Governance arrangements

Figure 1: Predictive policing—a vicious circle?

Data collection

Increased apprehension rate in area Tool identifies patterns

Likelihood of increased police presence in area Tool predicts future crimes in area

30. The use of advanced technologies in the application of the law poses

a real and current risk to human rights and to the rule of law. Unless this is acknowledged and addressed, the potential benefits of using advanced technologies may be outweighed by the harm that will occur and the distrust it will create.

Governance arrangements 31. Governance arrangements are essential as a basis for a clear, long-term strategy for the development of new technologies for use in the application of the law. Cohesion, consistency, and clarity are urgently needed in this area. The Minister for Crime and Policing, Kit Malthouse MP, described the “evolution”:

“Successive Governments have built on the structure of the past and no one has quite gone back to the beginning and said, ‘Hold on a minute, if we’d known then what we know now, what structure would we have put in place?’ Our job in all that is to set the frameworks legislatively and to adjust them through Parliament as required.”60

32. We have noted over 30 public bodies, initiatives, and programmes playing a role in the governance of new technologies for the application of the law