Public perceptions of police use of artificial intelligence to assist in generating police reports: findings from an experimental study

In the context of policing, artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLM) tools are being touted for their ability to reduce the amount of time officers spend writing reports while simultaneously improving their accuracy and completeness. Concerns have been raised, however, about bias, privacy, legality, inaccuracies, transparency, and the overall impact of the use of AI when generating police reports on legal proceedings and police legitimacy. Despite continued advancements in the technology and use of these tools, it is unclear whether the public supports the use of AI to generate police reports. This study examined (1) public support for the police use of AI to generate reports, (2) how public perception changed depending on the information police agencies share about those technologies and how they are used, and (3) whether trust in police or race and ethnicity moderated these relationships using a survey experimental design involving a non-probability sample of U.S. residents. We found low to moderate support for the use of AI, with the greatest amount of support when respondents were informed of their usefulness and the steps police agencies are taking to ensure their accuracy.