The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI), through its Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics, and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) formally commenced the next phase of their work on the Toolkit for Responsible AI Innovation in Law Enforcement at a kick-off meeting with the European Commission (EC) Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) for the newly launched EC-funded project.
The Toolkit for Responsible AI Innovation in Law Enforcement is a practical guide for law enforcement agencies worldwide on the use of AI in a trustworthy, lawful, and responsible manner. This initiative builds upon the work undertaken by UNICRI and INTERPOL on the use of AI by law enforcement agencies, in particular the annual UNICRI-INTERPOL Global Meetings on AI for Law Enforcement that begun in 2018 as the leading global forum on this topic.
The Toolkit was conceived and will be developed jointly by UNICRI and INTERPOL to fill a gap in the availability of guidance tailored to law enforcement on the responsible development, deployment and use of AI. This gap was identified during the INTERPOL-UNICRI Global Meetings on AI for Law Enforcement. Efforts to advancement the preparation of the Toolkit were recently strengthened thanks to the Contribution Agreement between the European Commission and UNICRI. The relevant funding will facilitate the Toolkit development and global roll-out.
Alongside UNICRI and INTERPOL, a Core Group of Experts comprised of representatives from law enforcement, industry, academia and civil society has played a central role in helping to conceptualize and shape the Toolkit during quarterly virtual discussion rooms dedicated to specific topics. The next virtual discussion will take place on 14 December 2021 and will focus on the intersection between the principles of responsible AI and the global principles of good policing. Complimenting these consultations, UNICRI and INTERPOL will engage substantively with other stakeholders and the general public, to ensure that the Toolkit is broadly accepted and contributes to building public trust in the use of AI in law enforcement. The first consultation took place on 17 November 2021, where human rights experts from various non-governmental organizations addressed the main human rights considerations related to the use of AI in law enforcement.
While the Toolkit is conceptualized as a living instrument to be constantly updated, a first draft is foreseen to be presented to experts for validation in the last trimester of 2022. Following that, the Toolkit will be shared with the law enforcement community and tested by law enforcement agencies across the globe.
