May 23—May 24: Community safety, policing, and AI

The AI for Law Enforcement and Community Safety lab (AiLECS) is excited to present to you, as part of our Setting the Agenda Series, an ethics symposium and participatory design workshop: Community safety, policing, and AI : putting ethical principles into practice.

This free, in-person event runs over one and a half days in the Melbourne CBD. 

Dates: Thursday May 23 (Day 1) | Friday May 24 (Day 2)

Day 1 - 9am to 5pm

Day 2 - 9am to 12.30pm

Where: Monash College, Docklands, Melbourne - 750 Collins St, Room 903, Level 9

Day one opens with a presentation by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Authority (ANZPAA), sharing insights on ethical AI frameworks and the task of designing and operationalising their AI policing principles. This will be followed by keynote talks and panel discussions featuring speakers from law enforcement, justice, academia, and others engaged with the design, delivery and impacts of AI in policing.

Panellists at this event include Grace Tame (Grace Tame Foundation); Elena Campbell and Stan Winford (Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT); representatives from the Queensland Police Service, Victoria Police Service and the Australian Federal Police; and more. See event schedule below for all speakers.

Day two is a half-day workshop bringing together collective expertise to build on knowledge shared in Day 1. Attendees will work together in groups to surface ethical challenges and human impacts relating to how AI is transforming the practice of policing in our region. You will help articulate strategies to effectively operationalise AI principles in ways that achieve safer outcomes for our communities.

Keynote Speakers:

Tracey Green — CEO Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency (ANZPAA)

Keynote: Responsible AI - we all have skin in the game

Jeannie Paterson — Professor of Law & Director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne

Keynote: Safety and suspicion: ethics, regulation and the limits of AI in policing

Eva Tsahuridu — Deputy President, Professional Standards; Police Registration & Services Board (Vic)

Keynote: AI, moral imagination and ethical policing

Lyria Bennett Moses — Professor of Law and Justice, and Director of the UNSW Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation

Keynote: Oversight of law enforcement intelligence and the use of AI

Event Schedule

Thursday 23 May

9:00 am	Tea/coffee and light refreshments available
9.20 – 9.35	Acknowledgement of Country and opening remarks
9.35 – 10.15	KEYNOTE: Responsible AI - we all have skin in the game Tracey Green (ANZPAA)
10.15 –  12pm	PANEL: Design choices and the systems we live by: community needs for safety in AI policing Grace Tame (Grace Tame Foundation) Elena Campbell & Stan Winford (Centre for Innovative Justice, RMIT) Vicki Sentas (UNSW) Reuben Stanton (Paper Giant) MODERATOR: Bridget Harris (Director, Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre)
12 –  12.40	KEYNOTE: Safety and suspicion: ethics, regulation and the limits of AI in policing Jeannie Paterson (Director, Centre for AI and Digital Ethics, University of Melbourne)
12.40 – 1.30	LUNCH
1.30 – 2.45	PANEL:  The landscape and ethics of AI initiatives in Australian policing today With panellists from the Queensland Police Service (Nick Moss, Manager Data Services); Victoria Police Service (Sam B,  AI Deployment Lead); and the Australian Federal Police. MODERATOR - Joanna Batstone (Director, Monash Data Futures Institute)
2.45 – 3.25	KEYNOTE:  AI, moral imagination and ethical policing Eva Tsahuridu (Deputy President, Professional Standards; Police Registration & Services Board)
3.25 – 3.45	AFTERNOON TEA
3.45 – 4.30	KEYNOTE:  Oversight of law enforcement intelligence and the use of AI Lyria Bennett Moses (Director, Allens Hub for Technology, Law and Innovation, UNSW
4.30	Closing remarks

Friday 24 May

9.00AM	Tea/coffee and light refreshments available
9.30 - 12.15	Design workshop:  Ethics in action, ethics by design
	[Working morning tea]
12.15 PM	Closing remarks

More about the event:  

In 2023, the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Authority (ANZPAA), published a set of Police Artificial Intelligence Principles. These Principles promote cross-jurisdictional consistency and the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI) by Australian and New Zealand police. In practice, real world scenarios inevitably entail complexity where multiple options for action are available, none of which are necessarily absolutely acceptable from an ethical perspective. So - what happens next? 

Data has always informed policing, and understanding of local context has always been an important enabler for using that data. AI now gives police capabilities to collect and analyse information at unprecedented speed and volumes; but underlying AI training data is not always representative of local conditions or the lived experience of local communities. Whether AI tools can succeed in helping assure the safety of diverse communities may ultimately depend on how well small data knowledge is integrated into big data solutions.

With a mix of keynote and panels, speakers at this event will share grassroots and leadership views on how local realities intersect with broader ethical challenges associated with police use of AI, and what this means for the practice of AI-informed policing in Australia and New Zealand. The event will conclude with a hands-on design thinking workshop for attendees.

Smart policing or dumb logic? Lowering crime or heightening risk?

Join us to help set the agenda on necessary context for police use of AI.