The Machine Behind the Badge.

With the extensive amount of overwhelming digital evidence involved in major crimes, artificial intelligence is quickly changing how homicides are investigated. Tasks such as reviewing phone records or video footage that once took weeks now take hours. Many in law enforcement describe these methods as “force-multiplying tools,” according to Police1. This allows smaller teams to handle workloads that would have required an entire unit, giving detectives more time to focus on the human side of their work (Police1, 2025).

That being said, publications such as Wired have reported on the controversy surrounding AI’s place in criminal prosecution. For instance, a forensic tool called Cybercheck, which claims to place a suspect’s phone at a crime scene with over 90 percent accuracy, is facing criticism due to the vague algorithms used to analyze evidence. This raises concerns about the validity of due process in homicide trials (Wired, 2025).

Similarly, The Record remarks on how police are now using AI to parse vast amounts of data from digital evidence. One sheriff noted that “it’s not unusual to find a cell phone that has a terabyte of data,” which would be nearly impossible for someone to manually review. This allows law enforcement agencies to build cases more efficiently, though the greatest concern remains the reduction in human oversight and how essential it is to ensure accuracy and integrity in criminal proceedings (The Record, 2025).

AI is rewriting the playbook for homicide investigations, cracking cases faster than ever, but it is also daring the justice system to decide how much we are willing to trust the system itself.