TPS board invites public to consult new artificial intelligence tech in policing

The Toronto Police Services Board is looking for feedback from the public to help them come up with a policy on how they use new artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

AI is software and electronic devices that can collect information about the public and their actions.

This kind of technology could potentially be used for things like traffic analyses, or helping officers decide where crews should be deployed.

The announcement for the public’s consultation comes nearly two years after the police service admitted to using a controversial facial recognition technology called Clearview AI to track down suspects.

The AI technology works by combing through billions of online photos to find people’s personal information, which sparked privacy concerns.

From just a single photo, the software can pull up a person’s name, address, phone number, address or occupation.

The police service did not confess to using the AI tool until after weeks of denying they used the technology.

The former police chief said he was unaware any of his officers were using the technology and ordered its use to be ended immediately when he found out.

The police service was then ordered to stop using the software in February 2020.

Board invites the public to provide input on draft Policy on the @TorontoPolice's use of Artificial Intelligence technologies, to ensure the innovative tech is used fairly, equitably, and without infringing on rights. For more info, & to submit your input: https://t.co/0fnf7fD1ZB

— Toronto Police Service Board (@TPSBoard) November 15, 2021

Toronto resident Rostow Ravanan tells CityNews the use of AI in policing is about what’s best for both the public and police.

“I think the difficulty is finding the balance between privacy of an individual and security for citizens. It’s a complex topic so how do you find the balance?”

In order to create a feeling of trust, police are looking for feedback from residents in an effort to be as transparent as possible when creating the policy.

“To our knowledge, this will be the first policy of its kind among Canadian Police Boards or Commissions. The public’s participation in the development process will be crucial for us to be able to effectively and meaningfully achieve these goals,” the police board said in a statement.

If the policy is approved, police say it will ensure new technologies do not introduce biases against vulnerable populations, such as people with disabilities, children and older persons, Indigenous or Black and racialized communities into policing decisions.

“The Policy will achieve this through the requirement for public consultations on the adoption of any AI technologies that may pose risks, and the development of an evidence-based approach to evaluating new AI technologies both before and after deployment,” TPSB said.

The proposed policy establishes five risk-based categories:

• Extreme Risk, e.g., a facial recognition software with illegally-sourced data that could result in mass surveillance
• High Risk, e.g., an analytics system which recommends where units should be deployed in order to maximize crime suppression
• Medium Risk, e.g., a traffic analysis system that recommends where officers should be deployed to
• Low Risk, e.g., a speech-to-text transcription software to transcribe body-worn camera recording audio
• Minimal Risk, e.g., a translation engine that helps communications convert the Service website into different languages

The board says the service will not be allowed to use any extreme-risk technologies.

High and medium-risk technologies will need to meet certain evaluations and consultations.

Before the service can use any technology, the chief must justify to the board why the technology should be approved despite its risks, including providing a risk-mitigation plan.

Low-risk technologies will be reported to the board, and members of the public will receive basic information on the technology and why it was considered to be of low risk.

Minimal-risk technologies, which are only for internal use and are not used to identify, categorize, or make any other decision pertaining to members of the public, will not require any reporting to the board.

The board says they will also record a public list of all high, medium and low-risk AIs currently in use.

Residents have until December 15 to submit feedback for the policy either online or by mail.

The final draft of the policy will be brought before the board for approval in February 2022.