Shared Themes on AI’s Role Across Justice and Public Safety Disciplines

On September 9-10, the IJIS Institute AI Summit convened leaders from 9-1-1 centers, law enforcement, corrections, and the courts to explore how AI is reshaping these sectors. Several common lessons emerged:

Procurement & Innovation

Agencies need agile procurement processes that keep pace with AI. Traditional contracts should not become barriers to innovation, and sharing knowledge across organizations is essential to accelerate learning and reduce risk.

Training & Workforce

AI is meant to augment, not replace, human responders. Effective training builds confidence, and tools should integrate smoothly into existing workflows. New roles, including digital AI agents, are emerging as part of the evolving justice and public safety workforce.

Governance & Oversight

Agencies should document and track all AI tools in use. Proactive education of lawmakers is key, and initial deployments should focus on lower-risk internal applications, like secure chatbots trained exclusively on agency data, before expanding to broader use cases.

Applications

AI can enhance GIS to improve situational awareness, guide resource deployment, and visually map case-related evidence. It can also analyze performance data to generate meaningful metrics. AI is widely used externally and may already be influencing internal workflows, so planning should account for both direct and indirect impacts.

Risks & Trust

Deepfakes and undisclosed AI outputs can affect NG9-1-1 records, evidence, and court proceedings. AI decisions must be explainable, and the data behind them must be accurate, unbiased, secure, and protective of privacy and civil liberties. With criminals already leveraging AI, agencies must keep pace.

Bottom Line

AI is not a substitute for human judgment – it’s a force multiplier. When deployed responsibly, it helps public safety and justice professionals work smarter, respond faster, and make more informed decisions.