Abstract
This article is an exploration of some of the legal, policy and practical issues of using what is termed as 'algorithmic analysis' of police intelligence in the UK today. This type of intelligence analysis is thought to facilitate accurate and 'predictive' policing planning, strategy and tactics. There are, however, ethical and legal issues around this growing policy stance - many of them predicated on concerns around privacy and potential discrimination. To gain a better understanding of these issues, as they are currently developing, a freedom of information (FOI) request was sent in several parts to all police forces in the UK: i) seeking to establish the extent to which algorithmic analysis of intelligence is currently used in UK policing; ii) investigating the handling of intelligence by police forces; and iii) reviewing how the police in the UK regulate and monitor disciplinary issues around the handling of intelligence. We gained a partial picture of these issues - since there are some methodological limitations to FOI-based studies - but the responses to our FOI request revealed enough disparities and differences in developing practice to suggest a number of recommendations regarding the legality, accountability and transparency of 'algorithmic' police intelligence analysis.
Highlights
This article explores some of the legal and societal issues around algorithmic and computational intelligence analysis used within policing in the United Kingdom; methods which interlink with the use of so-called 'Big Data' and are commonly badged as data science
There has been a call for more predictive policing in the United Kingdom, using 'Big Data' techniques in intelligence analysis, as demonstrated by the National Policing Vision for 2016, which hopes that ‘predictive analysis and real-time access to intelligence and tasking in the field will be available on modern mobile devices.’[2]. This suggests the increasing importance of predictive policing, allowing forces to ‘drive improvements in investigations, proactive patrolling, the protection of vulnerable people and the management of offenders and dangerous people.’[3]. This statement indicates the variety of different aims to which algorithmic methods may contribute, both on the macro and the micro level, each of which involves differing benefits and risks
In February 2016, all police forces in the UK were contacted as part of the study, pursuant to the legal framework that requires a public body to respond to a freedom of information (FOI) request within a specified timescale
Summary
This article explores some of the legal and societal issues around algorithmic and computational intelligence analysis used within policing in the United Kingdom; methods which interlink with the use of so-called 'Big Data' and are commonly badged as data science. There has been a call for more predictive policing in the United Kingdom, using 'Big Data' techniques in intelligence analysis, as demonstrated by the National Policing Vision for 2016, which hopes that ‘predictive analysis and real-time access to intelligence and tasking in the field will be available on modern mobile devices.’[2] This suggests the increasing importance of predictive policing, allowing forces to ‘drive improvements in investigations, proactive patrolling, the protection of vulnerable people and the management of offenders and dangerous people.’[3] This statement indicates the variety of different aims to which algorithmic methods may contribute, both on the macro and the micro (individual) level, each of which involves differing benefits and risks The use of these technologies in policing is not an area that lends itself to a one-size-fits-all approach in terms of application, regulation or oversight. This may include the analysis of ‘data sets that are so copious and complex that they have to be processed by computing power to be useful’[5] or the analysis of information gathered through the investigative process in order to transform it into usable knowledge[6], to indicate links or suggest correlations
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