A police officer in England is under criminal investigation over allegations that they used artificial intelligence to create evidence. The officer serves with Derbyshire Police and the inquiry centres on an allegation of perverting the course of justice, one of the most serious accusations that can be levelled at a serving member of the force. Officials say they are now reviewing court cases that may have been affected by the alleged conduct.
The officer has been taken off frontline duties while the investigation is carried out. At this stage no arrests have been made, and the force has stressed that the inquiry remains in its early stages. The decision to remove the individual from frontline policing is a precautionary step pending the outcome of the investigation rather than a conclusion about what took place.
It is not yet clear exactly what kind of evidence is involved. Evidence in a criminal case can cover a very broad range of material, from fingerprints and emails to witness statements and video footage. Investigators have not specified which of these categories the alleged AI-generated material falls into, leaving open the question of how the suspected fabrication may have entered the case files.
Derbyshire Police are working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service on the matter. The CPS, in turn, is engaging with defence teams and with the courts to establish which cases may have been compromised. That cooperation is intended to map the full reach of the problem and to determine whether any prosecutions relied on material that should not have been trusted.
The potential consequences are significant because of how the justice system is built. When police investigate a crime, they assemble a file of evidence that is handed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which then decides whether charges can be brought against an individual. If such a file were found to contain material created by artificial intelligence, it could undermine convictions and call into question the integrity of the cases concerned.
In its statement, Derbyshire Police confirmed that a criminal investigation has been launched into an allegation of perverting the course of justice following the alleged use of AI systems by an officer to create what it described as evidential material in a number of cases. The force repeated that the investigation is at an early stage and that the officer has been removed from frontline duties while it proceeds.
The case has emerged in the same week that a new national centre focused on artificial intelligence in policing was launched, known as Police AI. At that launch it was made clear that technology is advancing rapidly and that criminals are already exploiting it, meaning police must keep pace. The central message was that AI should be used responsibly, and the allegations now under investigation point to concerns that this principle may not have been followed.