This paper conceptualises a novel and emerging model of UK algorithmic policing which we term ‘influence policing’. This harnesses the affordances of Internet platforms to conduct domestic digital influence campaigns for crime prevention. These campaigns use sophisticated targeted messaging and paid influencers to directly ‘nudge’ behaviour and shape the culture of specific groups. By targeting people based on fine-detail behavioural, interest, and location data, these police campaigns aim to use models from behavioural psychology to prevent crime. We discuss the theoretical implications of this new mode of AI-enabled policing using analysis of a dataset of more than 12,000 adverts and in-depth fieldwork with Police Scotland’s dedicated strategic communications team, arguing that this provides law enforcement new capacities to craft and manicure digital encounters with targeted publics, and poses potentially troubling questions for democratic governance.

This presentation will draw on findings from the public-focused stream of the INTERACT project. INTERACT is a UK based Economic and Social Research Council funded mixed-methods project which focusses on recent shifts towards technologically-mediated contact between police and public. New digital developments in policing, such as ‘contact us’ web-based email exchanges, online resources, live-chat and chat-bots, and digital interpretation services, are often linked with a broader accessibility agenda within policing; to create multiple avenues of contact to enable publics to have ‘channel choice’ in their decisions on the medium of interaction with the police (Wells et al., 2022). However, it is not clear how experiences of procedural justice may be influenced by the imposition of technology within police-public encounters, nor to what extent public views have been incorporated into these digital developments. This presentation explores how different public communities experience digitally mediated police interactions across dimensions of trust, voice, and accessibility. Presenting findings from focus groups with (1) Autistic individuals and (2) D/deaf individuals, as well as focus groups with (3) the general public, this presentation will explore how these publics experience technologically mediated police interactions. Focusing specifically on ‘voice’, this presentation explores how technology can create new avenues for making contact with the police, whilst simultaneously designing-out voice and narrative from police-public interactions. The implications for police legitimacy of constraining and designing out ‘voice’, which is a crucial aspect of procedural justice theory, will be explored.

Predictive systems can face significant challenges during their development, implementation, and use in policing. However, the adoption of many ‘predictive policing’ systems across the world has usually occurred without oversight mechanisms in place to counter such challenges. This study investigated the processes employed by the West Midlands police ethics committee (WMPEC) when developing, integrating, and using predictive analytics in policing. The research identified how WMPEC addressed the trailing of predictive analytics, examining how organisational and ethical challenges were discussed and addressed, and how projects changed over time. Employing document analysis, this research thematically analysed over 60 documents (including project reports, meeting minutes, evaluation studies). Sixteen projects that involved some forms of predictive logic were presented to WMPEC over the period studied, including place-based and person-based systems. Three projects were approved for piloting but only one was operational at the time of analysis. As projects often took several months to be considered (due to the committee meeting quarterly), documents, presentations and discussion allowed for predictive systems’ ethical considerations to be highlighted and subsequently addressed. Where responses to ethical concerns were unable to satisfy the committee or technical issues occurred, projects were withdrawn. If projects were deemed suitable, emphasis was placed on piloting and evaluation, to examine the organisational implications of each system’s use. Separately, WMPEC engaged in reflective practice to improve its processes, which in turn, sought to aid committee efficiency and effectiveness. This case study of how WMPEC achieves oversight of predictive systems holds implications for other PECs in England and Wales.

As a public institution at the heart of the modern liberal democratic political economic model, state policing in England and Wales has traditionally aligned with notions of impartiality and neutrality. Thus, the role of the police is to prevent social conflicts without taking a side in them and achieving peaceful coexistence (Wood 2020). However, a number of recent race-related incidents and matters relating to police misconduct have resulted in policing deviating from the traditional notions of impartiality and neutrality. Following the Scarman and MacPherson reports, British policing was increasingly focused on enhancing trust, confidence and legitimacy amongst members of the public, particularly with ethnic minorities (Bowling et al., 2019). However, these changes have not ended criticism from progressive movements and activists, as illustrated by the Black Lives Matter movement and the Sarah Everard protest (Fekete, 2022). In contrast, such police reforms and related practices may also draw ire from right-leaning political and counter-cultural movements.

Whilst the relationship between police and some communities is already troubled, media coverage of controversies may influence public perceptions, shape policy debates and further impact the relations with these and other social or political groups. Contemporary political expression in policing is a little researched topic, and this paper explores how this issue is framed by influential news media organisations in the UK. This paper draws upon framing theory (Entman, 1993; Gamson and Modigliani, 1989) to examine how issues of political expression and impartiality of police officers and organisations are framed in news media. In addition, the paper will analyse the underlying ideological narratives in news media frames and the implications for public understanding of contemporary policing.