The police risk falling behind criminals in the use of AI and other technologies if new legislation is needed each time the police introduce new crime-fighting technologies, the the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley, has said.
Announcing a package of new measures which include the deployment of Live Facial Recognition (LFR) to the West End of London and the deployment of drones across the capital on 24th June, the Commissioner, said that "the current system is preventing policing from keeping pace with the pace of technological change".
Policing, he argued, should not be expected to wait for new legislation every time technology advances. While campaigners call for a separate legal framework for each new capability, that approach is simply not viable in a fast-moving technological landscape. Instead, he said, the polcie needed "clear, consistent principles governing the use of technology, underpinned by strong oversight, accountability and public transparency".
Rowley also criticised the "structural imbalance" in the budget for technology and infrastructure in policing, which he said had fallen behind other parts of the public sector. While some parts of the the public sector have been allowed to sustain and prioritise investment in digital capability, the police's budget has been subjected to signifcant cuts in this regard. "At the upper end, government agencies are spending more than £13,000 per person on technology and data. By contrast, the Met is able to invest around £6,000 per person, less than half that level," he said.
"Without the right tools, policing cannot operate at the speed, scale or precision the modern threat demands. And unless that changes, the gap between policing and those it seeks to protect against will continue to widen," he said.
