How can policing ensure transparency in decision-making, so it is open to challenge?

Background

"Analytics is the ability to synthesise information to draw insights that can lead to actionable decisions, often in combination with other information and at scale.

We recognise that policing’s increasing use of analytics, including in areas such as risk assessment, come with an obligation to ensure the public understand what we are doing and consent to it. To achieve this requires deriving better answers to a set of questions that afford the public transparency and voice. We identify this as a separate ARI because it is central to our overarching ambition to build public confidence and because we believe research is needed to develop best practice."

Next steps

"We welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways:
• If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants.
• If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible.
• If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research.
• We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/
Please send any correspondence and questions to [email protected], 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

  • A Research Network to Explore the Use and Regulation of Predictive Analytics in Policing

    Advances in big data, information processing technology, and artificial intelligence are purported to confer immense benefits to law enforcement agencies when investigating crimes and administering criminal justice, incl...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Sheffield

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially addresses the question by discussing the risks and regulation of predictive analytics in policing.

  • Policing Academic Centre of Excellence

    Context & challenge:  The Scottish Policing Academic Centre of Excellence (SPACE) brings together interdisciplinary academic expertise in three key substantive themes: Safety, Prevention, and Analytics; underpin...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Edinburgh Napier University

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on analytics in policing, including transparency and public confidence.

  • Policing Academic Centre of Excellence

    This application comes from a consortium of three Universities – University of Leicester, Aston University and the University of Birmingham, to form the Policing Academic Centre of Excellence, Leicester, Aston, Birmingha...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project addresses areas of research interest related to policing, including analytics and public trust.

  • NCJL Academic Lead

    Across policing and the Home Office there are critical questions that need answering in order to improve criminal justice outcomes. The information exists to answer many of these questions but is hidden within large data...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Leicester

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project focuses on utilizing data for strategic policing and criminal justice outcomes, which aligns with the need for transparency in decision-making.

  • NordForsk Digitalisation of the Public Sector - Critical Understanding of Predictive Policing

    The Nordic-Baltic countries and the UK are not only considered leaders in the digitalization of the public sector, but they have also established long-term cooperation in regards to law enforcement. At the same time, law...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of St Andrews

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially addresses the question by investigating the impact of data-driven police technologies on society and end-users.

  • "Ethical Review to Support Responsible AI in Policing - A Preliminary Study of West Midlands Police's Specialist Data Ethics Review Committee "

    The deployment of AI and emerging technologies by the police, while promising more effective use of data for the prevention and detection of crime, brings with it considerable threats of disproportionality and interferen...

    Funded by: AHRC

    Lead research organisation: Northumbria University

    Why might this be relevant?

    The project specifically focuses on ethical review and responsible AI in policing, addressing transparency and public trust concerns.

Similar ARIs from other organisations

Learn from experience, from others, and constantly strive to improve Increasing the use of analytics within policing Metropolitan Police, 2019
Full details