British police forces are preparing to pilot sweeping Artificial Intelligence programs designed to predict and target potential criminals before any offence occurs, a move critics say feels ripped straight out of the dystopian thriller The Minority Report. The initiative, backed by national policing leadership and government officials, is part of a broader push to harness AI for law enforcement, including both automation of routine tasks and real-time predictive analytics.
Sir Andy Marsh, head of the College of Policing—the body that sets national UK policing standards—confirmed that around 100 AI projects are currently being trialed across police forces. While some efforts aim to reduce manpower hours spent on administrative work like paperwork, others focus explicitly on “predictive analytics” to forecast where crimes are likely to occur and who might commit them. One government-funded project includes a £4 million (about $5.4 million) AI-driven interactive map of Britain, which could by 2030 forecast crimes before they happen and alert police to emerging threats.
According to reports, these tools might be used to anticipate street violence, spot early signs of anti-social behavior, and even identify individuals deemed likely to pose a threat to women and girls. Marsh defended the approach by pointing to criminal data showing repeat offenders and patterns of predatory behavior, but civil liberties advocates warn the predictive systems risk targeting people based on flawed algorithms rather than actual conduct.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has also championed AI and surveillance technologies, including nationwide expansion of live facial recognition cameras. In remarks to the Tony Blair Institute, Mahmood said her vision was akin to Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon—a theoretical prison design in which surveillance is constant and omnipresent. She said AI and technology could allow “the eyes of the state… to be on you at all times,” framing this as a tool to get ahead of criminals. Critics argue this is surveillance state rhetoric rather than public safety policy.
The push toward AI policing comes on the heels of a high-profile policing embarrassment. West Midlands Police Chief Craig Guildford resigned after it was revealed that a decision to ban Israeli football fans from a match was based partly on false information generated by Microsoft’s Copilot AI chatbot. Police initially cited Google search errors before acknowledging reliance on the AI tool, which had “hallucinated” a violent incident that never took place.
Opposition has been vocal. Conservative MP David Davis warned lawmakers that while The Minority Report is dystopian sci-fi, UK police leadership appears to be embracing the dystopia. He questioned how an individual could clear their name if an AI flags them as a future threat, and warned that predictive policing could entrench bias, create a “postcode lottery of justice,” and erode trust in law enforcement systems. Davis urged a return to traditional policing priorities—like neighborhood presence and tackling everyday crimes—rather than speculative AI forecasting methods.
As the pilot schemes roll out, the debate over AI in policing reflects wider concerns about technology, civil liberties, and whether predictive systems should ever be trusted to influence real-world criminal justice outcomes.
