistical modelling and programming, particularly in SQL and Python. The successful candidate will contribute to improving data organization and analysis within the force. Benefits include a competitive salary, generous leave, and access to professional development opportunities.

Benefits

LGPS Pension Scheme

Access to Blue Light Card scheme

Free access to Force Gym

29 days' annual leave + bank holidays

Qualifications

• Degree in applied maths, statistics, or computer science or relevant work experience.
• Experience with statistical modelling techniques like regression and decision trees.
• Strong SQL skills for querying and manipulating data.

Responsibilities

• Identifying business problems and resolving them through analytical techniques.

Skills

Statistical modelling

SQL

Python

R

AI/machine learning

Education

Degree in relevant subject

Tools

Power BI

Job description

Post Title: Data Scientist
Type of contract: Permanent
Rank/Grade: F
Salary: £50,330 per annum, plus £6,710 London Weighting, plus £200 London Weighting supplement per annum.

Directorate/Department: National Lead Force – Specifically: National Fraud Intelligence Bureau
Vetting level required: MV/SC
Location: Guildhall Yard East

This role is open to all Police Staff / external candidates who meet the essential criteria of the person spec, regardless of current grade.

Who are we?
The City of London Police is the designated National Lead Force for fraud and the National Police Chiefs Council Portfolio Lead for economic and cyber-crime and is responsible for Action Fraud and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau. The City of London Police’s mission is to protect the public by preventing and disrupting fraud, economic and cyber-crime through capable, coordinated and effective policing.

The City Of London Police Is Responsible For

• Setting the national fraud policing strategy and leading and coordinating the police response to fraud
• Co-ordinating national fraud reporting, including through Fraud Report
• National triaging and allocation of fraud cases and intelligence
• Provide Intelligence support to investigation of nationally significant, serious and complex fraud
• Workforce development, including training, continuous professional development and dissemination of good practice across police forces
• Collation, interpretation and reporting of national fraud policing performance

About The Role
The City of London Police are recruiting for a Data Scientist to join the Report Fraud department. This is a new and exciting role that has been created to improve City of London Police’s data science provision. This role provides an excellent opportunity to join the City of London Police, who lead the UK’s policing response to fraud and cybercrime whilst also supporting the overall force performance.

The post will be situated within Report Fraud Intelligence Services team which leads on the analysis and production of national fraud and cybercrime intelligence products. The intelligence team is split into three desks which analyse all the Home Office Crime Recording (HOCR) codes reported to Action Fraud. The role will work alongside intelligence analysts, researchers and crime reviewers to enable comprehensive understanding of the Report Fraud system and the requirements of those that are using it. The post will report to the Head of Intelligence Services for Report Fraud.

Responsibilities
The role will include detangling data from a number of different policing sources and working in the areas of Intelligence and Performance. In order to improve the policing response to “big data,” this role recognises a need to organise data more efficiently. Data scientists with specific skillsets will allow policing to more accurately collate, structure and analyse large datasets. This is a semi-autonomous role which will require the candidate to work independently. This role will support analytical functions but not replace them by providing analysts and researchers with additional functionality. The role is not a strategic role but a technical one supporting wider strategic objectives. Key responsibilities include:

• Identifying business problems and resolving them through innovative analytical techniques

Requirements
Essential:

• Degree in relevant subject (e.g. applied maths, statistics, computer science) or proven work experience as a data scientist.
• Proven ability to select and use appropriate statistical and analytical techniques to help draw insight from a wide range of data applications including data mining, AI/ machine learning, algorithm building, automation and predictive modelling.
• Proven experience in the use of statistical modelling techniques such as regression, decision trees, neural networks, K-Means clustering, etc.
• A strong SQL background in querying and manipulating data is essential, including creating materialised views, functions, packages and stored procedures.
• Demonstrable coding and programming skills in additional languages such as R or Python.

Desirable:

• A postgraduate qualification in a relevant discipline, preferably with a statistical, mathematical or analytical focus.
• In-depth knowledge of police processes, systems and data
• Ability to design robust classification algorithms that can meet a business requirement using machine learning techniques.
• Experience in use of R or Python to enhance the analytics capability of Power BI.
• Experience of utilising AI and machine learning in Microsoft Azure.

This vacancy is open only to those who have the right to work in the UK. If you would like to discuss the post in more detail, please contact India Ghosh or Amanda Wolf.

Selection Process
As part of the initial application process, you will be asked to evidence how your experience, skills, and knowledge demonstrate your ability to meet the person specification of the role.

The application and interview will be tested under Level 2 of the College of Policing Competency and Values Framework.

Benefits

• LGPS Pension Scheme
• Access to Blue Light Card scheme
• Discounts within the Square Mile specifically for City of London Police employees
• Free access to our Force Gym
• 29 days’ annual leave + bank holidays, increasing up to 34 days with continuous service
• Season Ticket Loans
• Cycle to Work Scheme

A diverse workforce improves the service we provide to our public by making us more approachable and relevant within our communities. This is why it’s vitally important that we recruit people from a wide range of communities and backgrounds with an understanding of cultural issues and a wide range of skills.