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No Man’s Hand: Artificial Intelligence Does Not Improve Police Report Writing Speed

January 2024 CrimRxiv

Ian T. Adams , Matt Barter , Kyle McLean , Hunter M. Boehme , Irick A. Geary

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Abstract

Objectives: This study examines the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to reduce the time police officers spend writing reports, a task that consumes a significant portion of their workday.Methods: In a pre-registered randomized controlled trial, we test this claim within the patrol division of a medium-sized police department (n=85), at the individual report level (n=755). Analyses utilize mixed-effects regression accounting for the nested structure of report-writing.Results: AI assistance did not significantly affect the duration of writing police reports. Alternative specifications beyond those specified in the pre-registration, including a difference-in-differences approach observing report duration over a full year (n=6,084), confirms the null findings are robust.Conclusions: Our findings contradict marketing expectations for the effect of this technology, suggesting no time-savings in report-writing can be expected when using AI-assisted report-writing. Several other potential effects remain possible and untested.

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Citation Information

Citations: 12 (as of June 2026)

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APA

Ian T. Adams, Matt Barter, Kyle McLean, Hunter M. Boehme, Irick A. Geary (2024). No Man’s Hand: Artificial Intelligence Does Not Improve Police Report Writing Speed. CrimRxiv. https://doi.org/10.21428/cb6ab371.4a6d42e9

BibTeX 
@article{adams2024,
  title   = {No Man’s Hand: Artificial Intelligence Does Not Improve Police Report Writing Speed},
  author  = {Ian T. Adams and Matt Barter and Kyle McLean and Hunter M. Boehme and Irick A. Geary},
  journal = {CrimRxiv},
  year    = {2024},
  doi     = {10.21428/cb6ab371.4a6d42e9},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.21428/cb6ab371.4a6d42e9}
}

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