What legal and ethical challenges does the use of autonomous systems in policing face as robots become more able to operate independently?

Background

"Mobility is the ability to move to/from locations quickly to prevent, detect or respond, including to access difficult locations safely to maximise intelligence and minimise risk.

We are interested in exploring how low-cost swarm robotics could expedite policing activities, such as crime scene analysis and help enable forensic specialists to concentrate on complex or central evidence. We anticipate that robotics will be particularly valuable in challenging and hard to reach locations, reducing the need for police officers to enter hazardous environments to rescue, treat casualties and bring the situation under control. As autonomy and AI improve, robots may become smarter and more able to operate independently of their operators, which may lead to complex ethical, operational, and legal challenges that we seek to understand."

Next steps

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Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading."

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Policing Areas of Research Interest

Related UKRI funded projects


Similar ARIs from other organisations