According to the listing, the manager would be a part of the NSW Police Technology and Communication Services Command team and would lead the “cross-functional review and governance of artificial intelligence (AI) risk assessments to ensure safe and responsible usage of AI within NSWPF, in accordance with the AI Assurance Framework (AIAF)”.
The role would also see engagement with stakeholders of business and technology firms “to ensure risk assessments consider the business value and outcomes of using AI technologies, balanced against the business and technology related risks”.
Governance is at the core of the new centre and role, with NSW Police saying that the manager role will be responsible for shaping the force’s governance capability “from the ground up”, as well as vendor oversight.
NSW Police chief technology officer Suzy Mann announced the position on LinkedIn.
“The NSW Police Force is establishing an artificial intelligence centre manager role within the Technology & Communication Services Command,” she said.
“The role is focused on AI governance, risk management and assurance, providing the frameworks, standards and oversight required to ensure AI is assessed and managed in line with NSW government ethics and assurance requirements.
“It reinforces the importance of disciplined, transparent and accountable approaches to AI in a mission‑critical public‑sector environment.”
The role also has a major focus on the AIAF, which was established to ensure that stage agency systems are “designed, developed, procured, and used in a safe, ethical, and responsible manner”, according to the NSW Office of AI. This was recently updated to remove self-assessment of AI risk to automatic designations of low, medium and high risk based on question answers.
While it is currently unclear when the new centre will be operation, nor how it is to be structured and resourced, a spokesperson speaking with iTnews, said the new manager role will “lead the development of NSW Police Force policy and strategy with regard to AI”, including “the identification of positions and structures required to allow [NSW Police] to adapt to the rapidly evolving AI environment”.
While the spokesperson also told the publication that the responsibility of AI governance and management currently sits with the executive leadership of NSW Police, the job role suggests that this will be shifted to the centre.
What does NSW Police intend to do with AI?
On the NSW Police Force website, the state’s police broadly and briefly outline ways that AI could improve its services.
“Application could include suspect sketching, the automation of documentation and paperwork, the automatic processing of high volumes of data for the identification of relevant laws, procedures, and precedents, etc,” it said.
NSW Police also mention using it to prevent and reduce crime, evaluating the impact of tasks like automated decision making and analysis, robotic process automation and discovering strategies to reduce the criminal misuse of AI.
However, the mention of “novel ways in which artificial intelligence can be used to prevent/reduce crime” has drawn criticism from digital rights groups who point out that in-built bias and a lack of understanding of how AI tools work could impact justice and fair police work.
“When police officers read AI-generated crime reports that do not reflect the nature of what happened, they are sent down the wrong investigative path. This leads to further overpolicing of marginalised communities. Potential productivity gains are lost by police time wasted on dead ends,” said Digital Rights Watch.
“Crime reports contain sensitive information about victims of crime who deserve the highest levels of security. This means that use of AI for crime reporting must be open to regulatory scrutiny.”
Daniel Croft