How VicPD is using its "internal AI tool"

In April, I wrote about VicPD’s “internal AI tool.” I said it might be a problem if VicPD is inputting personal information, asking about police work, or asking it to interpret the law. New FOI records suggest they’re doing all of that.

The records in this post are from an FOI for the last five inquiries and replies to VicPD’s “internal AI tool” from VicPD’s Information Risk Management director, a media relations officer, and officers working as school liaison officers, with VicPD’s Co-Response Team, and with the Mobile Youth Services Team (MYST).

Here someone with VicPD seemingly prods the large language model (LLM) for legal advice. VicPD redacted the question, saying disclosure would “harm a law enforcement matter.” They prompted it with questions redacted for the same reason three times in a row. The LLM gave five pages of answers, redacted as policy advice.

In another exchange, someone asked five policing questions, and the LLM provided nine pages of policy advice. The fact that VicPD is asking an LLM questions about law enforcement means there could be real consequences for people if officers act based on what the computer program tells them to think.

VicPD used excessive redaction in its FOI response, but those redactions still hint at how officers are using the LLM. In 59 pages, there were 22 redactions as something that would “harm a law enforcement matter,” 135 for policy advice, and 92 for personal information, which is a lot of personal information. The redactions are often entire pages.

You can’t tell what personal information VicPD is feeding its LLM, but this prompt for a draft letter was redacted as personal information. In a follow-up, the VicPD member said they “want it to be abundantly clear that there is NO pressure and that he can absolutely refuse, or if she doesn’t feel it’s appropriate she doesn’t even have to present it to him.” Okay then.

For policy work, here an officer asked for a “structure” for slides to present to police recruits about VicPD’s Co-Response Team, school liaison officers, MYST, etc. The LLM churned out four pages, seemingly more than a “structure.” The officer wanted more, and they fed it some information about Community Resource Officers.

The LLM had a hard time with the request, but told the officer that no, it can’t have a stroke. I’m including this one because you can see the sycophantic LLM nonsense on display here, which would also be present in the redacted responses about policing, with the potential for harmful feedback loops.

The VicPD officer carried on, asking the LLM to come up with language about police outreach and “Peelian principles” about ‘ethical policing.’ Sure, why not leave that to a computer program? To be clear, there is no such thing as ethical policing.

VicPD are also using it to draft emails. Here the LLM talks about an option that “emphasizes the broader community impact.” Letting software decide what “community impact” means doesn’t sound like a public good to me. The LLM’s response is redacted as advice and personal information.

VicPD also asked the LLM to proofread a “Nijmegen Contingent Request” and add a conclusion. It’s likely related to a request to send VicPD officers to the “Nijmegen Marches” in the Netherlands. An expensive trip, with a VicPD employee ceding the conclusion of why it’s needed ceded to an LLM, to influence decision makers.

VicPD is also getting it to proofread things for ‘neutrality’ and typos. In the second example here, an officer asked the LLM to proofread two sentences. Which did include a typo. And they’re using it to review things like this social media post from April 15th.

In my April post, I wrote about the potential that VicPD’s LLM use would limit accountability. VicPD’s new FOI response says it’s up to staff whether or not they save their LLM logs, which are only ever accessible to those individuals. So even if an officer uses VicPD’s internal LLM for advice, there may be no record anywhere.

VicPD told officers they can use its LLM to write, research, and ask questions about VicPD policies and potentially the Criminal Code. There are huge risks with police using LLMs, and we now know that VicPD is using them to ask for information on policing, input personal information, offload work, and seek policy advice. While police use of LLMs should be restricted, instead VicPD is allowing staff and officers to use it in secret, with no oversight.

FOI records

You can download the FOI records here.