British police accused of fabricating evidence with AI

A Derbyshire Police officer is facing a criminal investigation over the allegation that they used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to fabricate evidence.

Police AI use under scrutiny

The unnamed police officer has been removed from frontline duties, according to the BBC. As Derbyshire Police explained:

A criminal investigation has been launched into an allegation of perverting the course of justice after the alleged use of AI systems by an officer to create evidential material in a number of cases.

The force is working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to any potentially impacted cases, however, the investigation is in its early stages, so no further details are available.

The officer involved has been removed from frontline duties, pending the outcome of the investigation. No arrests have been made.

On 10 June, the government announced ‘PoliceAI’. The announcement declared:

Officers across England and Wales will spend less time behind desks and more time protecting their communities, as the government today launches PoliceAI – a new national centre dedicated to the responsible development, piloting and scaling of artificial intelligence in policing.

The centre, backed by a record £75 million over 3 years, will work across all forces to identify, test and scale AI tools that deliver real results.

Early trials show the scale of what is possible: 800 hours of footage in a kidnapping case reviewed in 3 hours, producing an early guilty plea; and half a million e-books of data translated instantly, leading to the arrest of a serious organised crime gang.

The Derbyshire police officer is accused of purposefully fabricating evidence. AI technology, meanwhile, is notorious for ‘hallucinations’, which are instances in which the technology generates false information and presents it as being factually accurate.

Privacy Researcher T3ch Falcon discussed the announcement of PoliceAI in relation to the case against the Derbyshire officer:

A Derbyshire officer allegedly used AI to fabricate evidential material across multiple cases not one. The Crown Prosecution Service is now reviewing every conviction those cases touched.

Three days ago, the UK government announced PoliceAI.

£140 million. a national AI centre for policing. 40 new facial recognition vans. AI tools for every force in England and Wales by 2027. the official goal: “get responsible AI into the hands of officers.”

Three days later: criminal investigation into an officer for using AI to manufacture evidence.

the interim director of PoliceAI put out a statement today.

“our work is rooted in transparency.”

97% of all criminal investigations in the UK now involve digital evidence. that’s this year’s figure.

AI is already being used to summarise case files, triage evidence, and assist with disclosure.

one officer already used it to manufacture evidence across multiple cases.

nobody noticed until now.

Featured image via Daniel Berehulak (Getty Images)