By Bill Finnerty
Automation is crucial for justice and public safety organizations as they navigate changing public expectations and cope with diminishing talent pools in many regions. Chief information officers (CIOs) must prioritize the ethical expansion of data and technology usage to effectively guide their organizations towards achieving mission objectives.
Gartner predicts that by 2026, over 65% of public safety organizations will establish an ethics framework to guide the use of predictive analytics for proactive incident response.
In recent years, advanced predictive analytics has been effectively implemented in various sectors, including healthcare and public safety. For example, in India, the Delhi Police uses advanced analytics to identify areas where crime is likely to occur. This information is then used to proactively deploy police officers to those areas or to implement other crime prevention measures. Delhi police uses Crime Mapping Analytics and Predictive System (CMAPS).
However, in the public sector, there has been hesitation and concern surrounding the use of predictive analytics. The public’s fears about potential overreach by law enforcement are heightened by the lack of transparency from public safety organizations regarding their utilization of data and predictive analytics to enhance their mission objectives.
The growing opportunities to use AI for surveillance and advanced analysis present new risks to the ethical and proper handling of data by public safety organizations. Additionally, the absence of national or international standards leaves both these organizations and communities in a constant state of uncertainty regarding the appropriate use of data and technology in predictive and proactive service models.
Until ethics frameworks are established and normalized, government decision makers struggling to determine the appropriate use of predictive service models will err on the side of caution in evaluating related solutions and miss opportunities to understand the potential mission impact.
CIOs leading public safety and justice organizations must engage leadership or the governance board to establish a working group for developing an ethics framework for the use of predictive analytics in operational areas of the department, and including external parties such as community leaders, academics and industry professionals.
Government CIOs must also enforce a policy of transparency regarding any analytics or artificial intelligence models utilized for operational purposes. This can be achieved by requiring vendors to disclose the models they use in their solutions and making this information available to the public upon request. It is essential to establish a process that allows the community to verify the use of predictive analytics and ensure adherence to department policies, in order to build trust in their implementation.
Gartner analysts will be discussing best practices related to data and analytics at the Gartner Data & Analytics Summit, taking place April 24-25 in Mumbai, India.
(The author is Bill Finnerty, VP Analyst at Gartner, and the views expressed in this article are his own)
