Officer under criminal investigation over alleged AI-generated evidence
A Derbyshire Constabulary officer has been removed from frontline duties and is under criminal investigation over allegations of perverting the course of justice, after claims they used AI systems to create evidential material in multiple cases.
The force has not named the officer, disclosed their role, or detailed the nature of the suspected misconduct. No arrests have been made.
In a statement, Derbyshire Police said: “A criminal investigation has been launched into an allegation of perverting the course of justice after the alleged use of AI systems by an officer to create evidential material in a number of cases.
“The force is working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to any potentially impacted cases, however, the investigation is in its early stages, so no further details are available. The officer involved has been removed from frontline duties, pending the outcome of the investigation. No arrests have been made.”
The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it is liaising with defence teams and the courts over potentially affected cases as enquiries continue.
The case is believed to be the first of its kind in UK criminal justice and follows a warning last week from Alex Murray, head of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s PoliceAI centre, that several forces had been told to stop using AI to draft court statements and other materials over reliability concerns. Murray said he was not aware of any prosecutions having collapsed as a result of AI misuse to date.
The disclosure comes amid wider scrutiny of AI use across policing. Misuse of Microsoft’s Copilot earlier this year — which generated fabricated references to crowd trouble used to justify a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban — contributed to West Midlands chief constable Craig Guildford’s decision to retire early in January.