Use AI to comb mobile phones for evidence, police urged

POLICE must make greater use of artificial intelligence to fight crime, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary said as he revealed some officers were still reduced to using pen and paper.

Sir Tom Winsor said the failure to exploit new technology was an “intolerable” waste of public money and stopped officers doing their jobs effectively.

He said with the average iphone creating thousands of pages of potential evidence it was vital the police took advantage of “cheap as chips” software that could examine the data in a fraction of time it would take an officer.

In a speech at the annual Police Superintendents’ Association conference in Stratford-upon-avon, Sir Tom said the increasing complexity of crime meant detectives needed to be ahead of criminals in the technological arms race.

He said: “We still have officers in some parts of the country using paper and pencil, having to key it in at the sta

tion at the end of the shift on an insufficient number of force laptops. That is intolerable, a waste of public money and a frustration and obstacle on police officers being able to do their jobs.”

He said software existed that can harvest thousands of pages of data in a tiny amount of time.

“Law firms are using this technology to do due diligence on company acquisitions and many other things. You can buy this stuff off the shelf as cheap as chips. Why it is not used [by police] now I simply do not know.”

He also lamented the lack of new tech in the courts. “In some cases exhibiting evidence in court still uses 20th century tech,” he added.