The Antwerp Federal Judicial Police is asking for greater legal leeway to allow it to increase its use of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the fight against fraudsters and drug gangs. Criminal organisations are investing millions of euro in AI to, for example, enable them to defraud more people mor quickly or to detect weak links in security at our ports.
The Head of the Antwerp Federal Judicial Police Service Yve Driesen told a recent edition of VRT News’ legal affairs podcast ‘Het uur van de waarheid’ (The Hour of Truth) that “We have the technology to do this, but procedure and the permission required slows things down”.
Millions in criminal proceeds
"The major crime cartels are always early adopters and invest millions in technology and AI. This helps in drug trafficking activities and to defraud people. They use AI systems that don’t try and hide their criminal intent, such as Fraud GPT or Worm GPT. You can ask these systems to map out the logistics of ports, develop phishing apps, provide tips on making explosives, and so on,” Yve Driesen told VRT News.
Criminals also use technological innovation to set up financial constructions to protect their ill-gotten gains. Through blockchain processes and digital currencies, such as crypto, a smokescreen is created to confuse those investigating them.
Yve Driesen “We in the police service also make extensive use of technology in our investigations. We use AI to model different scenarios in order to predict the potential impact of a police operation. At the Antwerp Police Headquarters, we have also developed AI-powered image analysis systems capable of recognising weapons, faces, suspicious behaviour and messages”.
“We developed and trained the system ourselves. Data is important because, for example, the language used in the criminal underworld is completely different from everyday language. For example, when they say that someone ‘has to go to sleep’, it means that the person in question will be eliminated. Our system has been trained to recognise this”
However, Yve Driesen wants to take use of AI to the next level. For example, by using an AI assistant that listens in during while a suspect is being questioned. “This could alert detectives in real time if a suspect’s statement contradicts what’s in the case file. This would also allow a report to be drawn up quickly, saving a huge amount of time”.
For the time being at least is just something on a wish list, because what might be possible from technical point of view is not necessarily permitted in practice.
“We at the police service major restrictions that criminals do not face. Any AI systems we develop have to be secure, closed systems. You cannot simply share sensitive case files, personal data or investigations with ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini. This data must not end up on American servers without proper safeguards. Naturally, we have robust security measures in place.”
We can no longer do without AI
Yve Driessen went on to say that “Add to this the vast amount of data from phones, laptops, etc, that we that we have to process in case files, especially in counter-terrorism cases, and you see that detectives can no longer do their work effectively without using technology and AI. Although I would like to emphasise that humans remain the guiding and central force in any investigation. Technology is there to support them”.
The head of the Antwerp Federal Judicial Police told VRT News that he dreams of a secure Police GPT system that would be developped by Europol would develop with the support of the police services here in Belgium. However, in the meantime, the reality is that the police are unable to adopt new technical innovations as quickly as the criminal underworld can.
“This is really noticeable in terrorism cases, where we. need to act and quickly. This is technically possible, but the procedures and authorisations required to be able to do so take a long time. We call for a broader legal framework, because the grey area is currently too large”.
Data from smartphones
A number of successful pilot projects are underway at European level.
“Together with Europol, we are trying to track down intermediaries for drug gangs using data. To do this, we use the data and information we extract from the mobile phones of couriers that have been arrested. We collate the data and have it analysed using AI”.
"It is crucial for us to track down these intermediaries. They supply weapons and money, and issue orders. Often we only catch the small fry who throw a small bomb, but they are easily replaceable. By targeting these intermediaries, we aim to dismantle their system."