How AI Supports Law Enforcement

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a standard practice in a wide field of applications. From increasing cybersecurity to assisting F-35 pilots, it seems as though there is a beneficial use for AI in any field, including law enforcement.

Law enforcement has been turning to AI more and more to the power of capabilities of police officers. AI is being used for surveillance, crowd control, facial identification, and even for scanning video footage to help officers save time in an investigation. Police officers main goal is to solve and deter crimes, here are some ways how AI helps officers reach that goal:

Image Enhancement Technology and Facial Recognition

AI technology has been used to allow law enforcement officers to more easily decipher a blurry or unclear photo or video. Furthermore, police officers use AI to help them identify specific people, even when that said person is surrounded by hundreds of other people. For example, Forbes.com mentions how Chinese police officers managed to arrest a man surrounded by a sea of people inside a stadium, thanks to AI scanning the video footage for the suspect. China, being an extreme example of “big brother” surveillance and AI assistance, have installed cameras all over their public spaces, identifying criminals and catching people committing petty crimes such as jaywalking.

Yet not all facial recognition technology is to catch criminals. Facial recognition AI can also assist officers searching for missing people.

Other cities, such as London, have also began experimenting with AI in public law enforcement. However, there are also cities, such as San Francisco and Oakland that have banned the public use of AI facial recognition.

Smarter Unmanned Systems

Police agencies around the world have been using physical robots more and more to assist them with various tasks. Bomb disposal robots and UAVs used for surveillance are just some examples.

AI can help officers operating these robots by granting them better control and identification of people and objects.

Some cities have started using robots as police officers. Dubai for example, have introduced robotic officers that are usually located in tourist destinations around the city. They are equipped with a touch screen and a camera and they are capable of communicating in six different languages. These robots transmit live images to a control room monitored by humans and can be used to report crimes.

Spotting Non-Violent Crimes

AI is great as spotting patterns and therefore AI is also great for spotting things that don’t fit into the pattern. When it comes to financial crimes such as stolen credit cards, AI is very good at analyzing and realizing if an individual’s current transactions are matched with his historical transaction behavior.

Law enforcement agencies also use AI to help them identify counterfeit goods and currency. AI is very good at noticing things that the human eye misses.

AI is great for law enforcement. It is truly a force multiplier and a time saver. But what is too much AI? What would be the right balance of AI? Considering cities like San Francisco and countries like China, each on a different end of the “big brother” spectrum, we are yet to find the right balance of AI benefits and personal freedom and privacy.