The dialectics of discretion in algorithmic governance and smart policing

In this paper, Dr Ashwin Varghese engages with the dominant debates on discretion and algorithmic governance in policing by drawing from a postcolonial nation in the global south – an often-underrepresented region in the debates – to unpack the effect of algorithmic systems on the discretion of subordinate level police personnel.

Abstract

While algorithmic systems today are transforming state practices globally, their everyday manifestations vary in particularistic contexts. Drawing from discourse analysis, interviews and documentation of state initiatives introducing algorithmic systems in Kerala, India, this paper analyses the effect of algorithmic infrastructures on the practices of discretion within the police force. In this regard, I propose that a dialectical framing of discretion, operating on the fundamental contradiction of liberty and discipline, is a more robust theoretical framework through which we may effectively document everyday practices of algorithmic governance. Using this framework, I note two emergent tendencies of insulation and invisiblisation, wherein algorithmic infrastructures insulate subordinate personnel from public interaction by placing them behind a digital façade, and invisiblise the operation of their discretion. These tendencies, if left unchecked, may potentially lead to these institutions transforming into Kafkaesque, opaque organisations with low democratic accountability.

^{Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash}