A Strategic Plan to Improve Police Response and Decision-Making during Major Incidents
Nikolaos Tzenios
Abstract
Improving situational awareness among police officers responding to major incidents implies enhanced effectiveness and reduced injuries and deaths. The strategic plan outlines the mission and vision of the program with a focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) applied to U.S. police agencies. The rationale for the program relates to the challenges associated with the effectiveness of police response in situations when decisions must be made quickly. The absence of situational analysis is one of the factors contributing to poor response and adverse effects on the civilian population. The new organization managed by the government will be responsible for improving situational awareness and require integrating diverse technologies. Headquartered in New York City, the organization will collaborate with field trainers to help police officers gain the skills needed to operate and read AI-powered devices. The ultimate objective is to ensure that all police departments across the country use AI-enabled systems for situational analysis. The pilot study will be conducted on 1000 randomly selected police departments to test the program's effectiveness. The program's implementation will require a workforce of 2000 persons and the IT infrastructure. The budget estimated for the program will be distributed among organization establishment, equipment acquisition, personnel hiring and compensation, pilot study running, data collection and evaluation, and extended implementation across the country. The program’s effectiveness will be measured by evaluating the impact of AI-enabled situational awareness systems on violent crimes. It is expected that the implementation of the system will lead to extensive improvement in the decision-making speed and type of decisions made by police officers during major incidents. The potential challenges accompanying program implementation may include infrastructural barriers, lack of a police workforce in rural areas, and political opposition.