DALLAS — The Dallas Police Department is exploring artificial intelligence tools that could help detectives analyze large amounts of digital evidence and identify connections across cases, as policing experts caution officers against relying on AI without human review.
DPD recently issued a request for information to determine whether private-sector companies offer technology that could assist detectives with evidence analysis.
A department spokesperson said one potential use could involve an AI system that identifies links among different offenses to help investigators identify suspects or reviews decades-old cold case files for overlooked leads.
Major Nathan Swyers of DPD’s intelligence unit said during a call with potential vendors this week that such technology could have helped investigators handle evidence in the 2020 killing of Dallas rapper Mo3.
Swyers said investigators had to contend with more than a terabyte, and possibly multiple terabytes, of video evidence in that case.
“I think the biggest thing for us is being able to very quickly go through video evidence and do video analysis without a detective having to sit there for 8 to 10 to 12 hours reviewing that video frame-by-frame,” Swyers said.
DPD already uses several AI-related technologies. The department uses Axon software to draft incident reports, Clearview AI facial recognition technology and another AI tool that summarizes reports and data for review, according to a department spokesperson.
Swyers said any new technology would need to comply with the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) standard, which establishes security requirements for criminal justice information.
DPD has previously said it maintains safeguards for officers using AI tools. The department’s procurement notice also identifies the solicitation as a request for information rather than a contract process, meaning responses will not result in an immediate contract award.
Alex Piquero, a University of Miami criminologist who has worked with Dallas police, said AI can help departments process large amounts of information quickly but warned against treating its output as definitive.
“If people use it blindly and they make a decision about that, that can have harmful consequences,” Piquero said. “It’s a tool in a toolbox but at the end of the day a human being has to input that data and a human being has to understand the output of that data.”
Piquero said police departments across the country continue to explore AI as the technology becomes more accessible and less expensive. He identified the ability to process large amounts of data quickly as one of AI’s potential advantages for investigations.
Swyers said the department also sees efficiency and potential cost savings as reasons to explore the technology amid budget pressures.
Piquero, however, said AI could miss details that experienced investigators might recognize.
“The nuance sometimes might get lost in the use of AI, the human eye might see something, years of experience might tell someone something,” he said.
