What happened
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services inspected Bedfordshire Police in its 2023-25 PEEL round and published the report on 29 January 2025. The inspectors wrote that the force's relationship with Amazon Web Services is leading to improvements in efficiency and lets personnel complete administrative tasks quicker. Among the projects they listed, they found that the development of automatic redaction technology improves the time taken to prepare files for court. The report names no product and gives no figure. Police Professional reported on 4 January 2024 that the force's redaction product is Riven DocDefender, built with officers through the Amazon Web Services partnership and deployed in June 2023. The product uses algorithms and text recognition, reached 92 percent accuracy in its pilot and redacts personal data before material goes to the Crown Prosecution Service. The force estimated that it would save more than 9,500 officer and staff hours a year once embedded. The inspectors did not describe the technology or compare times with and without it, and the hours figure is the force's estimate.
Sources
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Audit report, by authors with no tie to the system.
His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. PEEL 2023-25: An inspection of Bedfordshire Police. 29 January 2025. Original address: https://hmicfrs.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/peel-reports/bedfordshire-2023-25/ (Wayback copy cited).
Notable projects include the development of automatic redaction technology, which significantly improves the time taken to prepare files for court.
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News report, by authors with no tie to the system.
Jacques, Paul. AI saving thousands of hours of officers' time. Police Professional, 4 January 2024.
Bedfordshire Police is using artificial intelligence to auto-redact documents, helping to help save thousands of hours of officers' time.
It is estimated that once embedded it will save more than 9,500 officer and staff hours a year.
Details
AI system
- Workflow
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The product was built with the help of officers and deployed in June 2023 through the force's partnership with Amazon Web Services. Officers used it to redact personal data from phone downloads, long documents and spreadsheets before sending them to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Officers must check the output, since the product reached 92 percent accuracy in its pilot. The product must be embedded in file preparation to reach the estimated hours saved.
Entry details
- Sector
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Policing.
- Purpose
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Riven built DocDefender with Amazon Web Services to redact personal data from documents before they go to the Crown Prosecution Service, so that officers spend less time on redaction.
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Cite this benefit
Peter H. Vartanian. (2026). Automatic redaction speeds Bedfordshire Police court files (AIBD-1183). Artificial Intelligence Benefits Database, edition of 2 November 2026. https://petervartanian.xyz/aibd/records/AIBD-1183.html (archived at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/AADSII, version 9.0)