Artificial Intelligence Being Used to Solve Cold Cases

How cold cases could be solved with the help of AI that does 81 years' human work in just 30 hours

The most notorious cold cases could be solved with artificial intelligence that can do 81 years' work in just 30 hours, a police chief has claimed.

An Australian tool which can absorb and analyse vast amounts of data is being trialled for the first time in Britain by Avon and Somerset Police.

The system, named Söze, can simultaneously examine information from multiple sources including video, social media, emails and hard drives to speed up the investigation process.

And the chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, Gavin Stephens, even joked that it could be used to crack previously unsolvable cases such as that of Jack the Ripper, the notorious Victorian serial killer.

'From my knowledge and experience I could imagine this sort of thing being really useful for cold case reviews,' he said.

Pictured: Chairman of the National Police Chiefs' Council, Gavin Stephens

An Australian tool which can absorb and analyse vast amounts of data is being trialed for the first time in Britain by Avon and Somerset Police

'So you might have had a cold case review that looks impossible because of the amount of material there but if there's a system like this that can just ingest it and give you an assessment of it then I can see that being really helpful.'

Avon and Somerset have applied the AI technology to a review of evidential material in 27 complex cases, with Söze providing results in 30 hours, Mr Stephens said.

'I don't know how they came up with this estimate, but they estimate it would have taken 81 years for a human to review,' he added.

'So in other words, impossible to do with just human activity because of the volume of material.'

Detectives conducting complicated investigations collate and analyse data from multiple sources, which can be an incredibly time-consuming process if done manually, especially if the various sources of information are isolated from each other.

Söze, which has been developed alongside police forces in Australia, works by allowing investigators to integrate and visualize vast amounts of data from multiple sources and devices at lightning speed.

As well as saving time, the tech then allows detectives to analyse information in a more abstract way.

For example, they can ask the system to show them any links between two suspects.

Scotland Yard has been using AI to create a database of knives known to the police, capturing details including the blade length, materials used in manufacture, colour and details of retailers

The system, named Söze, can simultaneously examine information from multiple sources including video, social media, emails and hard drives to speed up the investigation process

It can also uncover insights and relationships that were not already possible, by categorizing objects, people, anomalies and patterns far faster than any human can.

Avon and Somerset Police plan to run a more comprehensive trial to test the benefits of the software and help develop the product for wider use in Britain.

The second trial will focus on live investigations to support detectives as they conduct investigations in real time.

AI is also being trialed by UK forces to track knives used in crime to their origin, Mr Stephens said.

Scotland Yard has been using AI to create a database of knives known to the police, capturing details including the blade length, materials used in manufacture, colour and details of retailers.

The Met has created a database of 20,000 images and 500 knives, which senior officers believe will help solve crimes and stop them happening in the first place.

There were more than 49,000 offences in the UK involving blades in the 12 months to December 2023.

Professor Miroslaw Bober, from the University of Surrey, is overseeing the project.

He said: 'Most attacks are not pre-planned, and the availability of knives increases the likelihood of violent crime — so the work we are doing to reduce knife availability is vital.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13883913/cold-cases-solved-help-AI.html