The first thing both pointed out was that Assess cannot replace a human being. No matter what report Assess generates, it cannot be considered actionable information until it’s been reviewed and verified by a person.
The second thing noted was the old adage, “Junk in, junk out.” While normally applied to computer programming, it applies to Assess and its ability to use AI to perform a crime analysis, generating a report on the findings. However, Assess is only as good as the information provided. The good news is that you can upload any digital document into Assess for a given case (or set of related cases), and the further good news is that if you’ve forgotten something or missed a piece, Assess can be fed agency policies and procedures and use that data to tell you if you missed something. This functionality serves to ensure that everything that should be included in fact has been included.
It was pointed out that Assess doesn’t have access to agency RMS systems, crime databases, etc. It works only from the documents you feed into it and the data available in those documents. That said, nothing stops the Assess user from uploading criminal histories or other related information for suspects or people of interest so that Assess has the information such as dates, times, locations, habits, known associates, etc. for analysis.
For the test case we evaluated, Assess was fed over 2,000 documents. It analyzed all of the information available from all of those documents and provided a summary that would be of great value to a new detective handed the case. Assess also analyzes the data and reports on any discrepancies found, which would be an actionable item for the assigned investigator. What created the discrepancy and what needs to be done to correct it? Assess also identifies any gaps in the data and provides a list of target goals for the investigator to close the gap by finding and providing the requisite information.
