In 2018, Police Scotland produced a business case for a major investment in digital, data and ICT over 10 years to modernise the service. The proposed investment would also generate savings and public service improvements for the wider criminal justice system. Mobile Working was part of this investment which will see 10,000 officers equipped with mobile devices by Spring 2020. The roll-out of mobile devices has allowed officers to be more visible within communities, spending more time engaging with members of the public as well as focussing on crime prevention. From the outset, the Mobile Working team understood the need to monitor the benefits of the project. With this in mind, they have utilised an external academic research team to undertake this work. The use of an external academic team in this manner, who are fully independent of the Force, ensures robust scrutiny of the approach to benefits and expert assurance internally and externally that the projected impacts of Mobile Working are being realised in practice.

Presenters:

Martin Low (Police Scotland)

“Practical ICT Matters”

Professor Lesley Diack (Robert Gordon University)

“Cultural change and benefits”

Chief Inspector Martin Gallagher (Police Scotland)

"Mobile working project”

Session Chair: Chief Superintendent Matthew Richards (Police Scotland)

Discussant: Superintendent Craig Smith, Police Scotland

 This session will explore key debates and considerations regarding digital contact in policing. What is the place of digital contact in policing and how should it be embedded in existing models of policing? How might online and face-to-face forms of contact co-exist and be sustained? What practical lessons can be learned from the implementation of a social media based approach to sharing information with the police? What are the implications of online communication for police legitimacy within and outside a police organisation?

Presenters:

Davina Fereday (Police Scotland)

“Creating an accessible and seamless public experience”

Inspector Eleanor Charlston (Metropolitan Police)

“The Met’s use of twitter as a public contact method for submitting information and evidence”

Liam Ralph (Northumbria University)

“Legitimacy on social media inside and outside the police organisation”

Session Chair: Dr Liz Aston (SIPR/ Edinburgh Napier University)

Discussant: Dr Helen Wells (Keele University)

The Home Office’s Accelerated Capability Environment is a public-private partnership within the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism, which applies industry-led innovation and co-creation to public safety and security challenges arising from digital technology and data. In this ACE-led panel session, we will explore some practical ethical issues which sit outside mainstream debate over intrusion and legitimacy, but which are thrown into sharp relief when collaborative work is done at pace – from the consolidation of ethical heuristics, through to working with the most sensitive and disturbing data sets, and the responsible commissioning of zero-day exploits.

Presenters:

Stephen Roberts (Vivace, Home Office)

“From Kant and Mill to the Daily Mail test: testing and improving on industry and mission ethical heuristics in an agile environment.”

Andy Loukes (ACE, Home Office)

“Technology and reducing harm to investigators: ethical governance and the Child Abuse Image Database (CAID).”

Ian Stevenson (Cyan Forensics)

“Kiosks, the global vulnerabilities equities market and their consequences”

Chair: Stephen Roberts (Vivace, Home Office)

Discussant: DSU Nicola Burnett (Police Scotland)

This panel will aim to bring together different perspectives of those engaged in research on actors and processes related to ‘governing (cyber)security’ (see Johnston and Shearing, 2003). Each of the presentations cut-across different dimensions of the policing challenging;  from tackling quite niche types of offending, to the more macroscopic and abstract (‘Booting the booters’, offenders experience and understandings of policing, building resilience through user behaviour change, all the way up to the macroscopic view to be provided by Prof. Irons.

Presenters:

Ben Collier (University of Cambridge)

“Booting the Booters: Evaluating Law Enforcement Interventions in the Market for Cyberattacks”

Professor Alastair Irons (University of Sunderland)

“Combating Cybercrime in Today's Society”

Yanna Papadodimitraki (University of Leeds)

“Cyber-transgression in United Kingdom and Greece”

Dr Lynsay Shepherd (Abertay University)

“Improving Security Awareness Through Gamification Techniques”

Chairs: Dr Shane Horgan (Edinburgh Napier University) and Dr Stefano Di Paoli (Abertay University)

Discussant: Professor Wendy Moncur (University of Dundee)

Organisers: Dr Ian Ferguson and Dr Natalie Coull (Abertay University)

 This session will explore research and debate in the ethics of online state surveillance in Britain and further afield. As online communication grows and expands, so do the opportunities for offenders to use these systems, either to execute a crime or to communicate with collaborators. Nation states are building tools and techniques to monitor online communications for the prevention of crime and the apprehension of offenders. However, the extent to which this state activity is regulated and communicated to the public varies from one country to another. We will consider research from the UK and Europe about the ethics of online state surveillance. We will then consider the practical side of implementing ethical online surveillance in rapidly changing field.

Presenters:

Professor William Webster (University of Strathclyde)

"Data Governance: Ethics, Ownership and Oversight"

Giles Herdale (Herdale Digital Consulting)

“Digital investigation compatible with the principles of policing by consent”

Dr Megan O'Neill (University of Dundee), Amy Humphrey (University of Dundee) and , Dr Anna Leppänen (Police University College Finland) 

“Trust and Transparency in Online State Surveillance: findings from comparative research”

Dr Angela Daly (University of Strathclyde)

"A view from civil society"

Chair: Amy Humphrey (University of Dundee)

Discussant: Dr Megan O’Neill (University of Dundee)

This workshop will explore the challenges that emerge with the use of potentially transformative new technologies in policing, including those involving data analytics and ‘predictive policing’. Focusing in particular on the ethical issues raised, the workshop will discuss whether and how the risks involved in the use of such technologies can be managed and mitigated.

Presenters:

Professor Charles Raab (University of Edinburgh)

"Law enforcement and digital ethics"

Detective Chief Inspector Chris Todd (West Midlands Police)

"Predicitive policing and ethics"

Professor Rosamunde Van Brakel (Free University Brussles)

“Ethical and Legal Challenges of Big Data for Law Enforcement”

Chair: Dr Richard Jones (University of Edinburgh)

Discussant: Matthew Rice (Open Rights Group, Scotland)