Book Title: Computational Criminology: AI Applications in Forensic Science and Criminal Justice
Editors: Dr. Xavier Louis, Dr. Surbhi Girdhar, Ms. Aswathi Chandran Nair, Mr. Ravi Kumar, and Ms. Nandini Katare
Chapter: 28
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59646/704/28
Author: Ms. Arya P J
Abstract
The digital transformation of daily life has created a surveillance infrastructure of unprecedented scope, and AI-powered law enforcement tools are rapidly acquiring the capacity to exploit this infrastructure for real-time and retrospective monitoring of individual behaviour, movement, associations, and communications. This chapter analyses the legal and ethical dimensions of AI-enabled surveillance in policing through the lens of Fourth Amendment doctrine tracing its evolution from property-based trespass theory through reasonable expectation of privacy analysis to the emerging digital privacy jurisprudence crystallised in Carpenter v. United States and evaluates whether existing constitutional frameworks are adequate to govern AI surveillance capabilities that their framers could not have anticipated. The chapter examines specific AI surveillance technologies automated license plate readers, facial recognition, predictive location targeting, social media monitoring, and cell-site location data analysis analyses the phenomenon of surveillance creep whereby tools deployed for narrow purposes expand progressively to broader monitoring applications, and argues for the development of comprehensive statutory privacy frameworks adapted to the specific capabilities and risks of AI-powered policing.