AI ‘will not solve core challenges of policing’, gardaí to tell committee

Angela Willis: 'An Garda Síochána is transitioning from a traditional style of police service to being a data-led, digitally enabled organisation.' File picture: Gareth Chaney

Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence “will not solve the core challenges of policing”, but will nevertheless be required to ensure An Garda Síochána remains modern and effective, an Oireachtas committee will be told on Tuesday.

The AI committee is set to hear from gardaí and their supervising body, the Policing and Community Safety Authority, on Tuesday to discuss the manner in which next-generation technologies are to be adopted by law enforcement.

Assistant Garda commissioner Angela Willis, who oversees the organised and serious crime bureaus, will tell the committee that the environment in which the force operates is being “fundamentally altered” by rapid changes via developing technologies such as AI.

“An Garda Síochána is transitioning from a traditional style of police service to being a data-led, digitally enabled organisation,” she will tell the committee. 

“We are no longer just policing physical streets; we are policing a digital landscape where crime moves at the speed of a fibre-optic cable.”

Ms Willis will tells TDs and senators that AI, as well as changing how policing functions, is also “changing how crime is committed, how evidence is generated, how victims are targeted, and how disinformation and harmful content can be created and circulated”.

Much of technological crime is related to fraud, with the prevalence of such offences jumping by 137% in 2025, according to the latest crime statistics released by gardaí last week. 

They were driven by a jump in online fraud activity and scams.

Deception offences were up 273%, online auction fraud rose 183%, and money-laundering offences increased by 164%.

Effective policing

Ms Willis will tell the committee that, following the passage of new legislation by the Oireachtas, facial‑recognition technology will be formally used by gardaí to automate “the onerous task of reviewing hundreds of hours of CCTV footage or thousands of images of online child sexual exploitation material”.

The use of such technology has been repeatedly called for by gardaí since the Dublin riots of November 2023 which saw a team of officers charged with parsing thousands of hours of camera footage in seeking to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Ms Willis will say that using technology to process abuse material “will also support the health and wellbeing of our members by minimising their exposure to harmful online content”. 

The use of any emerging technologies by gardaí will be subject to a new code of practice, she will state. 

“While AI can provide assistance to policing, decisions on how the information is utilised will always have human input,” the assistant commissioner will tell the committee, noting that AI technology is already “embedded in many police services both within and outside the EU”.

For example, recent tests of facial‑recognition technology at Holyhead ferry port in Wales have involved the compulsory scanning of facial images of thousands of Irish travellers in an effort to identify criminal suspects in real time.

“I want to emphasise, technology will not solve the core challenges of policing,” Ms Willis will tell the committee. 

“Trust, professionalism, community engagement, and accountability remain the foundation of effective policing. Our plans for AI are rooted in these principles.”