New investment will boost use of AI in policing

Following on from the radical reforms of policing announced earlier this week, police chiefs have now revealed more about how a £115m investment will accelerate responsible use of AI across forces in England and Wales.

A new national centre for artificial intelligence (AI) in policing called Police.AI is set to be launched after the Home Office confirmed a three year funding deal that will see £115m invested in using AI to speed up the fight against crime.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council anticipates that the use of AI by forces could release 6m hours of work a year – the equivalent of 3,000 police officers’ time – meaning that they can be freed from desk duties and return to the frontline, speed up investigations and reduce bureaucracy. Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan, national lead for science and innovation said this would lead to “improved public safety and better outcomes for victims and vulnerable people.”

National policing lead for AI, Alex Murray called Police.AI an “exciting initiative,” that is both timely and necessary. He added: “Policing faces growing demand, complex digital crime, and sustained financial pressure.” As as result, forces are already using AI with recent examples from Thames Valley and Hampshire which have both implemented an AI agent called Bobbi to handle requests for information from the public although not to report crimes or replace the 999 service.

Live facial recognition is another use of AI that is gaining traction with the white paper confirming the roll-out of a further 40 vans to provide capability across more force areas.

In a bid to move away from local solutions that may not scale, the NPCC says that Police.AI will centralise and streamline the development and adoption of new tools, ensuring they are robustly tested and bring benefits to policing. The College of Policing will be involved in the training and skill development of officers and staff “to build a workforce ready for the future.”

“The world is changing fast and the police must change fast too. Police.AI will lead the way in responsible AI development to tackle threat, prevent harm and deliver a policing service fit for now and the future, benefitting communities by freeing officers up to the frontline and supporting them to deliver quality investigations that ensure offenders are held to account.”

Alex Murray, NPCC lead for AI.

This will be supported by a public-facing registry giving people information about how their local force is using AI. This will join other tools already in place including the AI Covenant and the Responsible AI Checklist. The NPCC published the Police Problem Book late last year and this defines the policing problems and use cases where AI can most safely and effectively add value.

Set to launch in April, Police.AI will also act as centre of expertise on criminal misuse of AI.

---

To read similar articles, check out our Technology channel.