More AI in crime-fighting is on the wcay despite West Midlands Police row
A new national centre for fighting crime with AI will form part of landmark policing reforms – despite recent controversy over the use of the tech at West Midlands Police.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced the creation of Police.AI, which will be used to cut down on staff admin at forces in England and Wales.
The government said the move will free up six million hours of work every year, the equivalent of hiring 3,000 new officers.
But the timing of the announcement could raise some eyebrows, following the resignation of West Midlands Police Chief Craig Guildford in an AI-related row.
An intelligence report produced by his force was used to justify banning Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending a Europa League match against Aston Villa in November last year.
It later emerged that one vital piece of evidence included in the report involved a match between between Maccabi Tel Aviv and West Ham that never took place.
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When giving evidence to MPs later on, Mr Guildford said the game was found during a Google search.
But in a letter to MPs, published on January 14, he admitted it was found using an AI tool which appeared to have ‘hallucinated’ the fixture.
Mahmood said the police chief had lost her confidence in a statement to MPs that same day, and he stepped down two days later.
A Home Office spokesman said Police.AI will not be used for important work like tracking down evidence for intelligence reports.
Instead, the new centre would be focused on ‘back office functions’, he said, giving the example of redacting court documents to remove victims’ details and compiling risk assessments.
The tools may also be used for deepfake detection to help enforce the new law banning nudification apps, as well as rapid analysis of CCTV and doorbell footage provided by the public to identify suspects.
Mahmood said: ’Criminals are operating in increasingly sophisticated ways. However, some police forces are still fighting crime with analogue methods.
‘We will roll out state-of-the-art tech to get more officers on the streets and put rapists and murders behind bars.’
Police.AI is one element of a raft of new reforms set out by the Home Secretary in a white paper today.
Her department has described the plans as ‘the largest reforms to policing since the police service was founded two centuries ago’.
They include the launch of the National Police Service, a new overarching body that will tackle country-wide threats such as terrorism and organised crime.
The number of regional forces will be reduced, with some being merged, subject to a consultation which will report this summer.
Local policing areas, solely focused on fighting local crime, will also be set up at a town, city or borough scale.
And facial recognition will be rolled out across the country, with the number of vans tripled so 50 vehicles are available to every force in England and Wales.
The government is expecting requisite legislation to be passed early next year, while full adoption of the new model could take until the end of the next parliament.
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