Launch of PoliceAI realised to “speed up investigations and fight crime”

Backed by a record £75 million in funding over three years, the national centre will work across all forces to identify, test and scale AI tools that deliver real results. Early trials show the scale of what’s possible: 800 hours of footage in a kidnapping case were reviewed in just three hours, producing an early guilty plea, while half a million e-books’ worth of data were translated instantly, in turn leading to the arrest of a serious organised crime gang.

PoliceAI is part of a record £140 million investment in AI technology across the next three years, including funding for 40 more live facial recognition units, tripling current capacity of a technology that’s already proving its value.

The Government is also investing a record £16.5 million to modernise how police and the public interact. This includes AI that transcribes 999 and 101 calls, links crime reports to identify patterns in demand and triages non-emergency calls to the right responder.

Public consent

Policing Minister Sarah Jones said: “AI is already helping the police to catch dangerous offenders, speed up investigations and keep our communities safe, but we’re only at the start point.”

Jones continued: “PoliceAI will transform how every force in England and Wales works, improving police access to data and intelligence, generating new evidential leads and, ultimately, freeing-up the equivalent of 3,000 extra officers and putting more police back where they belong: in our communities.”

Further, Jones noted: “We will only realise that potential if we do this responsibly, with public consent at every step. That’s exactly what PoliceAI is designed to deliver. Tackling tool theft and retail crime is a priority. We’re investing £1 million to better join up police data with property marking schemes, use AI to identify stolen goods and track resale online and understand exactly what’s being stolen and by whom. Alongside PoliceAI’s work to speed up investigations, this will help in returning more property to victims and ensure officers are back on the front line.”

In its first year, PoliceAI will prioritise those areas where AI can make the biggest immediate difference. It will run large-scale pilots in up to ten forces to help officers triage, disclose and summarise digital evidence (one of the most time-consuming parts of any investigation). These trials will run during the remainder of 2026 and into 2027 before being scaled to all police forces next year, freeing-up millions of hours per year. It builds on work to help the police adopt AI to redact audio-visual files, which is set to free-up one million hours per year if all 43 forces use the tech that’s being rolled out.

What’s more, PoliceAI will lead the national policing response to AI-enabled crime through a new Policing AI Threat Hub. Police AI will receive high-quality deepfake detection tools and deliver training for police forces such that they can tackle new AI-enabled crimes. It will also help the police tackle the scourge of retail crime and tool theft by assisting officers to establish who recovered tools belong to so they can be returned to victims on a swift basis.

Rapidly evolving

PoliceAI’s interim director Alex Murray OBE said: “Crime and technology are evolving rapidly. Policing must keep pace by adopting AI responsibly to catch criminals and keep people safe. We have created a national AI centre to help policing work smarter. Our job is to place responsible AI into the hands of officers and staff so that they can spend less time on bureaucracy and more time fighting crime and helping the victims, witnesses and communities they work so hard to protect.”

Ian Murray, Minister for Digital Government and Data, explained: “People should see the benefits of technology in the services they rely on every day. That means quicker results, better tools and a system that works more effectively from start to finish.”

Murray added: “PoliceAI is about putting that into practice and using cutting-edge AI to help forces process evidence faster, reduce paperwork and focus their time where it matters most. By testing what works and scaling it across the country, we’re making sure these improvements are felt in every community, while building trust in how this technology is used.”

PoliceAI is set to become part of the planned National Policing Service and will publish a public registry of AI tools in use across policing, developed in partnership with CENTRIC at Sheffield Hallam University. An initial version will be available in the latter part of this year.

AI models will be independently tested for accuracy and bias, building on the Government-funded rigorous approach already established for live facial recognition algorithms. This is vital in areas like evidence translation where documents must be translated accurately in order to stand up in court.

Building public confidence

Sir Andy Marsh, CEO of the College of Policing, commented: “The College of Policing is proud to host PoliceAI. AI is an emerging technology that we are committed to explaining clearly in terms of how it works, how it’s evaluated and the safeguards in place to build public confidence in its use.”

Marsh also said: “While history shows us that some of the greatest advances in policing have emanated through technology, from body-worn video to modern forensics, technology alone is never enough. It must be guided by strong leadership and grounded in our Code of Ethics.”

In conclusion, Marsh stated: “By combining these innovations with the College of Policing’s commitment to high standards, evidence-based practice and continuous improvement, we’re facing up to an historic shift for British policing that will help keep the public safe and strengthen trust in the service.”

The launch of PoliceAI forms a central part of the Police Reform White Paper, published back in January, which sets out the most ambitious redesign of policing in nearly 200 years. It directly supports the Government’s Plan for Change and its Safer Streets mission: putting more visible and effective policing at the heart of every community.

The Government has already put an additional 3,000 neighbourhood officers on the streets of the nation, where members of the public rightly expect them to be: visible in local areas and fighting local crime. It’s promised that circa 13,000 new neighbourhood officers will be in place by the end of this Parliament.

Potential for transformation

Blair Gibbs, director of The Police Foundation (the UK’s policing-focused Think Tank), observed: “PoliceAI has the potential to transform policing. By harnessing these innovative technologies and designing how to deploy them responsibly, the UK will be leading the world in how to leverage AI within a democratic policing model.” 

Gibbs added: “Extra investment is welcome, while the key to making an impact will be to bring in outside experts and make fast decisions such that PoliceAI can support local forces in scaling their use of AI both quickly and transparently.”

Neil Basu QPM, former head of Counter Terrorism Policing, concluded: “There’s a lot of concern about AI, but the truth is it’s here and it’s here to stay. If used correctly, AI can be a force for good that will help policing become not just more efficient, but also far more effective. That means greater safety and security for us all. Backed by this Government, the creation of PoliceAI as a single accountable body for the service is exactly the way to do this responsibly.”