Ethox is delighted to welcome Dr Tim Lowe who joins us as a Visiting Fellow on Police Data Ethics.
Tim is the Research Lead in the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and received his PhD in Philosophy in 2020.
His current research focuses on the ethics of public health approaches to policing as a means of reducing serious violence and its associated health impacts. He is particularly interested in data ethics and policing as a central component of a public health approach, and works on the data ethical side of an innovative data project within the VRU: Thames Valley Together.
As part of his role in the VRU Tim manages its Data Ethics Committee, of which there are very few in policing nationally. This has led to interests in the involvement of the public in public sector decision-making, the question of legitimacy in making such decisions, and associated questions of bias and fairness.
Tim said "I’m delighted to be able to work with Ethox to develop thinking around police data use and ethics. This is a developing area in policing and the opportunity to work with leading international scholars will ensure appropriate rigour is applied to these complicated ethical conversations at the cutting edge of the debate."
DCI Lewis Prescott-Mayling, Workstream Lead for Data & Targeting Thames Valley VRU, added "Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit are pleased with this growing partnership with Ethox, a world leading academic partner. We understand data ethics is going to be of critical importance to legitimacy in policing, and recognise the importance of being open with our communities. There are huge opportunities to use public data for public good, to improve services, reduce crime, prevent harm and improve community wellbeing. We are excited to be leading the way in developing good practice and our relationship with Ethox, embodied in this position, is a critical part of this."
Main image by dagmarbendel on Pixaby