Police officer under criminal investigation over alleged use of AI

Unidentified officer removed from frontline duties in the first known case of its kind in the UK

A police officer is under criminal investigation over the alleged use of artificial intelligence and has been removed from frontline duties in the first known case of its kind in the UK.

The officer, who has not been named, is being investigated over allegations of using the technology to “create evidential material in a number of cases” and perverting the course of justice.

Derbyshire police told the Financial Times: “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.”

The force added the investigation was “in its early stages” and no further details were available.

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

The officer’s role or the exact nature of the suspected misconduct has not been disclosed.

A Crown Prosecution Service spokesperson said in a statement to the Guardian: “We are working with Derbyshire police as it conducts enquiries into the alleged use of artificial intelligence by an officer.

“We are engaging with defence teams and the courts in appropriate cases.

“As police enquiries continue, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”

The investigation comes after Alex Murray, head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Police AI centre, revealed it had told a number of police forces to stop using AI systems to prepare court statements and other tasks because they might not be reliable enough.

In April, the Metropolitan police launched investigations into hundreds of officers after using an AI tool built by the US tech company Palantir to root out rogue officers.

The software was deployed by the Met over the course of a week, surveilling staff members using data the force has ready access to, unearthing rule-breaking ranging from work-from-home violations to suspected corruption and criminal allegations such as rape.

The Met said as a result of the software, evidence had been found tying a small number of officers to serious cases of misconduct and criminality, resulting in the arrest of three officers for offences including abuse of authority for sexual purposes, fraud, sexual assault, misconduct in public office and misuse of police systems.