Under the Electronic Eye - A Legal Evaluation of Predictive Policing in Germany and the United States

• In Event: Policing in Europe

Abstract

Time Magazine named predictive policing one of the 50 most important innovations in 2011. The software concept that is designed to give police departments the locations of future crimes before they occur has since spread around the world - only recently including Germany - and is considered one of the most promising technology-led law enforcement tactics to date. My presentation argues that the pursuit of security via predictive policing poses a significant challenge for the rule of law principle and fundamental rights. In addition to an analysis of the legal implications of predictive policing, the presentation suggests a framework of principles by which predictive policing may be governed in the future. Hype and fear around predictive policing have been growing in the recent years. Now is an important moment for a grounded inquiry into predictive policing’s socio-legal effects and prospects. Snowden’s revelations on communication mass surveillance in 2013 have demonstrated drastically what can happen if the technical development is well ahead of the legal and societal one: What is technically possible is being implemented, and nearly impossible to reverse. Legal scholarship must not allow itself to be overtaken by the rapid technical evolution in police tactics.

Author

• Lucia M. Sommerer, University of Göttingen, Germany