Police reveal plans to use Amazon Echo to fight crime and slash number of 999 calls

Crime fighting: Police want to use Amazon Echo technology to help fight crime
Amazon
Fiona Simpson2 January 2018
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Victims of crime could soon use Amazon Echo technology to report incidents without calling the police.

Police want to use voice-controlled Alexa devices to reduce pressure on call centres and even provide daily crime updates to members of the public.

Lancashire Police look set to be the first force in the country to use the technology to tell people about incidents in their area.

Members of the public will also be given information about missing people, the whereabouts of police helicopters and and the number of officers on patrol, the Sun reported.

It is also hoped residents will be able to use their devices to report crime by the end of the year.

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Rob Flanagan, from Lancashire Police, came up with the idea after using the technology to read nursery rhymes to his daughter.

He told the Sun: "If we can reduce demand to our call centres via use of voice recognition technology and give the community the information they need without them needing to ring us, that's massive.

"I'd like to use this for crime reporting. We'll definitely be there by the end of 2018."

Millions of people use Amazon’s digital voice assistant Alexa to check their schedule, hear the day’s weather and even order a takeaway.

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