Education ‘Are the police doing the right thing with data, and what actually is the right thing?’ Written on Thursday, December 5, 2024 As a result of digitalisation, the amount of data in society has grown hugely. Policing is increasingly becoming data-driven too. This offers new opportunities, but also raises questions. ‘Data is sort of magic, in some way. We can see it, but we don’t know how it works. But it’s everywhere. So data ethics prompts us to ask questions about that’, says Tom van Dam, who recently became the first Data Ethics lecturer of the Intelligence Team at the Netherlands Police Academy. What is data? What can the police do with data and what do the police do with data? Are the police doing ‘the right thing’ with data? All these questions are part of Tom van Dam’s field of work. Since 2018 he has been working at the Digital Investigations and Cybercrime department of the Netherlands Police Academy. In April of this year, he also became lecturer in Data Ethics. ‘Police forces around the world work with traces’, Tom says. ‘Like blood traces, for instance. We’re familiar with those types of traces, but do we know as much about data? Often terms like data and information are used interchangeably. I’ve noticed that when people talk about data, they often don’t know what it means. Let alone data ethics. There’s so much data, you really need to pay it the attention it deserves.’ Information bias ‘Raw data refers to characters and symbols that have not yet been processed by a system. Once they’ve been processed, they are referred to as processed data, Tom explains. ‘As soon as you assign meaning to processed data, it becomes information. So there are a whole lot of steps before you get to information.’ ‘So then, what’s the value of that information, and can you still use it in your profession? How biased is the information you’re working with? If it’s already been processed by a system, what did that processing involve?’ ‘I used to teach financial investigators. They used a certain computer program for their work. They inputted the data and the program made clear what it meant. But it’s like with the Great British Bake-Off’, he explains, 'what the cake looks like all depends on what shape of cake tin you use. How the data is presented to you depends on the software you use. If you don’t know how the software works, how can you tell you’re looking for the right thing? Or doing the right thing with the data?’ Asking questions Data can sometimes form the basis for far-reaching conclusions. Tom: ‘Maybe you’ve heard the Dutch childcare benefits scandal, in which digital data played an important role. Another example is the criminal case against Lucia de B. In that case, statistical analysis of data led to a wrongful conviction. It’s vital to process data correctly, both digital and analogue data.’ ‘The police look for the truth, so it’s important to also ask questions about data. Such as does data actually reveal anything about the truth? And how can data be used appropriately within the performance of police duties?’ ‘Data ethics revolves around asking questions, about whether we’re doing the right things with data and why that is the case. Asking these questions eventually results in a more transparent, explainable and fair use of data that is actually of added value. The same may be true for answering these questions.’ Podcast To provide insight into the field of data ethics for various target audiences within the police organisation, Tom is currently in the process of recording three podcast episodes on the following topics: ‘what is data’, ‘what is ethics’, and ‘what is data ethics’ ‘These episodes, which will each be about five minutes long, provide a fundamental explanation of these terms. The podcast is intended as a basic educational product. Additional episodes will be added that are geared towards specific policing specialisations.’ ‘First, I’m going to visit the privacy officers of the various police units. They have in-depth knowledge of the Police Data Act (WPG) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Privacy officers also deal with ethical questions in their work. I want to ask them what additional podcase episodes we could create for them to help them answer these questions. Then they’ll be able to listen to the three podcasts about the fundamental terminology, followed by a special podcast geared towards their own specialisation. We can repeat this process for all police specialisations.’ Getting the conversation going In recording this podcast, Tom wants to create customised products. ‘We also want to provide customised information on location. If a team has a question about data ethics but doesn’t want a full training programme, we’ll stop by. We want it all to be practical and practice-oriented. Furthermore, we are planning to organise mini conferences intended to get the conversation on data ethics going.’ ‘In my view, the police believe that what they do is always the right thing. But ask yourself if that is true. When do you face ethical questions in your work, and how do you deal with them? Are you open to discussing this with each other? Or do you prefer to just do as you’re told? Your gut feelings often tell you if something doesn’t feel right. It’s important to listen to those feelings.’ ‘We want the police do their work in a professional manner, from a sense of responsibility. This includes people saying ‘what are you doing with this data? This is not right’. Does the end always justify the means? Or should we say, “ok, yes, it is technically possible for us to use this data, but we shouldn’t do it”.’ Legislation is ethics enacted ‘Once you start really thinking about this, you start reaching conclusions. It also helps if you discuss what values and norms are at play. It provides insight into difficult choices and how to handle them. These discussions also help the organisation take responsibility for what it does. That’s a very important part of it.’ ‘Legislation is ethics enacted. First, we agree on shared values, which are subsequently laid down in law. If we agree on the role of the police within society, we also need to think about how we use the weapons of data and information. How do we deal with them?’ ‘In an interview room, you don’t put a gun to someone’s head. We’ve reached a consensus that that is unethical. You need to keep asking yourself: ‘can I explain what I’m doing?’ Can I explain it to myself, but also the people I’m working with? My ultimate goal is for everyone to realise that data ethics is completely standard and all part of their work.’