The lethal violence being perpetrated by ICE in the United States and the death of a migrant worker in French police custody have caused widespread outrage and reinvigorated concerns about harmful policing and disproportionate uses of force.

Whilst police violence is often viewed as a physical force, the increased digitization of policing produces new forms of harm. By connecting both dimensions, this symposium aims to contribute to the interplay between technology, policing and harm. Research into ‘traditional’ forms of police violence tend to focus on physical force, less-than-lethal weaponry, crowd control and fatal incidents. The digitization of policing brings about the potential for a new range of harms, such as through facial and speech recognition software, algorithmic decision-making, risk-profiling and online surveillance. Moreover, the usage of digital technologies can influence discriminatory practices such as stop-and-searches and other traditional forms of police violence. Harmful policing manifests itself in a wide range of lived experiences and employs a diverse, increasingly digitalizing, set of methods and applications. In this symposium we explore the interactions between digital policing and physical manifestations of police violence, and ask if our algorithmic society calls for redefining police violence and the use of force. How are people impacted by digital police violence? Does digital policing influence and intertwine with traditional modes of police violence and, if so, how? But also: which tools can foster police transparency and accountability that earn public trust and reduce harmful policing? The symposium is a prelude to an international exhibition on building public truths and fatal police violence in het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, opening in 2027. The symposium provides a platform for researchers, practitioners, activists, and experts through experience to come together and reflect on police violence, its temporal and systematic effects, material and digital technologies, lived experiences of policing, and the harms of digitalized police practices.

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Symposium Harmful Policing