Artificial Intelligence and Policing: a Timeline of Events

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How has artificial intelligence been used in policing throughout time?

AI for policing will continue to be tested in a wide range of areas of policing, as it has already proved a useful tool for processing the vast amount of data that police forces can now access. Increasingly, police forces will start to address more risks around bias, ethical concerns, and accuracy.

¹ Turing, A, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Mind 49 (1950): 433-460

² Rigano, C, “Using Artificial Intelligence to Address Criminal Justice Needs,” NIJ Journal 280, January 2019, https:// www.nij.gov/journals/280/Pages/using-artificial- intelligence-to-address-criminal-justice-needs.aspx.

³ Alzou, S, & Alshibly, H & Al-ma’aitah, M. (2014). Artificial Intelligence in Law Enforcement, A Review. International Journal of Advanced Information Technology. 4. 10.5121/ijait.2014.4401.

⁴Lapowsky, I., 2018. How The LAPD Uses Data To Predict Crime. [online] Wired. Available at: <https://www.wired.com/story/los-angeles-police-department-predictive-policing/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

⁵Nilsson, Patricia. “First UK Police Force To Try Predictive Policing Ends Contract”. Ft.Com, 2020, https://www.ft.com/content/b34b0b08-ef19-11e8-89c8-d36339d835c0. Accessed Oct 2020.

⁶ Osborne, C., 2019. San Francisco Bans Police From Using Facial Recognition Tech On Residents | Zdnet. [online] ZDNet. Available at: <https://www.zdnet.com/article/san-francisco-bans-facial-recognition-tech-being-used-on-residents/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

⁷ National Physical Laboratory, 2020. Metropolitan Police Service Live Facial Recognition Trials. [online] London. Available at: <https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/central/advice/met/facial-recognition/met-evaluation-report.pdf> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

⁸ Oswald, M, Grace, J, Urwin, S &  Barnes, G(2018) Algorithmic risk assessment policing models: lessons from the Durham HART model and ‘Experimental’ proportionality, Information & Communications Technology Law, 27:2, 223-250, DOI: 10.1080/13600834.2018.1458455

⁹  Vincent, J., 2018. Chinese Police Are Using Facial Recognition Sunglasses To Track Citizens. [online] The Verge. Available at: <https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/8/16990030/china-facial-recognition-sunglasses-surveillance> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

¹⁰ Greig, J., 2018. Welsh Police Facial Recognition Software Has 92% Fail Rate, Showing Dangers Of Early AI. [online] TechRepublic. Available at: <https://www.techrepublic.com/article/welsh-police-facial-recognition-has-92-fail-rate-showing-dangers-of-early-ai/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

¹¹ HMICFRS, 2018. Planning Failures In Policing Risk Public Safety – HMICFRS. [online] HMICFRS. Available at: <https://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/news/news-feed/planning-failures-in-policing-risk-public-safety/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

 ¹² Bayern, M., 2018. Amazon AI Misidentifies Congress As Criminals, Proves It’s Not Ready For Enterprise. [online] TechRepublic. Available at: <https://www.techrepublic.com/article/amazon-ai-misidentifies-congress-as-criminals-proves-its-not-ready-for-enterprise/> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

¹³ Murgia, M., 2020. Met Police Try To Calm Tensions As Live Facial Recognition Hits London. [online] Ft.com. Available at: <https://www.ft.com/content/db8bfc3c-4cf4-11ea-95a0-43d18ec715f5> [Accessed 29 October 2020].

¹⁴ Hatmaker, T. ” AI Researchers Condemn Predictive Crime Software, Citing Racial Bias And Flawed Methods”. Techcrunch.Com, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/23/ai-crime-prediction-open-letter-springer/?guccounter=1. Accessed 29 Oct 2020.

¹⁵ Matsakis, Louise. “Amazon Won’T Let Police Use Its Facial-Recognition Tech For One Year”. Wired, 2020, https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-facial-recognition-police-one-year-ban-rekognition/. Accessed 29 Oct 2020.