AI Tool Promises to Solve Decades-Old Cold Cases in Record Time

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Some of the country's most notorious cold cases could soon be solved with the assistance of an artificial intelligence tool capable of performing 81 years' worth of detective work in just 30 hours.

Avon and Somerset Police are trialling the technology, which can identify potential leads that may have been overlooked during manual reviews of evidence.

The Soze tool, developed in Australia, is designed to process vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently. It can analyze complex evidential material in a fraction of the time it would take human detectives, potentially breathing new life into unsolved cases.

An evaluation demonstrated that the tool was able to review evidence in 27 complex cases within 30 hours—a task estimated to take up to 81 years for humans.

This technology could be instrumental in closing some of the country's oldest and most challenging unsolved cases. A spokesperson for Avon and Somerset Police commented:

"You might have a cold case review that just looks impossible because of the amount of material there, and feed it into a system like this which can just ingest it, then give you an assessment of it. I can see that being really, really helpful."

The initiative comes after reports that fewer police officers from the UK's largest force are working on unsolved murder cases. Last week, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described his force as "dangerously stretched."

The Soze tool is among dozens of groundbreaking programs that could soon be implemented across the UK. These include an AI tool to build a national database of knives—potentially pressuring retailers—and a system that allows call handlers to focus more on speaking with domestic abuse victims.

Chief Constable Stephen Watson noted:

"If all of those 64 examples were adopted all across England and Wales and had similar gains to those of the forces using them, we'd get something like 15 million hours of productivity back to spend on things like investigations or responding to emergencies, which equates to more than £350 million in costs."

It is emphasized that AI and other technologies, such as facial recognition and robotic automation, are "not a replacement" for police officers, with human involvement crucial in final decisions.

Police chiefs also acknowledge that the pace of AI implementation must align with public comfort levels. As Mr. Stephens stated:

"This isn't handing over our responsibilities to technology but about technology helping us to do better."

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