Even before Covid-19 struck, 'big picture' challenges such as global warming, rising inequality, artificial intelligence, racial injustice and demographic change were creating a sense of uncertainty about the future. Add in a global pandemic and the 2020s look very much like a 'decisional decade', with governments across the world facing critical choices about the core systems that underpin human security, wellbeing and prosperity ' systems in which policing is deeply embedded. In this seminar, Nic Pole, Principal Analyst at the College of Policing, will discuss how 'futures thinking' ' the capacity to think systematically about the future to inform decision making today ' can help policing prepare for tomorrow's challenges and opportunities. As well as talking about the practice of futures thinking, Nic will also discuss key findings from Future Operating Environment (FOE 2040), a futures report published by the College in 2020.