Amnesty accuses UK police of racial bias in predictive policing systems
Amnesty International UK released a report alleging that UK police forces' use of predictive policing algorithms discriminates against Black people by perpetuating biases in historical police data. The charity claimed the Metropolitan Police's Violence Harm Assessment database added individuals based on location and associates rather than crimes, leading to wrongful stop-and-searches and housing denials.
What happened
Amnesty International UK released a 120-page report titled 'Automated Racism' accusing at least 33 UK police forces of using data and algorithms that 'code discrimination into policing' in breach of human rights obligations.
The Metropolitan Police's Violence Harm Assessment database, described as a replacement for the scrapped 'gangs matrix', contained 1,307 names as of August 2024, of which 870 (66.5 per cent) were Black and 299 (22.8 per cent) were white. Amnesty alleged individuals were added based on where they live, their associates, or for creating drill rap music, rather than for committing crimes.
Reported impact
Amnesty alleged that people labeled as suspects without having committed a crime faced wrongful stop-and-searches. Youth workers reported that individuals on the database were denied housing as a result of being classified as gang members.
Amnesty reported that use of predictive policing in Basildon, Essex from September 2020 to March 2021 led to Black people being stopped and searched almost 3.6 times more than white people.
Index analysis
Amnesty stated that predictive policing systems are 'a modern method of racial profiling' because they use data from police practices already known to discriminate, such as stop-and-search records and arrest data that disproportionately target Black people.
Amnesty said 32 of 45 UK police forces have used geographic crime prediction tools and 11 have used individual prediction tools.
Governance controls
The Metropolitan Police Commissioner stated that every person on the Violence Harm Assessment database has been identified for at least three violent offences and not due to intelligence alone. The force denied race bias.
Amnesty expressed concerns over whether data on database subjects is shared with other agencies about individuals seeking council homes or work through Jobcentres, suggesting potential lack of transparency and oversight.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.