Independent review – Independent advisory group on new and emerging technologies in policing: final report

6. Consultation and public engagement

In this chapter an evidence-based approach to consultation and public engagement is outlined, based on the report of the third workstream of the IAG (Campbell et al., 2023). A range of literature, best practice and learning from experiences in Scottish policing and elsewhere was used to develop an evidence base and framework for consultation and engagement that sets out proposed principles and practice for clear, meaningful, accessible and appropriate approaches to engage on emerging technologies in policing.

Background:

As would be expected, given the Police and Fire Reform Scotland Act (2012) emphasises collaborative working and engagement with communities, policing bodies in Scotland are expected to work closely with stakeholders and the public in developing their approach to future service delivery. This includes a consideration of an understanding of the views of the public and a range of communities and stakeholders. Furthermore, appropriate consultation is a key requirement of the DPIA process (ICO website) and can help ensure that processing is fair (meets the public's reasonable expectations) and that potential risks are identified, assessed and appropriately mitigated. ICO guidance is that the views of individuals (or their representatives) should be sought unless there is a good reason not to.

Police Scotland has made efforts towards developing accessible, inclusive and meaningful approaches to public engagement, in order to improve policy and practice. The Strategy, Insight and Engagement service within Police Scotland is growing and supporting different approaches to insight, engagement and public participation – and it is their intention that the report of workstream 3 of the IAG will enhance this work across policing more generally, beyond emerging technologies. Their intention is to be led by research and best practice in order to make Police Scotland's public engagement process more robust and representative and inclusive of diverse communities.

Evidence and best practice:

A range of literature and evidence on best practice in consultation, engagement, deliberative and democratic approaches was reviewed by the workstream in order to draw out some considerations for policing. Engagement is seen as one way to support the police to build trust and confidence, with police legitimacy linked to the notion of 'policing by consent' seen as being central in a democratic society. Public engagement and participative approaches are seen to be important in understanding public expectations of policing and factors that shape public trust, confidence and legitimacy.

Participatory approaches to democracy seek to involve people in order to inform policy development and service delivery, with the intention being to meet the needs of the public. In order to be effective, the approach to engagement and participation should be tailored for different situations with a combination of tools used as part of an evolving approach within a framework underpinned by clear principles (Mistry, 2007 cited in Campbell et al. 2023). Deliberative processes seek to explore complex issues and can be used to weigh up trade-offs. Deliberative processes are being encouraged in the UK in order to that decision-making is informed by what local people want.

It is important to acknowledge various dimensions of deliberative approaches: participation, influence and communication, and decision mode (Fung, 2006). There is an acknowledgement of limited evidence on best practice in how best to execute feedback to participants and communities and this should be explored with stakeholders when planning public engagement.

Learning from case studies:

It is important to note that engagement with the public is not binding and hence there is no mechanism to challenge a public body if the public's views are not taken into account appropriately. However, when formal consultation is used judicial review may be used to challenge the lawfulness of a decision made by a public service. Campbell et al. (2023) draw out learning from various examples where judicial review has been used in England and Wales, as these would be considered if a similar case were to be raised in Scotland. Some of the considerations arising from these include the fact that: the outcomes of consultations may be questioned if the 'option development' processes are flawed; there may be advantages to providing the opportunity to advocate solutions other than the stated ones; consultations should not be over-reliant on website/digital methods to reach people.

The creation of Social Security Scotland's Our Charter is highlighted as an approach which was underpinned by the Scottish Approach to Service Design and was developed with people to ensure as far as possible that services meet the needs of diverse communities and. It is accessible in a variety of formats and sets out in clear and accessible language the expectations that people should see within the social security system in Scotland.

The Scottish Community Engagement Standards (inclusion, support, planning, working together, methods, communication and impact) were recently refined (with stakeholders including Police Scotland) to help ensure that community engagement activity facilitated by organisations is deigned, delivered and evaluated in a way that is fair and effective and will increase participation and impact.

Citizens' Assemblies usually involve people who reflect the wider population and are reimbursed for their time (in order to reduce barriers to participation) and follow a process of learning about an issue and deliberation among members before decision-making. Research from the Citizens' Assembly of Scotland highlights learning on this important process. Citizens' Juries may be used as a smaller and less expensive form. Deliberative processes involve participants weighing up arguments and exploring trade-offs and these work best when there is no clear solution to a problem. They are time intensive and require skilled practitioners to be involved in design and delivery and people with subject expertise, as well as decision making power involved at key stages. Therefore, if this is not feasible then other methods of public engagement should be considered.

West Midlands Police's development of a predictive analysis system (National Data Analytics Solution) is drawn on by Campbell et al.(2023) as an example where, in addition to engagement with key stakeholders in relation to ethical and legal compliance, it would have been useful for police to undertake public and colleague engagement as part of developing new systems. This engagement would ideally take place at the earliest possible stage of technological development, deliberating on why it is required and if it is being progressed then working with decision makers on options for implementation. In relation to public confidence it is important for the public, particularly individuals and communities who have negative experiences of views of the police, to understand what the police are using data for.

Democratic Society's use of a public engagement programme to inform the development of Scotland's Artificial intelligence (AI) Strategy provides learning about digital engagement, including providing honorariums and devices and mobile internet where necessary, and offering 1-1 sessions as well as online workshops.

The example of Police Scotland's introduction of digital triage devices 'Cyber Kiosks' and the Scottish Parliament's Justice Sub Committee on Policing's inquiry^[25] highlighted that consultation with internal and external stakeholders prior to the implement of new policing policies or technology is best practice.

Police Scotland's engagement programme on BWV took that on board and engaged more widely, conducting two national surveys (with circa 9,000 responses each) and a series of 13 focus groups with diverse communities and those affected by crime. The results are being used to inform changes to planned service delivery in a manner which is more likely to receive public support. The learning for future engagement includes: independent review by stakeholders of supporting evidence and the opportunity for participants to engage with accessible materials in order for evidence to inform views before taking part (covered in chapter 3 on research); consideration of use of formal consultation (rather than engagement), which was introduced as an additional step and therefore subject to judicial review.

The engagement on BWV was further supported by the use of focus groups which sought to understand attitudes towards police use of technology to inform consideration at an early stage. Focus groups are helpful to enable greater understanding of views and concerns and they were also used to 'understand the factors which may lead to public support or non-support for the use of technology' (Campbell et al., 2023: 22).

The acknowledgement that police should be clear about the purpose of engagement comes across clearly in the workstream report. In my view as Chair, although the purpose of an engagement may be quite open, e.g. to understand public views, it may also be worth reflecting on how that information may then be used. For example, if the police plan to introduce a technology then they should be up front about that and not seek to engage in order to figure out what the best approach might be to 'foster acceptance'. Clearly engagement should seek to provide genuine unbiased understanding of the balance between risk and benefit and not seek to drive acceptance, but rather listen to concerns and take them into account in decision making about how, or indeed if, it should be implemented. It is important to consider what information (about police use of technologies) is provided to participants (see chapter 3).

The workstream 3 report highlights the following elements of good practice drawn out from the evidence base, case study assessment and public sector experience:

• Public engagement should genuinely involve citizens and communities in open, two-way conversations on how best to tackle problems.
• The public, communities and colleagues should feel a clear purpose for the engagement has been shared, they have been listened to and that their needs will be considered.
• Approaches need to be adopted that are inclusive, representative and relevant to the public, communities and decision-makers.
• Decision-makers need meaningful and actionable insight that is outcome-focused and offers practical solutions to support operational policing design.
• Evidence and materials that support engagement must represent a range of views to enable an open and transparent dialogue. They must be accessible and inclusive for a range of needs such as producing 'easy read' versions of materials, and working with subject experts to understand any tensions, with any evidence being provided to inform decision-making.
• A safe and well facilitated environment for engagement where people can listen to others' views and opinions, with decision-makers also present and engaged in the process.

Understanding the reasons for engagement and clarity on the topic under review is crucial if meaningful engagement is to happen.

• This requires careful internal consideration of whether the process and those involved can actually influence the issue, policy or decision at hand in order to work out what is in scope at the outset i.e. how much the opinion of the public will be taken into account.
• Organisations must be honest with the public about what they can influence and how, what might happen as a result and when they can expect feedback (and ask participants of engagement what format would be most useful).
• Different engagement approaches must be considered for different needs (of decision makers and those whom the decision will affect).

Public engagement should be a continuous process and a range of methods can be used. Consideration should be given of when a formal consultation is required.

Participation and engagement framework:

Based on best practice, workstream 3 developed principles for engagement focused on a policing context. These may be found on page 27 of Campbell et al. (2023) and include relevance, inclusivity and approachability (accessible methods that enable two-way conversations, understanding cultures and sensitivities and doing things with those who are impacted); transparency and accountability (producing actionable outcome-focused insights and being honest about what is being done and why); and innovation (using co-creation with communities to turn problems and ideas into solutions and empowering and enabling communities).

Meaningful and effective engagement should involve dialogue, respect, integrity, transparency and accountability. It provides an opportunity for people to shape services and influence decisions and should be inclusive. Relational power dynamics policing processes should not exclude people who have had contact with police and may have engaged in criminal activity. Indeed in my view as Chair it is important to ensure that every effort is made to engage with those who have been in contact with the police as suspects, not just victims, as well as members of the public who may not have had any interactions.

Emerging democratic practice highlights a range of best practices which may enable better outcomes:

• Shared community spaces for dialogue and communication;
• Open, visible safe space to identify problems, foster creative thinking and generation of ideas;
• Further engagement may be done through surveys, focus groups and workshops to test concepts, capture concerns and benefits from a wider audience;
• Citizen experience mapping and behavioural research may be used to understand interactions with technology;
• Citizens may work together with subject-matter experts towards developing recommendations, principles or other outputs.

Designing meaningful public engagement processes takes time, resources and expertise but not all engagement requires maximum use of resource to achieve quality outcomes and where resources are constrained some public engagement is better than none at all. Formal consultations with fixed timelines to determine the level of support share a limited level of decision-making with the public. The level of participation and methods to achieve the desired outcome require careful planning. Engagement can be ongoing and the level of participation and nature of involvement will depend on the purpose of the engagement. Police Scotland's adaptation of Arnstein's Ladder of participation runs from inform at the bottom to review, discover, involve to empower at the top and examples are provided (Campbell et al., 2023: 21). Careful consideration must be given to how much influence those involved can have in order to choose the right level of participation and ensure transparency of dialogue and the selection of the most appropriate methods.

Principles for accessible and inclusive engagement outlined include:

• Adapting the consultation or engagement process e.g. to ensure people impacted by disabilities or marginalisation can take part meaningfully;
• Ensuring the way engagement is done does not exclude people (take note of the Equality Act 2010 and engage with experts and lived experience to plan sessions and locations);
• Include people from diverse background in engagement in order to aid understanding of how people with different needs or abilities may be impacted, to shape the design, functionality or content of services and ensure you meet best practice guidance and legislative requirements to support equality, diversity and inclusion;
• Where possible go beyond the minimum standard expected and doing what is best for the people you want to involve and reviewing the approach regularly;
• Avoid stigma and making judgements and assumptions about people's needs;
• Involve all groups and ensure compliance with the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the rights of people with protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation);
• Of note Police Scotland has a specific duty under the Equality Act to publish and report on progress relating to equality outcomes;
• It is important to acknowledge that children and young people are an integral part of communities and children have specific rights. They can also be involved in design of services and policies and various national and local structures, groups and organisations across Scotland can act as a conduit to engaging with children and young people. It is noted that Police Scotland have developed a team with expertise in facilitating high-quality engagement with children and young people. Also, the Children's Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment (CRWIA) is part of the suite of assessments to be considered in the planned sixth case process (chapter 8).

Ethical guidelines for engagement outlined include:

• Engagement and research should aim to maximise benefit for individuals and society and should be conducted with integrity, fairness and respect.
• The wellbeing, privacy and human rights of individuals and groups should be protected at all times.
• There is a responsibility to make sure the physical (e.g. consider safety, travel and risk assessments), social (e.g. consider impact on belonging to community), and psychological (consider sensitive topics and minimising distress) wellbeing of participants is not negatively affected.
• Participation in engagement activities should be based on freely given informed consent (requires clear explanation). Data must be processed in line with GDPR principles as (currently) contained within the Data Protection Act.
• Managing expectations of participants before, during and after the engagement process is vital, including acknowledging that not all public engagement activities will bring direct change or improvement in the lives of participants. It is important to be open and realistic about expected outcomes and influence of the activity and involve participants and decision makers from the start by exploring what success would look like for them.
• Feedback to participants is vital to ensure ethical practice;
• Senior leads should ensure that where appropriate and proportionate to the engagement a Data Protection Impact Assessment and Equality and Human Rights Impact assessment is in place to protect participants and mitigate risk.
• Additionally, in my view as Chair it would be worth reflecting on good practice in research ethics and integrity (informed consent etc.) and encouraging internal engagement and research carried out by Police Scotland (or other entities acting on their behalf) to adopt that guidance.

An engagement road map planning tool (Police Scotland website) has been created to support decision-makers and others involved in commissioning or leading public engagement to consider some of the critical components of high-quality engagement.

Police colleague engagement:

Findings from the Your Voice Matters survey suggested that Police Scotland should listen and gain a deeper understanding of the areas that matter to colleagues. This means involving colleagues in shaping how things are done in order to improve their experiences and in the co-creation and design of services that will help improve the safety of communities they serve. Indeed, experiences of police officers and their perceptions of organisational justice can impact how fairly the public are policed and police officers should be engaged with and involved in shaping changes at the outset in order to enhance their chances of success (Aston et al., 2021b).

Findings from the Your Voice Matters survey suggest that colleagues seek open and transparent ways to make suggestions to support continual improvements, they wish to be listened to and for their views to shape decision-making processes. A collaborative and open engagement approach will enhance the ability to engage in pro-active listening and involve colleagues in change management and sharing ideas for improvement at an early stage. Employee engagement is central to attracting and retaining talented workforce and Police Scotland hopes to build on their current initiatives (Chief's Forum, Truth to Power Sessions and Your leadership Matters) in order to enable the service to consider what everyone has to say, seek and share views and information in new ways, listen to one another's concerns in a collaborative and safe process regardless or rank and solve problems and make decisions together.

There are number of key areas relating to the introduction of technology on which to engage and involve colleagues e.g. protecting human rights; skills, knowledge and technology required to deliver service, and how colleagues feel about using emerging technologies. Colleague engagement should be a continuous and evolving process and feedback must be provided. Open two-way dialogue that is safe and inclusive and facilitates reciprocal exchange of ideas and feedback must be facilitated. It is important to involve and support colleagues in order to create a psychologically safe workplace environment and this is supported by Police Scotland's Values and Competency Framework and Code of Ethics (see figure p.40 Campbell et al. 2023).

Colleague engagement is key to organisational development and wellbeing and a number of suggestions are made to enhance this activity in Police Scotland including the introduction of an internal colleague engagement platform, focus groups and collaborative service design workshops.

Assessing and building participative approaches:

A range of new public engagement methods and tools are being developed and introduced by Police Scotland. An assessment of maturity of these practices in Police Scotland is provided by Campbell et al. (2023: 43-44) outlining areas which are: mature within the organisation (e.g. Citizen Space, Police Scotland Engagement Hub); new for Police Scotland but adopted by other public bodies and developing in policing (e.g. Reputation Tracker, Your Police: Community Conversations); those that are new for Police Scotland, breaking new ground in the public sector and aspirational for policing (e.g. Dialogue digital hub, Your Police Panel).

Chapter 6 summary and conclusion

This chapter has set out proposed principles and practice for clear, meaningful, evidence-based and appropriate approaches to consultation and engagement on emerging technologies in policing. At the heart of the framework is enabling genuine public dialogue and participation in order to influence change in policing. There is acknowledgement of the central consideration of legitimacy, trust and public confidence. Understanding the needs of Scotland's communities remains a top priority for policing in Scotland and therefore effective engagement is crucial. The Community Engagement Standards for Scotland support policing to deliver this.

Evidence-based principles for enabling meaningful engagement and consultation include:

• a bespoke design for each initiative underpinned by a clear purpose and principles, using a combination of tools;
• different engagement, consultation and deliberative approaches for different needs;
• consideration of the levels of engagement and participation and what is appropriate for different types of inquiry;
• application of shared values in engagement, doing things with rather than to/for stakeholders and understanding the impacts.

In conclusion, a number of key considerations relating to consultation and public engagement are outlined here (see Appendix C for full details).

6.1 Policing bodies should ensure engagement and consultation considerations align effectively with both legal and governance frameworks, and consideration of ethics, via an appropriate organisational model.

6.2 Policing bodies should be clear on the purpose of the engagement process from the outset – what people are going to influence, why and how.

6.3 Policing bodies should engage at an early stage in the governance process to understand views and sub-groups where a greater understanding of concerns is needed. This is critical for complex or less understood technology (such as AI and predictive analytics) and high-risk projects.

6.4 Policing bodies should include an element of formal consultation in the approach to ensure that the views of the public and communities are both adequately considered and embedded at an appropriate point for all new and emerging technology.

6.5 Policingbodies should set out to have anongoing dialogue with the public utilising participatory approaches where appropriate, as the technology is considered and during/ after implementation. This will enable concerns, risks, and suggestions for improvement to be considered and addressed at all stages.

6.6 Policing bodies should use a clear and transparent engagement framework underpinned by engagement principles and quality assurance to ensure the process is clear and well-articulated. This will guide the design of engagement which can be tailored in terms of levels of participation and methods.

6.7 Policing bodies should ensure all engagement and consultation processes are inclusive and accessible for everyone, including protected groups defined in the Equality Act 2010 and ensure representation from a variety of Scotland's communities. This should occur at as early a stage as possible.

6.8 Policing bodies should enable the colleague voice to be heard as a key element of shaping proposals. An open two-way dialogue that is safe and inclusive, and facilitates a reciprocal exchange of ideas and feedback should identify problems or conflicts, and solutions to improve the quality of police-citizen interactions, as technology is introduced and embedded.

6.9 Policing bodies should ensure engagement insights, providing a clear narrative of the views of the public and communities, are considered and scrutinised by governance bodies. This must include areas of concern and how these are being balanced, addressed and mitigated.

6.10 Policing bodies should make a public, open and transparent commitment to how the insights from the engagement process will be used to shape the consideration and implementation of new technology and also report back with details, which are made publicly available and scrutinised. Clear routes should be provided for the public to provide feedback, raise concerns or suggest improvements.

6.11 Policing bodies must communicate with the public and other stakeholders about police technology capabilities and substantial changes to the dynamic of police work mediated by technology. This communication must be clear, public facing and speak equitably to a broad range of publics.

6.12 Policing bodies should involve key stakeholders and members of the public in the formulation of police guidelines in the use of technologies to involve them and provide understanding of the rules.