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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 542-2023
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 25th May 2023 as follows:
I am now writing to limit my request to the following:
Digital decision tools *currently in operational use* by your force (up to a total of ten - chosen on the basis of *most recent deployment*, where more than ten are in use).
By digital decision tools, I mean any technology that uses software algorithms to process digital data and generate outputs either to (a) *support* policing decisions, by providing information or recommendations to a human police officer, who retains discretion in making the final decision; or (b) *automatically* trigger a policing or law enforcement decision based on the generated output(s).
By ‘policing and law enforcement decisions’, I mean any decisions taken by police officers in carrying out their duties to detect and prevent crime, to protect the public and reduce harm, to maintain public order, to enforce the law, and to bring offenders to justice. This may include (but is not limited to) decisions concerning the imposition of enforcement notices (e.g., speeding fines), case/complaints-handling, resource allocation, criminal investigations (particularly those concerning whether to pursue inquiries in relation to specific persons, and what action(s) to take, such as arrest or questioning, stop and search etc.), and decisions made at the pre-trial stage about individuals, including detention and charging decisions.
EXAMPLE TOOLS OF INTEREST
To help with my inquiry, examples of the kinds of tools I am requesting information on tools including:
*Digital dashboards*: any tool which processes and organises data sets to generate data visualisations to assist policing work. For example, they might provide information about ongoing and/or recently reported incidents, the analysis of crime patterns, workload and resource allocation, and data shared with public agencies such as the emergency services. These dashboards might, for instance, be used to improve emergency response times, assist officer decision-making, resource management, and so on. For example, Qliksense.
*Individual risk assessment tools*: any tool which processes data to generate predictions about the ‘risk’ posed by an individual relating to an undesirable outcome, such as their risk of committing a serious violent crime in the future, risk of general recidivism, risk of self-harm, or risk of becoming a victim of harm. For example, the London Gangs Matrix or the Harm Assessment Risk Tool (‘HART’) that has previously been used by Durham Constabulary.
*Geospatial crime ‘hotspot’ mapping tools*: any tool which processes historical crime data to identify patterns indicating potential crime ‘hotspot’ areas (i.e., geographical locations where crime is predicted to be most likely to occur within a given time period). For example, PredPol.
*Automated biometric analysis tools* (including live facial recognition systems): any tool which processes biometric data for the purposes of identifying individuals ‘of interest’ (i.e., according to s.205 of the Data Protection Act 2018: biometric data is data relating to the physical, physiological, or behavioural characteristics of a person, such as facial images, fingerprints, or retina scanning). For example, NeoFace Watch.
SPECIFIC INFORMATION REQUESTED - FOR EACH RELEVANT TOOL, CAN YOU PLEASE:
Q1. Supply the *name(s)* of each tool.
Q2. Explain the *reason(s)* why your organisation decided to develop and/or deploy each tool, including the intended *policy purpose(s)* of the tool (e.g., to reduce criminal offending by aiming to improve the identification of potential victims of a criminal offence or to identify individuals ‘of interest’ to police, using the automated analysis of digital data).
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Q1 & Q2 response: Please see below the tools currently in operational use by Warwickshire Police. These support policing decisions, by providing information or recommendations to a police officer, who retains discretion in making the final decision. I can confirm that the force holds no information in relation to any technology that uses software algorithms to process digital data and generate outputs to automatically trigger a policing or law enforcement decision based on the generated output(s).
Business Objects: Used to interrogate source systems to provide management information and respond to internal and external requests for information.
Northgate XD: Used to map geographical data.
Power BI: Interrogates source systems to provide management information/dashboards and respond to internal and external requests for information.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB