Cheshire Police become first to use AI to catch stalkers

Cheshire Police are set to become the first force in the UK to use artificial intelligence (AI), to identify stalking behaviours.

It comes from a successful £300,000 bid to the Police STAR (Science, Technology, Analysis and Research) Fund, made by Dan Price, Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner.

The force is hoping to use AI to analyse incoming incident reports created by police call handlers whilst they’re talking to a victim, it will then hopefully help to identify stalking behaviours, regardless of the word stalking being mentioned.

On average, Cheshire Police records 10 stalking offences a day. At the moment, its Harm Reduction Unit (HRU) manually reviews incidents to identify stalking and help victims.

Instead, the AI technology will now flag the incident up to the HRU enabling the offence to be identified at an early stage.

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"Robustly deal with the perpetrators"

Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox, lead for Stalking at Cheshire Constabulary, said: “Stalking is a hugely impacting crime on victims and their families; our approach to this serious and complex crime needs to be right from the outset where we can identify behaviours at the earliest opportunity.

"The hope is that the use of AI will further support Cheshire Police’s leading approach to tackling stalking, holding perpetrators to account, and protecting victims.

"Cheshire’s Harm Reduction Unit are seeking to use this technology to further improve how quickly we identify stalking crimes and therefore how quickly we are able to robustly deal with the perpetrators.”

Technology led programmes and initiatives are a part of Dan Price’s Police and Crime Plan.

The plan, which runs until 2028, has three key focusses, "modernisation, listening to the public and reducing crime".

Dan Price, Police and Crime Commissioner said: “It’s vital that the Constabulary adopts technology and uses it to help tackle crime.

"Modernising Cheshire Police is one of my key pillars in my Police and Crime Plan.

“If this programme is proven to work here in Cheshire, we’re hoping it will be adopted nationally by other forces, to help victims all over the country, increasing public confidence in the police.”

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