A £300,000 grant will support the efforts of Cheshire Police to invest in artificial intelligence to build capability to identify complex stalking behaviours at an early stage.
The grant, submitted by , has been awarded by the Police STAR (Science, Technology, Analysis and Research) Fund and will be used to build the capability to analyse incoming incident reports created by police handlers whilst they’re talking to a victim. The programme will flag the incident up to the Harm reduction unit (HRU) enabling the offence to be identified at an early stage.
The AI will be trained using information provided by the force’s HRU and the Suzy Lamplugh Trust to help identify stalking behaviours, regardless of the word stalking being mentioned.
“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. I am making important strategic decisions to ensure technology is embraced by the Constabulary.”
says Dan Price.
“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.”
On average, Cheshire Police records 10 stalking offences a day. Currently the work to review incidents to identify stalking and help victims, done by the force’s HRU, is manual. Cheshire Police say the funding enables the force to create early intervention and prevention activities that would not have been possible otherwise.
Detective Chief Inspector Danielle Knox, lead for Stalking at Cheshire Constabulary, added:
“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 key part of Dan Price’s Police and Crime Plan which he has recently published for his term in office in Cheshire. More broadly the role of Police and Crime Commissioner involves bidding for funds to create specialist programmes.
