Drones and Policing: Assessing Practical and Ethical Challenges of Developing and Using Advance Technology for Police Activities

Abstract

The issues of the development of autonomous weapons lacking meaningful human control are significant for any organisation that seeks to use drones for policing, security, commercial or military purposes. Against this background of advances in AI and drone technology, practical application, public controversy and ethical concern, we aim to propose the use of drone technology in three distinct aspects of policing: surveillance, search, and outdoor crime scene mapping. The ethics of police decision-making around the use of drones will always take place within that tension between deontological (process and rule-following) ethics and utilitarian (outcome-based) ethics. Such are the ethical complexities that must be considered when using drones for police surveillance, either in the UK or in the Republic of Korea. Using Focused Group Interview ethical challenges are further discussed and it is found that an understanding of ethical challenges in the field is embedded in the socio-political context.