The Privatization of Law Enforcement Promoting Human Rights through Procurement Contracts
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
The year 2020 ushered in growing calls to defund the police. In Canada, as in other countries where the movement to defund the police has gained momentum, activists demand transferring money from police departments to social workers, reducing the number of police officers, and increasing police departments’ democratic accountability. This last group of reform initiatives is, perhaps, the least controversial one because it calls for improving the familiar structures of democratic oversight over police departments, such as municipal councils, independent police oversight boards and complaints bodies, and others.
The demands for greater accountability of police departments to the public are a symptom of a deeper problem - there is a growing discrepancy between the goals of policing and the consequences of the police’s actions. This discrepancy materializes when the police’s attempts to ensure public safety result in the marginalization of racialized communities, particularly in larger cities across Canada. In order to understand why laudable policy goals lead to deeply problematic consequences, it is necessary to analyze the policing process in our cities. While it has traditionally been assumed that this process is left to the discretion of separate police departments, this paper demonstrates that externalities, such as data generated by private technologies, play an important role in undermining the goals of policing. Reliance on private data and technology does not absolve the police of accountability for resulting human rights violations. However, it has important implications for the reform of public oversight over the police. In an era when non-governmental actors are taking part in law enforcement through procurement contracts, democratic control over the exercise of the police’s contracting powers is an important, albeit often overlooked, instrument of police reform. Relying on contracts for predictive policing technologies as a case study, this paper argues that communities should condition the funding of police procurement on ex ante assessment procedures, technical specifications, and contract enforcement rights. Also, local elected representatives should have an opportunity to approve any data and technology sharing arrangements as well as federal standing offer arrangements that extend predictive policing to their communities.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Works are licensed under Creative Commons license “Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).”
This license permits readers to share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms: Attribution — one must give appropriate credit, and provide a link to the license. Non Commercial — one may not use the material for commercial purposes. NoDerivatives — If one remixes, transforms, or builds upon the material, one may not distribute the modified material.
References
Kate Robertson, Cynthia Khoo, and Yolanda Song, ‘To Surveil and Predict: A Human Rights Analysis of Algorithmic Policing in Canada’ (Citizen Lab and International Human Rights Program, University of Toronto 2020), 1-2 <https://citizenlab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/To-Surveil-and-Predict.pdf> accessed 8 May 2021.
Walter L Perry and others, ‘Predictive Policing: The Role of Crime Forecasting in Law Enforcement Operations’ (RAND 2013). <https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR200/RR233/RAND_RR233.pdf>accessed 8 May 2021.
Robertson (n 1), 1-2; Tim Lau, ‘Predictive Policing Explained’ (Brennan Center for Justice, 1 April 20200) <https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/predictive-policing-explained#:~:text=Predictive%20policing%20involves%20using%20algorithms,a%20high%20risk%20of%20crime.> accessed 3 May 2021.
Robertson (n1); Andrew G Ferguson, ‘Policing Predictive Policing’ (2017) 94 Wash U L Rev 1109;.<https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6306&context=law_lawreview> accessed 14 April 2021; Andrew D Selbst ‘Disparate Impact in Big Data Policing’ (2017) 52 Ga L Rev 109 <https://www.georgialawreview.org/article/3373-disparate-impact-in-big-data-policing> accessed 14 July 2021.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, [Schedule B to the Canada Act, 1982, c.11 (U.K.)].
Barry Friedman and Maria Ponomarenko, ‘Democratic Policing’ (2015) 90 NYU L Rev 1827, 1865-1877 <https://its.law.nyu.edu/faculty/profiles/representiveFiles/NYULawReview-90-6-Friedman-Ponomarenko_F3BC31AE-1B21-6206-607DF02733DD8476.pdf> accessed 11 July 2021.
Carolyn McKay, ‘Predicting Risk in Criminal Procedure: Actuarial Tools, Algorithms, AI and Judicial Decision-making’ (2020) 32:1 CICJ 22 <https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2019.1658694> accessed 1 May 2021.
Sonja B Starr, ‘Evidence-Based Sentencing and the Scientific Rationalization of Discrimination’ (2014) 66 Stan L Rev 803 <http://www.stanfordlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/04/66_Stan_L_Rev_803-Starr.pdf> accessed 14 April 2021
Jordan Thompson, ‘Reconsidering the Burden of Proof in Dangerous Offender Law: Canadian Jurisprudence, Risk Assessment and Aboriginal Offenders’ (2016) 79 Sask L Rev 49 <https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/sasklr79&div=7&g_sent=1&casa_token=&collection=journals> accessed 14 April 2021.
Canada, The Department of Justice, ‘The Development of the Brief Spousal Assault Form for the Evaluation of Risk (B-SAFER): A Tool for Criminal Justice Professionals’ (7 January 2015). <https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/fl-lf/famil/rr05_fv1-rr05_vf1/p4.html> accessed 14 April 2021.
Angèle Christin, Alex Rosenblat, danah boyd, ‘Courts and Predictive Algorithms. Primer for the Data & Civil Rights Conference: A New Era of Policing and Justice’ (Data & Civil Rights, Washington, D.C., 27 October 2015) <http://www.datacivilrights.org/pubs/2015-1027/Courts_and_Predictive_Algorithms.pdf.> accessed 10 April 2021.
Litska Strikwerda, ‘Predictive Policing: The Risks Associated with Risk Assessment’ [2020] Pol J <https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X20947749> accessed 16 March 2021.
Australian Human Rights Commission, ‘Human Rights and Technology Issues Paper’ (Sydney, July 2018) 26. <https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/document/publication/AHRC-Human-Rights-Tech-IP.pdf> accessed 15 March 2021.
Aviv Gaon and Ian Stedman, ‘A Call to Action: Moving Forward with the Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Canada’ (2019) 56 Alta L Rev 1137, 1140 <https://doi.org/10.29173/alr2547> accessed 15 March 2021
Andrew G Ferguson, ‘Predictive Policing and Reasonable Suspicion’ (2012) 62 Emory L J 259, 267 <https://scholarlycommons.law.emory.edu/elj/vol62/iss2/1> accessed 16 March 2021.
Anneleen Rummens and others, ‘A scoping review of predictive analysis techniques for predicting criminal events’ in Eva Lievens and Gert Vermeulen (eds), Data Protection and Privacy Under Pressure: Transatlantic tensions, EU surveillance, and big data (Maklu 2017), 264–266.
Vancouver Police Department, ‘GeoDASH Crime Map’ <https://geodash.vpd.ca/Html5Viewer/?disclaimer=on&viewer=VPDPublicRefresh_gvh&x=73&y=59> accessed 7 May 2021.
Jessica Saunders, Priscillia Hunt, John S Hollywood, ‘Predictions put into practice: a quasi-experimental evaluation of Chicago’s predictive policing pilot’ (2016) 12 J Exp Criminol 347, 354–357 accessed 15 April 2021.
L Song Richardson, ‘Arrest Efficiency and the Fourth Amendment’ (2011) 95 Minn L Rev 2035, 2038 <https://www.minnesotalawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Richardson_PDF.pdf> accessed 8 May 2021
b. Adam Benforado, ‘Frames of Injustice: The Bias We Overlook’ (2010) 85 Ind LJ 1333, 1367 <https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1041&context=ilj> accessed 8 May 2021.
Shawn Carter and others, ‘99 Problems’ (Universal Music 2003).
Jay-Z, Decoded (Spiegel & Grau 2010).
The Honourable Michael H Tulloch, Report of the Independent Street Checks Review (Ontario 2018), 44; Scot Wortley, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Street Checks Report (Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission 2019), 105.
Public Works and Government Services Canada, Request For a Standing Offer M7594-184225/B (14 April 2020); Bryan Carney, ‘RCMP Hires US Artificial Intelligence Firm to Spy on Web Users’ (The Tyee, 23 September 2020) <https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/09/23/RCMP-US-Artificial-Intelligence-Firm-Spy-Users/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_content=092320-4&utm_campaign=editorial&fbclid=IwAR06dVxS5YZR7G38O3JhrRH-SdkG1KH5YPnmltAp02xwSaKJoBoV8UmLsoU> accessed 7 May 2021.
Roncarelli v Duplessis, [1959] SCR 121.
Steve Coughlan, ‘Charter Protection against Unlawful Police Action: Less Black and White Than It Seems’ (2012) 57 Sup Ct L Rev 205, 206<https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol57/iss1/9> accessed 1 May 2021.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, [Schedule B to the Canada Act, 1982, c.11 (U.K.)], s 7.
R v Seaboyer, [1991] 2 SCR 577, 608.
Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) [2016] OJ L 119/1, art 22
Sandra Wachter, Brent Mittelstadt and Luciano Floridi, ‘Why a Right to Explanation of Automated Decision-Making Does Not Exist in the General Data Protection Regulation’ (2017) 7 IDPL 76 <https://doi.org/10.1093/idpl/ipx005> accessed 11 April 2021.
Canada, Treasury Board, Directive on Automated Decision-Making (1 April 2019), appendix C.
Jenna Burrell, ‘How the Machine ‘Thinks’: Understanding Opacity in Machine Learning Algorithms’ (2016) 3 Big Data & Society 1 <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2053951715622512> accessed 14 July 2021.
Pragya Paudyal and BL William Wong, ‘Algorithmic Opacity: Making Algorithmic Processes Transparent through Abstraction Hierarchy’ (2018) 62 Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 192 <https://doi.org/10.1177/1541931218621046> accessed 8 July 2021
Han-Wei Liu, Ching-Fu Lin and Yu-Jie-Chen, ‘Beyond State v. Loomis: Artificial Intelligence, Government Algorithmization and Accountability’ (2019) 27 IJLIT 122 <https://doi.org/10.1093/ijlit/eaz001> accessed 11 July 2021.
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, [Schedule B to the Canada Act, 1982, c.11 (U.K.)], s 9.
Reference re BC Motor Vehicle Act [1985] 2 SCR 486, 502-503; David M Paciocco, ‘What to Mention about Detention: How to Use Purpose to Understand and Apply Detention-Based Charter Rights’ (2011) 89 Can Bar Rev 65, 97-98 <https://cbr.cba.org/index.php/cbr/article/view/4162> accessed 11 July 2021.
R v Kang-Brown, [2008] 1 SCR 456 [75].
R v Chehil, [2013] 3 SCR 220 [30].
Robertson (n 1), 125.
Robert E Worden and others, ‘The Impacts of Implicit Bias Awareness Training in the NYPD’ (July 2020) <https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/7203724-The-Impacts-of-Implicit-Bias-Awareness-Training> accessed 9 May 2021
Tom James, ‘Can Cops Unlearn Their Unconscious Biases?’(The Atlantic, 23 December 2017) <https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/implicit-bias-training-salt-lake/548996/> accessed 9 May 2021.
Elmardy v Toronto Police Services Board, 2017 ONSC 2074; Doe v Metropolitan Toronto (Municipality) Commissioners of Police (1998), 39 OR (3d) 487, 160 DLR (4th) 697, 126 CCC (3d) 12.
Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR 143
Lavoie v Canada, [2002] 1 SCR 769)
Miron v Trudel, [1995] 2 SCR 418.
Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v Walsh, [2002] 4 SCR 325
Egan v Canada, [1995] 2 SCR 513
Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493
M v H [1999] 2 SCR 3
Corbiere v Canada (Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs), [1999] 2 SCR 203.
Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, [2015] 2 SCR 30
R v Kapp, [2008] 2 SCR 483.
Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR 143
Law v Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1999] 1 SCR 497.
Withler v Canada (AG), [2011] 1 SCR 396 [34]
Diana Majury, ‘The Charter, Equality Rights, and Women: Equivocation and Celebration’ (2002) 40 Osgoode Hall LJ 297, 305.
Solon Barocas and Andrew D Selbst, ‘Big Data’s Disparate Impact’ (2016) 104 CLR 671, 674 <http://dx.doi.org/10.15779/Z38BG31> accessed 13 July 2021.
Seeta Peña Gangadharan, ‘Predictive Algorithms Are Not Inherently Unbiased’ The New York Times: Room for Debate (New York, 19 November, 2015) <https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2015/11/18/can-predictive-policing-be-ethical-and-effective/predictive-algorithms-are-not-inherently-unbiased> accessed 14 July 2021.
Kristian Lum and William Isaac, ‘To predict and serve?’ (2016) 13 Significance 14 <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-9713.2016.00960.x> accessed 14 July 2021.
Hannah Bloch-Wehba, ‘Visible Policing: Technology, Transparency, And Democratic Control’ (2021) 109 CLR 917, 973-974 <https://www.californialawreview.org/print/visible-policing-technology-transparency-and-democratic-control/> accessed 12 July 2021.
Cardinal v Director of Kent Institution, [1985] 2 SCR 643 [14].
Federal Courts Act, RSC 1985, c F-7, s 18.1(1).
David J Mullan and Antonella Ceddia, ‘The Impact on Public Law of Privatization, Deregulation, Outsourcing, and Downsizing: A Canadian Perspective’ (2003) 10 Ind J Global Legal Studies 199, 243.<https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol10/iss1/9> accessed 10 April 2021.
Brooklyn Neustaeter, ‘What defunding the police could look like in Canada's largest city’ (CTV News, 10 June 2020)<https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/what-defunding-the-police-could-look-like-in-canada-s-largest-city-1.4977969#:~:text=More%20than%20%2415%20billion%20was,in%20the%20city's%20operating%20budget.> accessed 7 May 2021.
Jody Freeman, ‘Extending Public Law Norms through Privatization’ (2002) 116 Harv L Rev 1285, 1296 <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1342728?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents> accessed 5 April 2021.
Steven Schooner, ‘Desiderata: Objectives for a System of Government Contract Law’ (2002) 11 PPLR 103 <https://scholarship.law.gwu.edu/faculty_publications/102/> accessed 5 April 2021.
Christopher McCrudden, Buying Social Justice: Equality, Government Procurement and Legal Change (OUP 2007), 3; ACL Davies, The Public Law of Government Contracts (OUP 2008), ch 9.
Stan Soloway and Alan Chvotkin, ‘Federal Contracting In Context: What Drives It, How To Improve It’ in Jody Freeman and Martha Minow (eds), Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy (Harvard University Press 2009), 192-194.
Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998, 31 USC §501 (2000)
Mathew Blum, ‘The Federal Framework for Competing Commercial Work between the Public and Private Sectors’ in Jody Freeman and Martha Minow (eds), Government by Contract: Outsourcing and American Democracy (Harvard University Press 2009).
Willem A Janssen, ‘The Institutionalised and Non-Institutionalised Exemptions from EU Public Procurement Law: Towards a More Coherent Approach?’ (2014) 10 Utrecht L Rev 168 <https://doi.org/10.18352/ulr.307> accessed 2 May 2021;
Elisabetta Manunza & Wouter Jan Berends, ‘Social Services of General Interest and the EU Public Procurement Rules’ in Ulla Neergaard and others (eds), Social Services of General Interest in the EU (Springer 2013);
Canada, Treasury Board, Directive on Automated Decision-Making (1 April 2019) <https://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=32592> accessed 2 May 2021.
Sandra Wachter and Brent Mittelstadt, ‘A Right to Reasonable Inferences: Re-Thinking Data Protection Law in the Age of Big Data and AI’ (2019) Colum Bus L Rev 494.
Deborah Hellman, ‘Big Data and Compounding Injustice’ (2021) Virginia Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper 27/2021 <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3840175> accessed 9 May 2009.
Catherine Crump, ‘Surveillance Policy Making by Procurement’ (2016) 91 Wash L Rev 1595, 1660 <https://www.law.uw.edu/wlr/print-edition/print-edition/vol-91/4/surveillance-policy-making-by-procurement> accessed 3 May 2021.
Patricia Conor and others, ‘Police Resources in Canada, 2019’ (Statistics Canada 2020) 4 <https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/85-002-x/2020001/article/00015-eng.pdf?st=n79_C-oa> accessed 6 May 2021.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, ‘Contract Policing’ (30 August 2013) <https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/ccaps-spcca/contract-eng.htm> accessed 8 May 2021; Alison Brooks, ‘Law Enforcement Information Management Study’ (International Data Corporation 2014), 27.
Jennifer Nou, ‘Privatizing Democracy: Promoting Election Integrity through Procurement Contracts’ (2009) 118 Yale L J 744, 770 <https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/journal_articles/3711/> accessed 2 May 2021; Davies (n 95), ch 9; McCrudden (n 95)
Peter Trepte, Regulating Procurement: Understanding the Ends and Means of Public Procurement Regulation (OUP: Oxford, 2004) 168-176.