Police and Big Data. Criminological and Legal Perspectives on the Reconfiguration of Police Social Control

• Applicant: Dr. Felix Butz
• Subject Area: Criminology
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 549206645

The observance of social rules of human interaction has always been a central building block for the functioning of society. At the same time, the way in which we control and enforce compliance with norms - the social control exerted - indicates the degree of freedom of a polity. In view of the crisis nature of our times, promises of more control sound promising. Here, the police in particular, as a powerful social institution, are attracting increased attention. The ideal of a data-powered police force promises effective state social control and thus security in a world that is perceived as increasingly insecure. The result is a profound change in police information and police social control. The doctoral project examines the implications of these processes of change for the police as an institution of formal social control from a theoretical, doctrinal and socio-legal point of view. The thesis is divided into five chapters: The first chapter sets out the basic theoretical assumptions of the work. These include, above all, information, and data theory, but also considerations from the sociology of technology. In addition, the concept of social control is discussed - in particular with its necessary theoretical updates for the present. The second chapter traces the historical development of police information technology. This is linked to the development of the police organization in Germany and the evolution of criminalistic concepts that are closely related to information architecture. The chapter concludes by introducing datafication as a concept for understanding the current phase of police intelligence. The following third chapter sets out the normative framework of the information system. It analyses how the information technology infrastructure and information activities of the police are legally mapped and controlled. Deficits in regulation are pointed out and the so-called data protection control regime is presented as an integral part of the regulation of police information systems. The fourth chapter takes a socio-legal approach to the police information system: The expert interviews conducted with police data protection officers are analyzed and the results of the evaluation are brought together to form an overall picture of the reality of the police information system. Finally, the last chapter synthesizes the findings of the previous chapters using the scenario design method: on the basis of what has been presented, possible trajectories of development of the police information system and the social control exercised through it are outlined, whereby two less desirable futures are contrasted with a more desirable scenario.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants