Police force harnesses AI to help catch stalkers

Cheshire Police has become the first force in the UK to use artificial intelligence (AI) as a tool during stalking investigations.

The force hopes the technology will identify suspects' patterns of behaviours at a much earlier stage.

Det Ch Insp Danielle Knox, who leads its stalking unit, said that while AI would never "replace the human element", it would instead "enhance" what officers currently do.

"We have ethics committees and checks and balances in place to make sure the algorithms work in the way we want them to," she said.

Currently officers in the county's Harm Reduction Unit (HRU), which investigates stalking and harassment allegations, review evidence manually.

The unit typically deals with 10 cases of stalking each day.

The force believes AI can analyse incident reports while alleged victims are still talking with police call handlers.

Using information provided by the force's HRU and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, the algorithm will be "trained" to help detectives identify stalking behaviours.

The aim is for the technology to be smart enough to flag up potential cases of stalking regardless of whether the word "stalking" is actually mentioned by victims or witnesses.

Cheshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Dan Price said he was confident the technology would "speed up investigations".

He applied for £300,000 from the Police STAR (Science, Technology, Analysis and Research) Fund to pay for the new technology.

Rather than teams of people "sifting through layers" of data, he said AI could identify patterns and behaviours and "build cases" at a much earlier stage.

Price said that where AI had been used to investigate different crimes in other parts of the country, it had been "25 times more effective than an individual detective".

Currently three-quarters of cases which are dealt with by the HRU conclude with a suspect being charged.

Price is confident the technology will lead to even more convictions and "give victims more protection, faster".

One victim, who the BBC has agreed to refer to as Amy because she remains fearful of her stalker, said she believed AI technology could have ended her ordeal sooner.

Amy said she was the victim of a prolonged campaign of harassment by someone she knew.

She said it grew "in intensity" over time and she was harassed at work, received frightening phone calls at home, and was abused online.

Amy, who has now returned to work but says she still suffers from the trauma of what happened to her, said the stalking culminated in her being violently assaulted.

"While no-one could have predicted a violent assault, what could've been picked up were elements of harassing behaviour," Amy told BBC News.

"Had things been picked up sooner, who knows? Things could potentially have been prevented."

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"Anything that allows these specialist people in their different roles to support victims is certainly something I would advocate," said Amy.

Amy, who has now returned to work, said she still suffered from the trauma of what her stalker did to her.

She said she finds it difficult to leave the house and form new work relationships.

"While no-one could have predicted a violent assault, what could've been picked up were elements of harassing behaviour," she said.

"Had things been picked up sooner, who knows? Things could potentially have been prevented."

If the programme is successful in Cheshire, it could be rolled out nationally by other polices forces.