New Report: American Policing Is Adopting AI Faster Than It Can Govern It, Says National Policing Institute

Roundtable of police chiefs, sheriffs, and command staff - convened with Microsoft - finds 83% of agencies have deployed AI, but 44% have provided no AI training to personnel.

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Policing Institute (NPI) today released The AI Adoption Strategy Gap in Policing: An Unmet Need with Real-World Consequences, a new report finding that artificial intelligence (AI) has already arrived in American law enforcement, but the governance, training, and accountability structures needed to use it responsibly have not kept pace.

The report draws on NPI's April 2026 Executive and Leaders Roundtable in San Francisco, hosted by Microsoft, which brought together chiefs, sheriffs, senior command staff, crime analysts, and technology strategy officers from more than a dozen agencies spanning large urban departments to small-city agencies and regional sheriffs' offices. 

The findings paint a clear picture of a field moving faster than its own guardrails: 

• 83% of participating agencies had formally deployed at least one AI tool, and every agency represented had some form of AI presence.
  
  
• 44% had done no AI-specific training for any personnel, even as officers and deputies use AI on personal devices and accounts, with or without agency approval.
  
  
• 61% had designated a person or committee for AI governance, but the report finds that designation alone does not answer the harder questions: who approves specific use cases, what the audit trail requires, and what happens when an AI output is wrong. 

"What's missing is not prohibition, not regulation against the use of AI, but a responsible framework for how to prepare your agencies to better leverage AI for more efficient and effective public safety," said James Burch, President of the National Policing Institute. "We're talking about how you prepare your governance processes, your accountability processes, your staff, and how you engage the community early and consistently in this process." 

One roundtable participant put the stakes bluntly: "Leadership needs to get on board now because our officers and deputies are using it. They may not be using it per policy. They may not be using it with anybody's approval. But they are using it, and it is going to be sooner or later before it bites us." 

The Case for a National Strategy 

The report argues that law enforcement doesn't lack guidance on what AI can do. Decision frameworks for evaluating specific tools are emerging. What the field lacks is a strategy for building organizational readiness for AI adoption. This includes data infrastructure, governance, workforce literacy, and community trust, which must be in place before any tool is responsibly deployed. 

The brief points to models the field can learn from: Georgia's state-run Innovation Lab, which requires ethics training before any AI solution reaches production; the United Kingdom's newly launched PoliceAI center, a $95 million national investment testing and scaling AI across all 43 police forces in England and Wales; and the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, which built more than a decade of in-house AI capability rather than relying solely on vendors, producing tools like a deputy-built interview transcription system with projected annual costs under $100,000. 

"No American law enforcement agency has – to our knowledge - developed a proven, replicable accountability framework for AI that can serve as a field-wide standard," the report states. "The UK's National Police Chiefs' Council has published a governing covenant with six principles every force must follow: lawful, transparent, explainable, responsible, accountable, and robust. American law enforcement has no equivalent." 

About the Report 

The AI Adoption Strategy Gap in Policing: An Unmet Need with Real-World Consequences is based on a structured listening session conducted under Chatham House rules; no statements are attributed to named individuals or agencies. Over the last few years, NPI has actively engaged with hundreds of law enforcement executives on AI adoption, policy and usage at conferences, meetings and other events to inform research and consulting services. The full report is available at (insert link to landing page). 

About the National Policing Institute 

 For more than 55 years, the National Policing Institute (NPI) has generated proven research that shapes modern policing. As a trusted partner, NPI helps agencies apply data and expertise through our Evidence to Implementation Institute (E2I), advisory services and innovative technology that extends our mission and expands our impact. Learn more at https://www.policinginstitute.org. 

Media Contact: Megan Webster
National Policing Institute
[email protected], 571-562-1605

SOURCE National Policing Institute