UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced a major technological reform of the police force, centred on the active introduction of artificial intelligence. A key element of the reform is the creation of a national Police.AI centre with a budget of £115 million, which will develop, test and distribute AI tools to all 43 police forces in England and Wales.
Among the most notable innovations are AI chatbots and voice assistants, which will handle non-urgent calls and online enquiries from citizens. The existing chatbot Bobbi (a pilot project by Thames Valley Police and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary since November 2025) will soon be rolled out nationwide. It answers routine questions, assesses the level of risk and decides whether to transfer the enquiry to a live operator or officer.
‘We are fighting crime in the digital age with old analogue methods,’ Mahmood told Parliament. ‘AI will free up to 6 million hours of police time per year — the equivalent of 3,000 additional officers on the streets.’
In addition to chatbots, Police.AI will implement:
accelerated analysis of video from surveillance cameras, doorbells, and mobile phones (searching for suspects in hours instead of days),
automatic deepfake recognition,
digital forensics,
automation of routine paperwork (form filling, editing, transcription).
The reform also includes expanding the fleet of vans equipped with live facial recognition technology from the current 10 to 50 units across the country.
The government emphasises that all tools will undergo rigorous ethical testing, and the list of AI systems used will be published publicly for transparency. However, human rights activists are already expressing concern about the potential for ‘Big Brother’ surveillance and the accuracy of facial recognition (especially after reports that some of the software is linked to technologies used in other conflicts).
The first results from Police.AI are expected as early as spring 2026. The reform is part of the most extensive restructuring of the British police force in decades.