By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept

News Junction

Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
  • Home
  • World News
    World NewsShow More
    NH mom, two daughters share rare medical condition
    NH mom, two daughters share rare medical condition
    May 19, 2025
    Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year
    Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year
    May 19, 2025
    Bomb blast kills four in southwest Pakistan: Officials
    Bomb blast kills four in southwest Pakistan: Officials
    May 19, 2025
    ‘Napalm Girl’ was in the Vietnam War photo. But who was behind the camera?; documentary The Stringer
    ‘Napalm Girl’ was in the Vietnam War photo. But who was behind the camera?; documentary The Stringer
    May 19, 2025
    Trump to speak with Putin today on ending Ukraine ‘bloodbath’ – after Russia carries out largest drone attack since start of war | World News
    Trump to speak with Putin today on ending Ukraine ‘bloodbath’ – after Russia carries out largest drone attack since start of war | World News
    May 19, 2025
  • Business
    BusinessShow More
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    Ukraine blows up bridges to consolidate its positions in Russia
    August 18, 2024
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    Commentary: AI phones from Google and Apple will erode trust in everything
    August 18, 2024
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    The most famous Indian Dishes – Insights Success
    August 18, 2024
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    Life on the road as a female long rides cyclist
    August 18, 2024
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    UK inflation rises to 2.2%
    August 18, 2024
  • Cryptocurrency
    CryptocurrencyShow More
    Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Defense Team Wants to Know if DOJ Withheld Evidence
    Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Defense Team Wants to Know if DOJ Withheld Evidence
    May 19, 2025
    XRP price risks falling to  after classic bearish chart pattern confirms
    XRP price risks falling to $2 after classic bearish chart pattern confirms
    May 19, 2025
    Tether surpasses Germany’s 1B of US Treasury holdings
    Tether surpasses Germany’s $111B of US Treasury holdings
    May 19, 2025
    Russia arrests Blum co-founder Vladimir Smerkis on fraud charges
    Russia arrests Blum co-founder Vladimir Smerkis on fraud charges
    May 19, 2025
    Bitcoin blasts past 6K: is Trump’s remittance tax bill crypto’s new rocket fuel?
    Bitcoin blasts past $106K: is Trump’s remittance tax bill crypto’s new rocket fuel?
    May 19, 2025
  • Technology
    TechnologyShow More
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    How to Improve Your Spotify Recommendations
    August 18, 2024
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    X says it’s closing operations in Brazil
    August 18, 2024
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    Supermoon set to rise: Top tips for amateur photographers | Science & Tech News
    August 18, 2024
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    Scientists Want to See Videos of Your Cat for a New Study
    August 18, 2024
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    OpenAI’s new voice mode let me talk with my phone, not to it
    August 18, 2024
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Reading: Automated police tech contributes to UK structural racism problem
Share
Font ResizerAa

News Junction

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Trend
  • Entertainment
Search
  • Recent Headlines in Entertainment, World News, and Cryptocurrency – NewsJunction
  • World News
  • Business
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Sports News
  • People
  • Trend
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
News Junction > Blog > Technology > Automated police tech contributes to UK structural racism problem
Automated police tech contributes to UK structural racism problem
Technology

Automated police tech contributes to UK structural racism problem

Published August 15, 2024
Share
10 Min Read
SHARE

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and facial-recognition technologies in policing is contributing to a “worrying rowback” in the civil and political rights of people of colour in the UK, according to Runneymede Trust and Amnesty International.

In their joint submission to the United Nations’ (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – which independently monitors states’ efforts to eradicate racism and promote human rights – the civil society groups outlined how a combination of legislation, institutional practices and society’s customs continue to harm people of colour in the UK.

“The submission shows the ways in which disparities facing people of colour across the criminal justice system, health, education, employment and immigration have sustained since the previous reporting period four years ago,” they said in a press release.  

“Failure to improve outcomes for people of colour, whilst attacking the ways in which these communities can dissent, leads to an impossible situation for them. Targeted by Prevent [counter-terrorism programme], restricted avenues to protest, over-policed and under-protected, and subject to higher rates of poverty – communities of colour are having to pave the cracks blighted on them by the state.”

Endorsed by more than 40 other civil society organisations – including Liberty, Black Equity Organisation, Friends Families and Travellers, Migrants Organise, and Inquest – the 50-page report contains a section on the impacts of AI and automation in policing on people of colour in the UK.

It noted, for example, that despite the propensity of live-facial recognition (LFR) technology to mis-identify people of colour, the Home Office has previously affirmed the right of police forces to use it in existing legal frameworks, and that use of the tech is generally ramping up.

“According to logs published by the Metropolitan Police, LFR was deployed on nine occasions between 2020 and 2022, resulting in nine arrests or disposals. This increased markedly to 96 occasions between 2023 and May 2024, resulting in 243 arrests,” it said.

“Liberty Investigates revealed that the Home Office had secretly conducted hundreds of facial-recognition searches using its passport photo database and the immigration database, raising further questions about lack of transparency and scope of data usage for facial recognition.”

It noted that the use of automated systems such as predictive policing and Automated Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) by police can result in human rights violations and fatalities; highlighting the fact that the car being driven by 23-year-old Chris Kaba – who was fatally shot in the head by an armed police in September 2022 – was flagged by its registration plate through ANPR before being intercepted.

Although police said at the time that Kaba’s vehicle was “linked to a firearms offence in the previous days”, the car was not registered to him and no firearms were ultimately found inside. The armed officer involved has since been charged with murder and is set to face trial in October 2024.

The report further highlighted the discriminatory outcomes of the Met’s Gangs Matrix database, which resulted in people of colour (predominantly young Black boys and men, in this case) being racially profiled for the music they listen to, their behaviour on social media, or who their friends are.

It added that while the database has been scrapped after being condemned as racist, concerns remain about what will replace it.

In its recommendations for the UK government on police AI, the civil society groups said it should prohibit all forms of predictive and profiling systems in law enforcement and criminal justice (including systems which focus on and target individuals, groups, and locations or areas); provide public transparency and oversight when police or migration and national security agencies use “high-risk” AI; and impose legal limits to prohibit uses of AI that present an unacceptable risk to human rights.

They added that the UK government should commence an inquiry into all police gang databases, with a view to examining the need for more extensive reform at national level. This should consider whether the databases being used by forces across the country are an effective policing tool in dealing with serious violent crime; whether they operate in full compliance with human rights and data protection legislation; and whether they are influenced by racial bias or lead to discriminatory outcomes.

Computer Weekly contacted the Home Office about the report’s recommendations and whether under new administration it still holds the view that facial-recognition technology is adequately covered by existing legislation.

“In the past week, our towns and cities have witnessed appalling violence, with individuals targeted for their skin colour and places of worship attacked. This racism and hatred have caused widespread distress,” said a spokesperson. “We are determined that neither street thugs nor online instigators will define our nation. Our strength lies in unity across all backgrounds, faiths and cultures.”

At the end of July 2024, a coalition of 17 human rights-focused civil society groups similarly called on the new Labour government to place an outright ban on AI-powered predictive policing and biometric surveillance systems, on the basis they are disproportionately used to target racialised, working class and migrant communities.

“AI and automated systems have been proven to magnify discrimination and inequality in policing,” said Sara Chitseko, pre-crime programme manager for Open Rights Group at the time. “Without strong regulation, police will continue to use AI systems which infringe our rights and exacerbate structural power imbalances, while big tech companies profit.”

The Home Office is considering the findings of both reports.

Ongoing police tech concerns

In November 2023, the outgoing biometrics and surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales, Fraser Sampson, questioned the crime prevention capabilities of facial recognition, arguing that the authorities were largely relying on its chilling effect, rather than its actual effectiveness in identifying wanted individuals.

He also warned of generally poor oversight over the use of biometric technologies by police, adding that there are real dangers of the UK slipping into an “all-encompassing” surveillance state if concerns about these powerful technologies aren’t heeded.

Sampson also previously warned in February 2023 about UK policing’s general “culture of retention” around biometric data, telling Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) that the default among police forces was to hang onto biometric information, regardless of whether it was legally allowed.

He specifically highlighted the ongoing and unlawful retention of millions of custody images of people never charged with a crime, noting that although the High Court ruled in 2012 that these images must be deleted, the Home Office – which owns most of the biometric databases used by UK police – said that it can’t be done because the database they are held on has no bulk deletion capability.

A prior House of Lords inquiry into UK policing’s use of advanced algorithmic technologies – which explored the use of facial recognition and various crime prediction tools – also found in March 2022 that these tools pose “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.”

In the case of “predictive policing” technologies, Lords noted their tendency to produce a “vicious circle” and “entrench pre-existing patterns of discrimination” because they direct police patrols to low-income, already over-policed areas based on historic arrest data.

On facial recognition, they added that it could have a chilling effect on protest, undermine privacy and lead to discriminatory outcomes.

After a short follow-up investigation looking specifically at facial recognition, Lords noted that UK police were expanding their use of facial-recognition technology without proper scrutiny or accountability, despite lacking a clear legal basis for their deployments. They also found there were no rigorous standards or systems of regulation in place to control forces’ use of the technology.

#Automated #police #tech #contributes #structural #racism #problem

TAGGED:AutomatedcontributespoliceproblemracismStructuralTech
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Whatsapp Whatsapp LinkedIn Email Copy Link Print
Share
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0
Previous Article Warren Buffett details Berkshire’s Apple, Chevron and Capital One sales while also buying more Chubb Warren Buffett details Berkshire’s Apple, Chevron and Capital One sales while also buying more Chubb
Next Article Taliban celebrates 3 years since US fled Afghanistan (VIDEOS) — RT World News Taliban celebrates 3 years since US fled Afghanistan (VIDEOS) — RT World News
- Advertisement -

Latest Post

NH mom, two daughters share rare medical condition
NH mom, two daughters share rare medical condition
World News
Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Defense Team Wants to Know if DOJ Withheld Evidence
Tornado Cash Dev Roman Storm’s Defense Team Wants to Know if DOJ Withheld Evidence
Cryptocurrency
Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year
Measles vaccines save millions of lives each year
World News
XRP price risks falling to  after classic bearish chart pattern confirms
XRP price risks falling to $2 after classic bearish chart pattern confirms
Cryptocurrency
Tether surpasses Germany’s 1B of US Treasury holdings
Tether surpasses Germany’s $111B of US Treasury holdings
Cryptocurrency
Bomb blast kills four in southwest Pakistan: Officials
Bomb blast kills four in southwest Pakistan: Officials
World News
- Advertisement -

You Might Also Like

AI2 drops biggest open dataset yet for training language models
Technology

AI2 drops biggest open dataset yet for training language models

August 19, 2023
Apple Vision Pro: Here are the first apps you should download
Technology

Apple Vision Pro: Here are the first apps you should download

February 3, 2024
Canada reports worst wildfire season on record — and there’s more to come this fall
Technology

Canada reports worst wildfire season on record — and there’s more to come this fall

August 14, 2023
Chinese tech giant Tencent says net profits soar 82% in second quarter
World News

Chinese tech giant Tencent says net profits soar 82% in second quarter

August 14, 2024

About Us

NEWS JUNCTION (NewsJunction.xyz) Your trusted destination for global news. Stay informed with our timely and accurate reporting on diverse topics, including politics, technology, science, entertainment, sports, and more. Count on us for unbiased and reliable updates at your fingertips.

Quick Link

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact

Top Categories

  • World News
  • Business
  • Technology
  • Entertainment
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Sports News
  • Trend
  • People

Subscribe

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

    © 2023 News Junction.
    • Blog
    • Advertise
    • Contact
    Welcome Back!

    Sign in to your account

    Username or Email Address
    Password

    Lost your password?