Accountability for Artificial Intelligence in Policing and Security: From Concept to Practical Deployment

Babak Akhgar (PhD) is Professor of Informatics and Director of CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organized Crime Research). He has a PhD in Strategic Information Systems. He has written, edited and co-edited 16 books on security-related topics and has extensive and hands-on experience in the development, management and execution of security-sensitive projects with multi-million Euro budgets as coordinator and technical lead. He is currently responsible for 18 large-scale security sensitive projects on counterterrorism, organised crime groups and child sexual exploitation. Prof Akhgar is principal investigator/coordinator of the AIPAS project on AI accountability for police forces working with a number of UK Government agencies. He is innovation lead in the EU-funded OSPREY Project on the protection of elected officials and police against online harms. Prof Akhgar is founder of the CENTRIC OSINT Hub, which is used by a wide range of law enforcement agencies in the UK, and was Trustee of the Police National Legal Database (PNLD) for 2 years and chairman of the Police Strategy Forum (2016). Professor Babak Akhgar has been awarded an OBE in June 2022 in recognition of his services to security research.

Petra Saskia Bayerl (PhD) is Professor for Digital Communication and Security and Head of Research at CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence and Organised Crime Research). Her background covers master degrees in Psychology, Linguistics and Organizational Dynamics from universities in Germany and the USA and a PhD from the Faculty in Industrial Design Engineering, TU Delft (Netherlands). Her research addresses societal implications of emerging technologies and practices in the security domain with specific focus on citizen engagement, acceptance and trust. Her research appeared in numerous international journals, conferences and books. She is also regular editor of books on security management across policing areas such as community policing, migration and cyber-criminology. She has extensive experience in security-related projects, both as principal investigator/project lead and researcher, as well as in advisory boards and ethics committees. Amongst others, she is co-lead for the AIPAS project on accountability in policing and security, where she conducted a national citizen consultation on public acceptance of AI. She further leads the EU-funded project OSPREY on the protection of public-facing professionals from online harms and led the national project 3PO, developing a toolkit for the better protection of police officers, staff and their families online.