As AI reshapes industries across the board, law enforcement is emerging as a surprising early adopter. We sat down with Wendy Gilbert, SVP of Product at Mark43, to learn how AI is transforming public safety—from accelerating report writing to improving emergency response—and what’s needed to ensure trust and responsible implementation:
Mark43 data shows overwhelming support for AI among law enforcement professionals. What are the primary use cases where AI is making the biggest impact today, and how do you see that evolving in the next five years?
Law enforcement professionals have shown strong support for AI use because they are seeing real results. Using AI, officials can increase speed, accuracy and improve decision making. Many agencies face staffing shortages and officers spend an increasing amount of time on administrative and clerical tasks, which pulls officers away from time spent in their communities. One example of such a task is using AI to assist law enforcement professionals in drafting reports, by identifying key facts and helping prepare drafts or structure narratives. AI also ensures that key data points are included in reports and placed in the correct spots, without officers having to manually search, find and enter them. This increased speed gets officers back into the field faster.
In data management, law enforcement agencies ingest and interact with a wide range of data. AI can perform important deduplication, redaction and entity resolution and matching actions to ensure users can accurately identify people, locations, vehicles and properties. This improves the previous time-consuming manual processes and aids with better informed emergency response and crime solving.
In Emergency Communications, AI can assist with call triage and the identification of non-emergency calls. This can reduce the number of calls that call takers, dispatchers and officers respond to, enabling greater focus and time spent on priority events.
This will continue to evolve as AI agents assist humans by gathering the most relevant information for a case and presenting it in an easily digestible format for investigative review. This will allow investigators to access critical information more quickly, leading to faster crime-solving. The potential is vast—it’s an exciting time in public safety technology.
While AI offers efficiency and crime reduction benefits, it also raises concerns around privacy, bias, and decision-making transparency. How can public safety agencies ensure responsible AI implementation while maintaining public trust?
It is important that public safety agencies adopt AI responsibly and safely. Agencies should establish clear policies so that employees understand what they can and cannot do with AI on their own, as individuals and as employees. They also should know when to include data in AI systems and when not to. For example, sensitive or private data that should not be included must be handled appropriately.
One way to begin implementing AI is with a lower-risk initial plan. Agencies can use AI to gather factual data and summarize reports using existing text, cases or CAD events, enabling officers to access information faster, distill and digest it, and ultimately respond more efficiently. Humans should always be involved in decision-making so that AI is at most suggesting rather than making critical decisions.
In addition, public AI tools like ChatGPT should not be used for law enforcement data due to security and privacy risks. Agencies need purpose-built AI solutions from trusted partners to ensure compliance, data protection, and full control over sensitive information.
With 65% of law enforcement believing AI can improve productivity, what are some real-world examples of how AI is enhancing operational efficiency, response times, and resource allocation for first responders?
In addition to the examples mentioned above, in case investigations, AI can help by summarizing key events and facts for investigators who are sorting through a broad and deep amount of information. This can speed up investigations and aid with assigning cases with a clear overview of critical details.
One example of this in action is at the Seattle Police Department, where in partnership with Mark43, they have implemented an advanced machine learning system that rapidly identifies and classifies bias and hate crimes, reducing detection time from 8-10 weeks to just 72 hours. This human-in-the-loop approach integrates with Mark43’s RMS, automating crime identification while ensuring accuracy, enabling faster investigative response, and improving victim outreach. By leveraging intelligent decision support, the initiative enhances crime prevention, builds community trust, and serves as a model for precision policing in other cities.
As AI investment in critical infrastructure accelerates, what should public safety agencies prioritize when adopting AI-driven solutions, and what barriers still need to be overcome?
Public safety agencies should prioritize strong AI policies and training to ensure security and compliance. They should also make sure humans are always in the loop for decision making.
When it comes to AI in public safety, the findings are clear. A recent independent survey of public safety professionals conducted by Propeller Insights, sponsored by Mark43, revealed that a vast majority—89%—of law enforcement believe leveraging AI would help reduce crime, underscoring the technology’s potential to enhance public safety. Additionally, with 88% of officers now trusting their agencies to use AI responsibly—a 29% increase from last year—it’s evident that confidence in AI-driven solutions is growing. AI has also proven to be a force multiplier for first responders, with 70% of surveyed respondents stating it has helped them be more efficient in their roles. Confidence in AI-driven solutions is growing, reinforcing the need for strong policies, transparency, and continued investment.
Original Story: https://www.enterprisesecuritytech.com/post/how-ai-is-transforming-law-enforcement-insights-from-mark43-s-wendy-gilbert
