The Double-Edged Sword of AI in Police Reporting

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology continues to evolve, its integration into various facets of law enforcement activities, including report writing, has brought both significant benefits and serious concerns. AI's role in aiding police officers with their reports after investigations can streamline operations, increase accuracy, and potentially reduce biases inherent in human reportage. However, the deployment of such technology comes with challenges that require careful consideration, especially regarding privacy and ethical use.

Benefits of AI in Police Report Writing

AI-driven tools can enhance the efficiency of police reporting by automating mundane and repetitive tasks. This allows officers to dedicate more time to critical aspects of their duties, such as community engagement and investigation. Additionally, AI can help in structuring reports more consistently and can analyze data faster than a human, which might lead to quicker identification of patterns or connections between cases that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Furthermore, AI has the potential to reduce human error and personal biases that can creep into manual report writing. By standardizing how reports are written and ensuring that all necessary information is included uniformly, AI systems can help maintain objectivity in police documentation.

Potential Pitfalls and Ethical Concerns

However, the deployment of AI in police work, particularly in report writing, is not without significant ethical concerns. One of the primary issues is privacy. AI systems that handle sensitive information, such as details of victims and witnesses, must be designed to uphold strict confidentiality standards. There is a real danger that AI, especially if not properly secured, could inadvertently expose private details that could be used to identify and locate victims, thereby putting their safety at risk.

Moreover, just as teachers are currently employing AI detectors to identify students' use of AI in their assignments, police departments must also be vigilant about the origins and accuracy of the content generated by AI in reports. There is a risk that AI-generated text could include fabricated or unverified details, leading to potential injustices or errors in law enforcement processes.

Additionally, the use of AI in report writing could become a focal point for defense attorneys looking to challenge the validity of criminal prosecutions. They might argue that the reliance on AI compromises the accuracy or authenticity of the police reports, potentially undermining the evidence in a trial.

The Imperative of Responsible AI Use

To address these challenges, police departments must implement robust protocols for AI use in report writing. This includes setting clear guidelines on the types of information AI can access and process, regular audits of AI-generated reports for accuracy and compliance with privacy laws, and thorough training for officers on the potential risks and limitations of using AI technology.

Furthermore, just as in education, where tools are being developed to ensure that AI is used appropriately by students, law enforcement must also have systems in place to detect and correct any misuse of AI in report writing. Ensuring that AI systems are transparent in their workings and decisions is critical, as is ongoing scrutiny to prevent any form of data bias or error.

Conclusion

AI has the potential to revolutionize police reporting, making it more efficient and potentially fairer. However, as with all powerful tools, there is a need for careful and responsible handling to ensure that its benefits do not come at the cost of compromising ethical standards or public trust. As AI technology becomes a staple in law enforcement, continual evaluation and adaptation of guidelines governing its use will be essential to safeguard the rights and privacy of individuals while harnessing the technology’s full potential for public good.
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If you have read this far, you should know that every word written above this was created by the artificial intelligence program ChatGPT. Even the headline was fabricated by the program. Beginning with this paragraph, everything that follows has been written by me.

I used the following prompt to write the piece: Let's write a 500 word article on police officers using artificial intelligence to write reports following their investigations. This article should look at the positive and negative uses of artificial intelligence by police officers. It should remind police officers of the potential dangers of exposing private details of victims' lives, including information that could be used to identify them and their location. The article should also discuss how teachers are using AI programs to identify their students' work in order for the teachers to determine who is using an AI writing program.

I followed up that prompt with an additional request: Still keeping this to 500 words, let's add in to the Potential Pitfalls section that officers must also be careful because defense attorneys might focus on the use of AI for report writing as a way to undercut a criminal prosecution.

That’s all it took. A handful of words and the AI program was off and writing a perfectly acceptable 500-word essay that examined the issue. Or in the case of this effort, a 600-word essay, because even though I asked for 500 words, it provided me with a higher total.

As you can read in the attached report, ChatGpt errors are not infrequent (being unable to keep to a word limit is listed as Problem No. 1!) But as this report also states, Chat GPT will sometimes make up information when it doesn’t know the answer or will even ignore its own defined protocols.

This is a big reason why the Future Policing Institute realized it was vitally important to help law enforcement deal with the issue. Earlier this month, the FPI released a Model Policy for the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence by Police Agencies. Additionally, the FPI has also released a sample department cover memo – in Word format – that police chiefs and sheriffs can customize and use to explain what some of their troops might feel is an overly risk-averse policy.

Keep in mind, the message here from all of us at the FPI is: the future of AI is here now, and let’s embrace it. But as we can see, we must also use it professionally, responsibly, and ethically, so that we ensure we protect everyone involved in this future.

About the author

George Watson is a communications consultant, freelance writer and an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of Redlands. He spent 18 years as a reporter and editor, with focuses on law enforcement and government administration. His work has taken him all across the country and to war-torn places like Kabul, Afghanistan. To read his full bio click here.