While not a silver bullet and incapable of replacing human intelligence, USM's P Sundramoorthy says AI could boost policing outcomes.
P Sundramoorthy of Universiti Sains Malaysia pointed out that criminal syndicates are no longer bound by physical borders or dependent on traditional communication channels and conventional deception.
He said they now use digital platforms, encrypted communications and technology such as deepfakes, aided by increased accessibility to AI.
“For the police force, this presents both a serious challenge and a major opportunity. Criminals can exploit technology faster than traditional policing systems can adapt.
“At the same time, AI can give the police unprecedented capacity to detect patterns, connect information, anticipate threats, investigate complex cases and deploy resources more intelligently,” he told FMT.
Sundramoorthy urged the cops to move towards AI-assisted yet intelligence-led policing, proposing the establishment of a national AI command centre within the force.
He said this should serve as an operational centre that integrates AI-assisted crime intelligence, crime mapping, cybercrime monitoring and organised-crime network analysis to offer real-time support in operational decisions.
This AI-powered platform, he argued, could pool and link information across various departments to identify crime patterns, geographical concentrations and possible ties between apparently unrelated cases.
“The police already possess enormous amounts of information through police reports, investigation files, intelligence databases, CCTV systems, traffic information, financial-crime investigations and other sources.
“The fundamental challenge is converting this volume of information into actionable intelligence. AI can help do precisely that.
“The objective should be to move Malaysian policing further from a predominantly reactive model towards preventive policing based on evidence and intelligence.”
Last week, Bukit Aman commercial crime investigation department director Rusdi Isa said Malaysians lost about RM2.97 billion to online scams in 2025.
In the first five months of this year alone, the losses stood at RM830 million.
Last month, Inspector-General of Police Khalid Ismail urged the force to embrace AI and digitalisation to boost service delivery.
AI a tool, not a silver bullet
Sundramoorthy said AI could also transform criminal investigations, pointing to the amount of data and evidence investigators have to go through to nail criminals.
“AI can assist in sorting, categorising and correlating this information, allowing investigators to spend more time on fundamentally human aspects of policing: interviewing witnesses, assessing credibility, establishing intent, corroborating evidence and building cases.”
He stressed that AI must assist, not substitute, police judgement. It cannot replace policing experience, investigative skills, community cooperation and human judgment, he added.
However, it can give officers an essential boost to understand a plethora of information quickly and turn that information into actionable intelligence.
“Malaysia should not wait until criminals become more technologically sophisticated than the institutions responsible for combating them. The objective should be human-centred policing strengthened by AI, not machine-controlled policing.
“The police force of the future will be one capable of turning information into intelligence, intelligence into prevention, prevention into public safety.”
Sundramoorthy also said officers should be trained in AI use for policing, while the force should develop a protocol for AI-generated information to ensure it serves as leads, not directly as evidence. - FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.