Ravi is a senior police officer with vast experience in riot control and cyber-policing. Since one year, he has been the Superintendent of Police (SP) of a district with a history of frequent rioting.
Last year, Ravi had sought installation of an AI enabled software for predictive policing. This system has been operational for approximately six months. This new system employs advanced algorithms for capturing the biometric data of persons in a crowd and swiftly relating it to a data library. This has enabled the police to identify the persons involved in various crimes.
The system has identified an immigrant and low-income neighbourhood as a centre for gang violence and drug trafficking. Aided by this AI analysis, the local police has focused its patrolling, preventive detentions and establishing checkposts. Consequently, public order and law enforcement has visibly improved.
Last week, some community leaders, civil rights lawyers and human rights activists visited Ravi's office. They submitted a memorandum that the new system is faulty as it is based on incorrect historical data caused by social biases and discriminatory policing. The memorandum also alleges that the increased surveillance has created a climate of tension amongst residents. This feeling is aggravated by the fact that the residents are not aware of the data noted against their names.
Place yourself in Ravi's role and discuss the alternatives available. Justify the action that optimises compliance with ethics.
Options Before Ravi:
- Continue as-is — visible short-term gains but deepens injustice and future backlash.
- Suspend the system entirely — protects rights but abandons a useful tool and may raise crime.
- Reform and continue with safeguards (Recommended).
Justification of Option 3 — Ethical Optimum:
- Immediate: Pause profiling in the flagged neighbourhood; audit dataset for bias with an independent technical committee.
- Retraining: Rebalance training data; remove protected attributes (ethnicity, income area).
- Transparency: Publish an anonymised policy note; establish grievance redressal for data subjects.
- Human-in-loop: AI as advisory, not decisional; every preventive detention needs officer justification.
- Community engagement: Regular dialogues with residents, civil-society oversight.
- Legal grounding: Seek framework consistent with DPDP Act, 2023.
Ethical policing must marry efficiency with equity — technology serves rights, not replaces them.
Answered By:
Harsh Raj
Harsh Raj is a successful government exam expert, having cleared multiple stages of SSC CGL, IBPS PO, CDS, RRB NTPC, and Delhi Police SI exams himself and mentored more than 5000 students through direct mentorship. His expertise is in creating well researched content, especially MCQs, which have been directly asked by relevant commissions in multiple exams.
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