New technology will be used to help improve policing in Cheshire – but it won’t replace staff, the county’s police and crime commissioner has said.
Dan Price also promised checks would be in place to ensure technology used by the force doesn’t violate civil liberties.
He was responding to concerns raised by Cllr Judy Snowball at a recent police and crime panel meeting.
Cllr Snowball, who chairs the panel, said the commissioner’s police and crime plan contained interesting developments regarding the use of drones, additional surveillance, recording and updating of data.
“I note that you are talking about, in your plan, an independent ethics panel,” she told Mr Price.
“I am wondering how will concerns be raised to that panel, who would probably be on it, and how would – as far as can be envisaged at the moment – how would these concerns be addressed by it?” she asked.
Mr Price replied: “Ultimately, the decision-making of how it’s used and applied, and the consequence of it, will still be at the shoulder of people who are policing professionals.
“If that is seen to be abused or the systems aren’t being used in the appropriate way, I would expect the current complaints process and performance development process to be there in place to make sure that there are consequences for people who do that.”
He added: “I appreciate there is some nervousness around civil liberties, and we’ll have to keep a watching brief on that.
“My job will always be to protect the public’s interest in how this technology is deployed.”
Mr Price said the ethics panel was still being established, and that it would take time for him to process how it was going to operate.
He also gave an example of how the technology could be used, saving he plans to visit Cumbria where a CCTV suite has recently opened using AI-enhanced cameras.
“What that might mean, practically, is some simple savings for councils, and that’s welcome,” said Mr Price.
“It also means that, when a young child is missing… and the parents phone in and say they were wearing a red jumper, the CCTV system is able to only show up children in red jumpers.”
This, he said, would speed up operations in the CCTV control room.
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