Knowledge-Based Policing: Augmenting Reality with Respect for Privacy

Abstract

Abstract. Contemporary information-led policing (ILP) and its derivative, knowledge-based policing (KBP) fail to deliver value at the edge of action. In this chapter we will argue that by designing augmented realities, information may become as intertwined with action as it can ever get. To this end, however, the positivist epistemological foundation of the synthesized world (and ILP and KBP for that matter) has to be brought into line with the interpretive-constructivist epistemological perspective of every day policing. Using a real-world example of the Dutch National Police Services Agency (KLPD) we illustrate how augmented reality may be used to identify and intercept criminals red-handedly. Subsequently we discuss how we think that the required data processing can be brought into line with the legislative requirements of subsidiarity, proportionality, and the linkage between ends and means, followed by a discussion about the consequences for, among other things, privacy, discrimination, and legislation.

Towards a Sedimentology of Information Infrastructures: a Geological Approach for Understanding the City

“…Information infrastructures are becoming pervasive in urban environments—more so in some than in others—and are at the same time increasingly relied upon in policing practices. For instance, geo-spatial information systems are already a relatively widespread technology in many municipalities, engaged in both urban planning and crime mapping/crime analysis (Chainey and Ratcliffe 2005 ; Manning 2008 ); risk profiles are algorithmically generated entities often predicated on data from an array of sensors and increasingly engaged in resource allocation practices in policing (Schakel et al 2013 ). Coming to grips with the role of networked information infrastructures in our urban fabric becomes even more relevant when we contemplate the significant investments in the development and roll out of ‘Smart Cities’ and similar agendas.…”

Policing Matter(s)

“…One of the practices of knowledge-based policing implies the modelling of police knowledge about crime into automated risk profiles (Schakel, Rienks, and Ruissen 2013). While much of analysis work in intelligence-led policing has a tactical and strategic scope, this interpretation of knowledge-based policing concentrates on the operational level.…”

“…While much of analysis work in intelligence-led policing has a tactical and strategic scope, this interpretation of knowledge-based policing concentrates on the operational level. In this context, Schakel et al (2013) refer to a restricted notion of knowledge, emphasizing the role of know-how in addition to know-what in police practice (Orlikowski 2002). For example, they argue, 'knowing how to recognize a criminal in action may include the identification of a number of indicators'.…”

“…In the context of the Sensing project, Schakel, Rienks, and Ruissen (2013), following Marx and Reichman (1984), define profiling as a method "to correlate a number of distinct data items in order to assess how close a person or event comes to a predetermined characterization or model of infraction" (Schakel, Rienks, and Ruissen 2013, 6).…”

“…Categorical suspicion not necessarily implies mass surveillance of whole categories of citizens. When multiple sensors are aggregated from 'railways, waterways, cyberspace' (Schakel, Rienks, and Ruissen 2013) they can also produce more accurate, contextualized and situated suspicion. As police organizations gain legal access to a variety of non-police databases and information infrastructures, they mine these data and combine information into automated alerts and profiles.…”