AI-powered crime reporting pilot goes live in Cambridgeshire

Citizen Assist, developed through the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Digital Public Contact programme, allows people to report non-emergency crimes by answering questions posed by an AI system.

The technology gathers information about an incident, builds a structured crime report and submits it directly into existing police systems.

Members of the public can review their completed report before submitting it and receive a crime reference number and information about what happens next. The pilot will initially cover reports of assaults, threats, criminal damage and theft.

The system has been designed specifically for policing and will be tested and evaluated in Cambridgeshire before any wider rollout.

Chief Constable Simon Megicks, who is the national policing lead for public contact and senior responsible officer for the Digital Public Contact programme, said the technology was intended to make reporting crime “simpler and more intuitive”.

“By asking the right questions at the right time, the technology can help gather more complete information, making the process easier for the public and helping policing receive the details it needs more quickly,” he said.

The pilot is part of wider work by the Digital Public Contact programme to use AI across police contact services. Earlier this year, the programme supported the introduction of AI-powered post-call analysis at West Yorkshire Police to identify intelligence and vulnerability indicators from control room calls.

It has also supported the introduction of AI-powered 101 call triage, designed to direct callers to the appropriate service and reduce pressure on non-emergency contact channels.

Darryl Preston, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said the pilot would allow the force to understand what works for the public while maintaining existing reporting methods. He said he hoped it would improve accessibility and reduce the need for victims to repeatedly recount what had happened to them.

The technology has been developed as a policing-owned capability through the Digital Public Contact programme, rather than as a commercial off-the-shelf product.

The underlying technology has also been designed for use across digital and voice channels, potentially allowing it to support future services including conversational reporting, advice and guidance and citizen messaging.

The pilot is being delivered with governance and oversight arrangements intended to ensure that the technology supports, rather than replaces, police decision-making.

Subject to its evaluation, Citizen Assist could subsequently be made available more widely across policing.