Over the past 20 years, police organizations and practices across the globe have adopted data-driven tools to predict and prevent crime Ferguson, ; Brayne, In this conference, we will focus on the digital transformations within the police that have both inspired and engendered new sociotechnical imaginaries that either promise efficiency and security Schafer, or stress the potential risks for mass surveillance and algorithmic bias Egbert, ; Harcourt, The discreet charm of prediction, in terms of increased efficiency, reduced fiscal burdens, improved accuracy of decision-making, streamlined data management, and lower crime rates, has thus been met with skepticism, significant critique, and even warnings of dystopia.
The global rise of predictive policing methods is an example of the charm so far, yet its more recent fall is meanwhile indicative of the skepticism with which it has been met. The overall goal of this conference is to better understand what law enforcement and predictive policing have become today, with the ongoing digital transformation and platformization of key functions of the police organization.
At the same time, there is a renewed interdisciplinary interest in improving the accuracy of said prediction by training data and introducing algorithms in experimental ways.
To follow the future of policing, we need to understand where the trajectory of these concepts, imaginaries, and practices is now heading. Focusing on predictive software and big data also raises questions about the integration, use, and storage of data by the police. In other words, the conference also aspires to problematize the continuing platformization of police work Egbert, , i. Said platforms spur controversies and raise not only societal, ethical, and legal challenges but also perform sociotechnical ontologies, such as shifts in policing practices as well as state-citizen relationships.
In that manner, digital police platforms or similar software become gatekeepers to networked ecosystems Plantin et al. This involvement occurs in novel ways that exceed previous models of public-private partnerships and thus creates new challenges for social justice, democracy, accountability, data ownership, agency, and, of course, law enforcement. We are interested in how digital tools transform police work.
