The Scottish Government Justice Directorate has set up an advisory group for emerging technologies in policing.
It has recently held its firsts meeting with the job of reporting on whether the current legal or ethical frameworks need to be updated in order to ensure Police Scotland’s use of emerging technology is compatible with equality and human rights legislation and best practice.
This covers issues such as whether the existing arrangements are sufficiently robust and whether there are suitable institutional oversight functions to oversee the introduction of new technologies.
The group has begun to run a number of workstreams, with the aim of producing relevant recommendations. These cover: the legal framework and ethical standards; evidence and scientific standards; consultation and community engagement; oversight, scrutiny and review.
Dr Elizabeth Aston of Edinburgh Napier University has been made chair the group, which reports to the cabinet secretary for justice.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
