Artificial intelligence (AI) has become so integrated into daily life that an individual hardly interacts with any technology without encountering it.

This integration of AI has seeped into policing, as well, enabling officers to more efficiently solve traditional crimes, as well as ever-evolving cyber-enabled crimes.

Originally coined in 1955 by Dr. John McCarthy, artificial intelligence is defined as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.”¹ Although there are numerous benefits to AI-powered software, many still have concerns over the legitimacy of these systems. However, many companies acknowledge the advantages this new partnership between computers and humans can bring to the field and are constantly researching and developing innovative ways to leverage the technology.

Voice and Video Solutions

Many companies are offering facial recognition and transcription solutions, along with AI-integrated cameras, that aim to decrease time spent on administrative tasks, freeing officers to focus on responding to calls for service or other duties.

Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, VIQ Solutions combines AI-driven voice and video capture technology and services to securely manage digital content in the most rigid security environments. “With over 30 years’ experience serving the law enforcement industry, [VIQ Solutions] understands the critical task of documenting reports, interviews, supplements, and summaries in a timely and accurate manner,” said Vice President of Sales Krizia Mylonas.² Working in unison with innovative capture solutions, VIQ Solutions’ transcription services were developed to cut down on officers’ time spent at their desks, so they can spend more time protecting their communities.

The addition of VIQ Solutions’ MobileMic Pro smartphone app turns any cellphone into a high-quality audio recorder that can capture an interview or dictated report at any time and any place. MobileMic Pro enables a single-speaker dictation feature for incident reporting, as well as the functionality for multi-speaker interviews to support investigations.

Once captured, the recording is automatically routed to a transcription engine using two methods. The file could be routed to an industry-specific, speech-to-text engine, powered by VIQ Solutions aiAssist. This route will provide an automatic delivery of a completed transcript in minutes. The draft can be quickly reviewed and routed back to a professional editor for a final transcript. The introduction of an end-to-end workflow that is rooted in AI transforms law enforcement transcription as mobile dictation accuracy increases. The second method routes the file directly to VIQ Solutions transcription personnel for a timely and accurate final product.

Offering a suite of applications, including transcription services, is the Costa Mesa, California–based Veritone. The company’s operating system, aiWARE, powers a diverse set of AI applications and intelligent process automation solutions to transform audio, video, and other data sources into actionable intelligence.

aiWARE is a hub for the following four AI applications:

• Veritone Redact: This cloud-based redaction solution systematically detects human heads and allows users to define other sensitive imagery and objects within a scene, then automatically redacts this information from audio-, video-, and image-based evidence. Developed with a neural network-based model trained to recognize human heads, the redaction solution does not employ facial recognition technology, minimizing perceived bias in evidence collection.
• Veritone Illuminate: This transcription solution quickly and cost-effectively transcribes audio- and video-based evidence. All transcripts can be easily found, searched, and reviewed through any word processing system. Illuminate can also translate the transcription into more than 70 different languages.
• Veritone IDentify: Veritone’s AI-powered facial recognition system enables users to rapidly extract actionable insight from photographic and video evidence used in investigations. IDentify does not scour the internet for match candidates; instead, it limits potential matches to those already housed within the agency’s records management system.
• Veritone Contact: Developed in conjunction with the California Department of Justice and several city law enforcement agencies, Contact helps officers quickly and efficiently collect stop data that is in compliance with California Assembly Bill 953, the Racial and Identity Profiling Act.

Although the products themselves have not changed since the beginning of the pandemic, Jon Gacek, Veritone’s head of government, legal, and compliance, has reported an increase in adoption of these applications as agencies have needed to deal with personnel on leave during quarantine or recovery periods.³

LPR Solutions

Traffic safety is also benefiting from advances in AI. Providing traffic-related AI solutions to law enforcement is Jenoptik, headquartered in Jena, Germany. “We were involved in the invention of [license plate readers] back in 1979 to help track terrorists and criminal activities,” said Finbarr O’Carroll, president of the Light and Safety division in the Americas. “Our VECTOR LPR camera has since evolved and matured to where we are today incorporating artificial intelligence.”⁴

The VECTOR camera with AI technology captures the license plate of any vehicle traveling up to 180 miles per hour—even in unfavorable weather conditions—and stores the image, locates the license plate within the image, decodes the plate, and saves it to a database. Then, all plates are run against known criminal and terrorist hotlists to identify if the vehicle belongs to a known suspect.

The AI software is integrated in the camera, allowing real-time alerts to be sent directly to an officer’s phone, increasing reaction times and apprehensions.

Machine Learning

There are some companies that take a different approach to the use of AI engines. “In today’s world, we hear a lot about artificial intelligence when, in fact, we should be referencing machine learning,” said Robert Whitaker, chief operating officer of Blockchain Intelligence Group.⁵

Although the two terms are different, it is common for AI to be used interchangeably with the term “machine learning,” which Whitaker defines as a series of complex algorithms running against a vast data set to identify specific behaviors. Those behaviors guide users in making determinations about criminal or risky behaviors that would not necessarily be known or seen by law enforcement.

Cryptocurrency Solutions

Blockchain Intelligence Group, based out of Vancouver, Canada, offers three different services police agencies: training, resources, and cryptocurrency tracking.

The training includes a deep dive into cryptocurrencies, as well as best methods to investigate, seize, and secure cryptocurrencies.

Blockchain Intelligence Group provides law enforcement ongoing support with the ability to call the company’s experienced forensics division personnel if the investigators have any issues or concerns regarding their own cryptocurrency investigations.

Police and financial intelligence units can visually track and trace cryptocurrency transactions across several different blockchains through the company’s visualization engine, Qualitative Law Enforcement Unified Edge (QLUE). This visual, interactive, and intuitive interface helps investigators follow a money trail by identifying anomalies and bringing them to a user’s attention.

Looking Ahead

AI is quickly becoming commonplace within the policing profession, enhancing efficiency and accuracy while decreasing the time spent on administrative duties. The incorporation of AI technology for surveillance, crime prevention, and crime solving is seen globally, and technology companies are continuing to search for innovative ways to enable a more streamlined and efficient workflow for police officers through the use of AI.

As AI continues to evolve and be refined, so too will the products offered to police. It is important for the policing profession to adapt and evolve with these technologies as the rest of the world also explores AI integration.

Notes:

¹Christopher Manning, “Artificial Intelligence Definitions,” Stanford University, Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, September 2020.

²Krizia Mylonas (vice president of sales, VIQ Solutions) email interview, February 9, 2021.

³Jon Gacek (head of government, legal, and compliance, Veritone) email interview, February 9, 2021.

⁴Finbarr O’Carroll (president of the light and safety division in the Americas, Jenoptik) email interview, February 1, 2021.

⁵Robert Whitaker (chief operating officer, Blockchain Intelligence Group) email interview, February 9, 2021.