Making better use of data is essential to driving better policing outcomes, as is a large-scale modernisation of technology, making more use of the technologies that are ubiquitous in civilian life – such as smart phones and cloud-based data centres, and the use of digital channels that enable citizens to contact police more easily.
As with all other sectors, technology is rapidly changing how policing works, while citizens’ expectations around accessing public services digitally have also changed. The National Policing Digital Strategy 2020-2030 states, “The challenges and opportunities that digital disruption present to policing are rapidly becoming defining issues for the service.”
However, as in other sectors, the ethical risks associated with these rapid digital transformations are multiplying. Furthermore, the digital ethical consequences are arguably greater in the policing sector than in many other sectors, with data and technology being used to make potentially life-altering decisions about citizens.
Examples of data and technology use in policing that have high ethical risk and which have become high profile include:
Predictive policing, which has been seen as making policing more effective in some instances, but which can also raise questions about how crimes are reported and recorded, and how community policing decisions are made based on potentially biased and inaccurate data and algorithms
Facial recognition technologies, which could help to solve crimes more quickly, but which also have well-documented challenges with accuracy and bias, while also raising questions of privacy, safety and wider social impact
Body-worn cameras, which may make policing more transparent, but also raise questions about fairness, accuracy, and privacy
Academics, government groups, industry bodies and police forces have been working to integrate ethical standards into the police use of data and technology. Examples include the Ethics Advisory Report from the Alan Turing Institute for West Midlands Police, which outlined ethical approaches and analytical techniques in pursuit of law-enforcement objectives5. The Scottish Government have set up an independent advisory group on emerging technologies in policing that will ensure Police Scotland’s use of emerging technologies for operational policing is compatible with human rights and other applicable legislation and best practice6. The Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation produced the RUSI report, which reviewed the use of algorithms in human decision-making, with particular focus on bias7. The National Police Chiefs Council’s Ethics Committee has established a Digital and Data Ethics Guidance Group that will explore policing technology ethics issues at a national level. Suppliers of technology to police forces, such as Sopra Steria and Axon8, have also started to integrate ethics into their work, and techUK, the technology industry group in the UK, brings together police representatives, government, academic groups, and the technology industry to focus on digital ethics in events such as at this year’s techUK Police Digital ICT Summit9.
