UK police force recruits ‘smart’ virtual assistant – Amazon Alexa joins the fight against crime

Every imagined yourself receiving a daily security briefing? You don’t have to be sitting in the White House to receive yours as UK Police explore Alexa’s potential..

Police could use Alexa to provide daily updates to the public, and even to log reports of crime. Amazon’s smart voice assistant Alexa could soon help police in the UK fight crime, thanks to a new initiative by Lancashire Constabulary. The police force is reportedly experimenting with using Alexa to provide daily updates to the public, allowing residents to ask the smart assistant what is happening in their street or area, and even to log reports of crime. Rob Flanagan, project lead for the force’s “innovation hub”, told the College of Policing conference that police will begin issuing daily local news briefings to Amazon Echo owners through a dedicated app. They will also circulate photographs of missing people, useful telephone numbers and other information to residents’ smartphones through the device, the Daily Mail reports. “If we can reduce demand into our call centres via the use of voice recognition or voice enabled technology and actually give the community the information they need without them needing to ring in to police, then that’s massive,” he said. Alexa, which first launched on the Amazon Echo speaker in 2016, can perform tasks such as ordering groceries, answering trivia questions, giving weather reports and… Amazon Alexa joins the fight against crime as UK police force recruits ‘smart’ virtual assistant

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