The Future Will Need Educated and Moral Cops

“The men and women who lead our police during this era will truly have to be the community’s guardians and protectors and be deeply committed to that role.”

With advent of robotics into policing and private security, we are only a few years away from employing artificially intelligent robots (ala “Robocop”) as policing “assistants.”

Far-fetched? Not so at all. See my blog on one such robot ready to be available for purchase next year.

We can mark the taking down of the Dallas shooter on July 7, 2016 after the assailant killed five officers monitoring a peaceful demonstration as, perhaps, the beginning. It was our nation’s first use of robotic deadly force. But this mechanism was human-controlled, and humans made the call to use deadly force against the suspect — not an algorithm.

In the very near technological future, we will have developed algorithms to deal with incidents in which a suspect flees or attempts to use deadly force against (What? A robot?). In such instances an assault against a robot would not be a personal crime, would it? but one against property.

The title of today’s blog is intended to call our attention as to the challenges around how and when artificial intelligence technology (such as facial recognition) will be used — this will present now, more than ever, not only educated, but morally and ethically sound police. Because it is these men and women who will ultimately decide (with, of course, some public input) whether or not to use these machines, how they will be used, and in what circumstances.

This also means having police officers and their leaders who deeply understand the challenges surrounding policing a free society — from protecting civil rights to ensuring procedural justice while carrying out their duties.

The men and women who lead our police during this era will truly have to be the community’s guardians and protectors — and be deeply committed to that role. It is up to those whom they serve to make sure that happens.

from Improving Police https://ift.tt/2xWpoAU