Abdullah Sabri
Today at 06:00
PSNI officers investigating last month’s widespread disorder are using artificial intelligence for the first time to identify rioters, it can be revealed.
It comes after a week of racially-motivated violence that started in Ballymena and spread to Belfast, Portadown, Larne, Carrickfergus, Londonderry and Coleraine.
Trouble initially erupted in Ballymena after an alleged sexual assault of a girl in the town.
Two 14-year-old boys, who spoke to a court through a Romanian interpreter, were later charged with attempted rape.
A peaceful demonstration in the Co Antrim town about the alleged assault was followed by attacks on police and properties housing ethnic minorities, described by police as “racist thuggery”.
In the aftermath, the PSNI vowed to work “day and night” to apprehend those responsible.
Forty-six people have so far been arrested.
A senior PSNI spokesperson has now confirmed that officers are using AI-driven video analytics to support them.
The system allows for the tracking of suspects through copious amounts of footage and can identify masked individuals if they become unmasked later, as well as track vehicle movements.
Offenders can also be run through a national database to detect those with previous convictions.
“Like other policing services across the UK and, in line with national guidelines, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is in the early stages of exploring the responsible use of artificial intelligence,” the spokesperson said.
“At present, the PSNI does not use AI for facial recognition purposes.
“The only facial recognition capability in use by the PSNI is the well-established retrospective facial search function available via the Police National Database (PND). This is not AI-driven (it is a rule-based algorithmic comparison tool) and has been in operational use across UK policing for many years prior to the emergence of AI.
“In relation to the recent incidents of rioting across Northern Ireland in June, the PSNI is using AI-driven video analytics technology for the first time in a public order investigation.
“This tool helps investigators efficiently review thousands of hours of footage by tracking individuals or objects — such as identifying appearances of a specific person or tracking the path of a vehicle — across multiple sources.
“Where individuals are, for example, initially masked and later unmasked in the footage, this could allow capture of a still image which may be submitted separately for facial searching on the Police National Database, if deemed appropriate.” The disorder led to 107 officers sustaining injuries which constitutes 1.7% of the 6,205 police officers currently in the service.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned that officer numbers are “dangerously low”, but the spokesperson said AI isn’t making up the numbers but rather aiding investigators to more quickly probe suspects in current and future cases.
“Video Analytics AI technology does not replace officers or the insight and judgment they bring. Rather, it supports their work expeditiously,” the spokesperson added.
“Any current or future use of AI-enabled technologies will be subject to national policing guidance and will always include human oversight and quality assurance.
“Internal PSNI working groups are reviewing these developments in consultation with stakeholders such as the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the Northern Ireland Policing Board (NIPB).”
Its use in public order offences is part of a wider effort by the service to integrate the tool into ongoing and future investigations.
Hours of CCTV footage is also now being analysed with the help of AI for the inquest into the death of Noah Donohoe.
The 14-year-old went missing after cycling to meet a friend in June 2020 and was later found dead in a storm drain in the north Belfast area.
The PSNI spokesperson was unable to comment further on any specifics as the inquest is ongoing.
In February, the PSNI informed the Policing Board they were exploring the use of AI to analyse mobile phone evidence to support criminal investigations.
Members of the policing watchdog were also told AI is currently in use to run firearms licence background checks, dictate voice messages to text, and send some automated email responses.
Mark McNaughten, PSNI Assistant Chief Officer for corporate services, said that the “possibilities are endless”.
“We’re already in the foothills of looking at how we can utilise the technology to look at areas such as mobile phone analysis, which is really just a demand which is swamping all services,” he explained.
“We could do more, and as part of the business case for recovery [of police numbers] we would hope to recruit potentially some more additional resources specialist in this area, because the opportunities are really vast.”
Mr McNaughten added that AI could also be drawn upon in the development of teaching plans at the PSNI training college.
by pickneyboy3000
7 comments
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>This is not AI-driven (it is a rule-based algorithmic comparison tool) and has been in operational use across UK policing for many years prior to the emergence of AI
Can anyone suitably tech savvy explain the distinction?
I wouldn’t trust the PSNI to use google maps without abusing it somehow but I guess if they use AI to scoop scrotes who were burning people out of their homes because of their skin colour then it’s all good. Probably also makes it easier to arrest your nephew when AI did the work and not you.
Edit: I remember a friend of mine was a victim of online credit card fraud in the early 2000’s and the cops literally wouldn’t use to google to follow it up despite the fact my friend had already done so and found the culprits.
Didn’t realise PSNI had even mastered human intelligence yet
It’s quite important that this precedent is not allowed to be set – it enables the one key component required for complete warrantless tracking of _everybody_.
All identification of people from videos _must_ be done manually by humans – it is the only practical/working way to implement a bottleneck, that prevents total warrantless mass surveillance/identification/tracking – as there is no other safeguard that is as effective as that bottleneck.
>Members of the policing watchdog were also told AI is currently in use to run firearms licence background checks
This is interesting
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