On the 10 June, Police AI was launched as a new national centre dedicated to the responsible development, piloting and scaling of artificial intelligence in policing. Backed by £75m of funding over three years, PoliceAI will enable officers to spend less time behind a desk and more time protecting their communities through the responsible development, test and roll out of AI tools across all forces in England and Wales.  

PoliceAI is part of a record £140 million investment in AI technology over 3 years from the Home Office, including funding for 40 more live facial recognition units, tripling current capacity of a technology that is already proving its value in catching wanted rapists, domestic abusers and child sex offenders.   

The launch forms a central part of the Police Reform White Paper, published in January 2026.  

In its first year, PoliceAI will prioritise areas where AI can make the biggest immediate difference. For example: 

• Large-scale pilots in up to ten forces to help officers triage, disclose and summarise digital evidence – one of the most time-consuming parts of any investigation. These trials will run over 2026-27 before being scaled to all police forces in 2027, freeing up millions of hours per year.  

• Leading the national policing response to AI-enabled crime, including deepfake intimate images, through a new Policing AI Threat Hub (PATH).  

• Tools to analyse CCTV and other digital media, helping police establish leads earlier to secure evidence and return belongings to victims quickly.  

• AI that transcribes 999 and 101 calls, links crime reports to identify patterns in demand, and triages non-emergency calls to the right responder. 

Policing Minister Sarah Jones said:  

"AI is already helping police catch dangerous offenders, speed up investigations and keep our communities safe — and we are only just getting started. 

“PoliceAI will transform how every force in England and Wales works, improving police access to data and intelligence, generating new evidential leads and ultimately freeing up the equivalent of 3,000 extra officers and putting more police back where they belong: in our communities.  

“But we will only realise that potential if we do this responsibly, with public consent at every step. That is exactly what PoliceAI is designed to deliver." 

PoliceAI interim director Alex Murray OBE said:  

“Crime and technology are evolving rapidly. Policing must keep pace by adopting AI responsibly to catch criminals and keep people safe. 

“We have created a national AI centre to help policing work smarter – our job is to get responsible AI into the hands of officers and staff so that they can spend less time on bureaucracy and more time fighting crime and helping the victims, witnesses and communities they work so hard to protect.” 

For more information visit Gov.UK  

Read the Police use of AI factsheet