Durham Police to use artificial intelligence to aid custody decisions

Police in Durham are set to begin using a new artificial intelligence tool to help officers decide whether a suspect should be kept in custody. The Harm Assessment Risk Tool (Hart) has been trained with data from five years of offending histories, and uses the information to classify suspects as low, medium or high risk of offending if released. It was first tested in 2013, and its classification of suspects as low risk was accurate 98% of the time. Those classed as high risk was correct 88% of the time. Durham Constabulary's head of criminal justice, Sheena Urwin, told the BBC: "I imagine in the next two to three months we'll probably make it a live tool to support officers' decision making."