'Critical tools' Al tech will help officers crack down on grooming gangs

POLICE forces across the country are to be given access to special AI technology to help tackle grooming gangs, modern slave owners and County Lines drug networks, it was announced yesterday at Avon and Somerset Police headquarters.

- Tristan CORK

Home Office Minister Jess Phillips came to Portishead to launch the new technology as well as a new national police operation, named Beaconport, which will coordinate a new drive to clamp down on organised crime.

The technology will use AI to radically cut the amount of data-crunching, translation, analysing phone records and digital paperwork, while at the same time join the dots to create a picture of how ruthless gangs exploit people - often young and vulnerable.

And that, investigators say, will free up thousands of hours of police work, allowing detectives to get back onto the road to track down more gang members and victims. It will, Jess Phillips said, mean a big cut in the length of time it takes for complex cases involving grooming gangs or modern-day slavery exploitation to come to court.

The national police operation Beaconport was launched at the Avon and Somerset police headquarters yesterday The high-tech AI systems have been condensed into one easy-to-use programme or app that is now being rolled out to all police forces.