“AI” and “artificial intelligence” are in the title of 11 sessions listed in the 2024 IACP conference agenda, which is almost double the number of sessions from the 2023 IACP expo. Variations on AI and artificial intelligence are also regularly mentioned in IACP exhibit hall product announcements.
The AI-laden agenda reflects how AI is upending every profession and sector of the economy and law enforcement is no exception. AI might not replace police chiefs, but aspiring chiefs will soon be expected to have familiarity with AI, experience using large language models and to articulate their police department’s artificial intelligence policies.
Is your agency using or offering AI tools?
Earlier this year, Police1’s What Cops Want 2024 survey asked, “Is your agency using or offering AI tools (e.g, Google Bard/Gemini, Microsoft Bing/Copilot or ChatGPT)?” Of the 2,833 respondents, less than 7% (181 respondents) indicated they are using AI tools frequently or occasionally. Most respondents selected never adopted (69%) or don’t know (22%).
Of the respondents who are using AI tools, most of them are making infrequent use of AI tools for personnel management, operations analysis, incident documentation, creating training and investigation.
Given the rapid growth of AI capabilities and it being increasingly built into the software law enforcement agencies are already using, it’s important to gain knowledge and experience with AI tools.
AI prompts for IACP
A great way to get familiar with ChatGPT’s, Bing’s or Gemini’s capabilities is to experiment with different prompts. Here are nine prompts to try before, during or after the IACP conference in Boston.
Before IACP ChatGPT prompts
- Recommend stops for a law enforcement-themed walking tour of downtown Boston. I want to visit significant historic and cultural sites that have a connection to policing.
- Hundreds of law enforcement product vendors will be exhibiting at the 2024 International Association of Chiefs of Police conference. What are three questions I can ask exhibitors to quickly learn about their product and if the product is useful and affordable for our department?
- I will be spending long hours attending IACP conference education sessions, learning about products in the IACP exhibit hall and attending professional networking events. Give me some tips to maximize my working time, but also make sure I stay healthy and energized throughout IACP 2024.
During IACP ChatGPT prompts
Using your laptop or smartphone, here are some potential prompts to try during the IACP police leadership conference.
- A speaker just described a research project on police officer recruitment. Act as an expert research assistant to review previous research conducted on police recruitment and summarize the most promising findings on improving police recruiting.
- A book was just mentioned in an IACP conference session. Summarize the themes and top takeaways of the book [insert book title] in 100 words or less.
- I am watching a product demonstration of how artificial intelligence and machine learning are integrated into a new video analysis software package. What are the pros and cons of AI being used by law enforcement to review and analyze video recordings?
After IACP ChatGPT prompts
Continue to use ChatGPT prompts after the IACP conference. Here are some to try.
- These are notes I took in the sessions I attended at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference. Do these things. 1. Analyze my notes. 2. Identify top themes from my notes. 3. Recommend three actions I can take based on what I learned at the IACP conference to improve my leadership skills and improve the leadership skills of the personnel in my department.
- Act as an expert public information officer to help me write a press release about my attendance at the IACP conference. Ask me a series of questions, one question at a time, about IACP and my attendance at this police leadership event to draft a press release I can distribute to local media.
- Help me brainstorm a topic I can apply to present at IACP 2025 that I have the knowledge and experience to speak authoritatively and will be of interest to other law enforcement leaders.
ChatGPT success tips
After frequently chatting with OpenAI’s large language model for more than a year, I have three success tips for new users.
- Translating intent into a prompt is never perfect. Regardless of the medium, face-to-face discussion, phone or radio call, email or text message or chatting with a virtual assistant, there is a gap between my intent, the actual instructions I deliver, the interpretation of those instructions and the execution of those instructions. I shouldn’t be surprised that generative AI isn’t perfect and often need to fine tune my prompt or give additional instructions.
- Warily trust and always verify. ChatGPT is still prone to hallucinations and partially following instructions, especially when asked to review and synthesize objective information. If you are asking ChatGPT for a list of facts, such as important dates in law enforcement history, make sure to fact check the response.
- Practice and experiment regularly. The more I use ChatGPT, the more comfortable I get imagining use cases, writing prompts, and interacting in a conversational back and forth. When you try one of the suggested prompts, review the results and then give follow-up instructions or ask follow-up questions, like make this response longer, format this response into bullet points for inclusion in a presentation, or recommend similar books on this topic.
As a law enforcement leader, how are you using ChatGPT or another large language model? Email us your use cases and questions.
