Tech-companies’ visions of policing at the dawn of the digital age
Author(s): Heidi Mork Lomell, Birgitte Ellefsen
Wednesday 14 | 13:20-13:40
Room: TP45
Session: Untangling the entangled processes of digitization and privatization
Digital technology is today at the core of all knowledge production in policing. In this paper, we will explore how digitalization was envisioned and introduced by entrepreneurs inside and outside the police organization in Norway in the 1950s and -60s, with a special focus on tech-companies’ visions of policing.
This presentation is based on an ongoing archive study regarding the introduction of “Electronic Data Processing” (EDP) in the Norwegian police. In the archives, the emerging computer industry is present, with letters and brochures describing their equipment, programs, and competence, but also how they imagine police work.
Analyzing these documents, we have looked for answers to the following research questions: Who were the key actors in the computerization of the Norwegian police? What was the nature and significance of the relationship between the public and the private sector? Which problems did the computer industry envision could be solved by their products? What was the expected and envisioned outcomes? Further, did the computer industry and police have any conflicting visions or competing logics surrounding the introduction of digital technology in the police organization?