Quantum Dice, North Wales Police test probabilistic computing for emergency deployment planning

Quantum Dice and North Wales Police say a proof-of-technology project cut modelled emergency response times by about 40% and beat the study target by 52% in a vehicle deployment planning test. The work points to probabilistic computing as a possible tool for faster, more flexible police response planning.

Why it matters: - Emergency-response planning has to balance speed, rural coverage, station resilience, vehicle availability, officer welfare and safe policing constraints. - The project suggests probabilistic optimisation could help public-sector agencies place vehicles more effectively without breaking those rules. - North Wales Police tested the approach in a region with geographically diverse demand, where forward deployment can affect how fast urgent calls are reached.

What happened: - Quantum Dice and North Wales Police announced results from Project PROTECT, a proof-of-technology for emergency-response vehicle deployment planning. - The project used Quantum Dice’s probabilistic processor to model forward deployment scenarios for police response vehicles. - The work was supported through the Test and Learn Programme from the UK Policing National Science and Innovation Board (NSIB).

The details: - In a constrained modelled scenario, the study kept one vehicle at each of five station wards and optimized the placement of ten surplus vehicles. - That setup cut average response times to 4.82 minutes, about 40% lower than the station-based baseline. - The project also lifted the share of high-priority P0 demand reachable within 10 minutes from 58.8% to 75.6%. - Geographic ward coverage improved from 39.3% to 64.3%. - Quantum Dice said the modelled emergency response times were 52% below the study target. - The project delivered a working decision-support prototype combining optimization, simulation and visualisation. - The results were based on historical demand data, and further validation would be required before any operational deployment.

Between the lines: - The pilot is less about replacing police planning and more about testing whether new computing methods can handle real-world constraints that standard optimization may struggle with. - The use of a UK-made probabilistic processor also points to a broader push around sovereign computing capability in public-safety applications. - The project’s value is strongest as evidence for future evaluation, not as proof that the system is ready for frontline use.

What’s next: - Quantum Dice said the project creates a foundation for future evaluation of advanced optimization approaches in policing and other resource-constrained environments. - The company also built a dynamic optimization and simulation environment that recalculates vehicle placements as incidents occur and vehicles become available. - In a 24-hour simulation with 13 urgent incidents, all incidents were responded to while work-rest scheduling constraints were maintained. - The best configuration in that simulation produced an average response time of 7.76 minutes, beating the project’s target ambition of about 10 minutes. - North Wales Police and other agencies may use the prototype as a basis for additional testing before any wider deployment. - More information is available in the policing science and innovation programme.

The bottom line: - Project PROTECT shows probabilistic computing can improve modelled police deployment decisions while preserving operational constraints, but the approach still needs more validation before real-world use.