Hyderabad police aim to break language barriers with AI

Inside a police station, language and clear communication can change the course of a case. A victim trying to explain a domestic dispute in Bengali to a Telugu-speaking officer, a migrant worker narrating an assault in Hindi, or a witness struggling to describe an incident in Tamil can all lead to confusion, delays and, sometimes, crucial details getting lost in translation. The Hyderabad City Police are now attempting to solve that problem with artificial intelligence, launching an AI-powered multilingual complaint recording system that they say could fundamentally change how police interact with the public. On Friday (May 22), the city police launched ‘AI-CopWriter’, an AI-powered mobile application designed to record, transcribe and translate complaints in 10 Indian languages in real time. Hyderabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar described it as India’s first multilingual AI complaint recorder integrated into police functioning at the station level.

DCP of Social Media and IT (SM&IT) of Hyderabad police Ch. Rupesh said Hyderabad’s cosmopolitan nature made such a system necessary to bridge the communication gap between citizens and police officers. According to him, a complainant being unable to clearly explain what happened can directly affect how a case is registered and what legal sections are invoked. “If you cannot properly convey your problems, even a doctor may not diagnose you correctly,” he said. Officials said a citizen can now narrate a complaint in their native language while the application automatically converts speech into text and translates it into an FIR-ready document within seconds. The system can identify multiple speakers, auto-detect languages and update the transcript live every five seconds. The final document is generated as a PDF containing details such as FIR number, complainant and accused names, recording officer’s identity, police station details and applicable legal sections.

The police said the records would also include tamper-evident metadata to ensure transparency and accountability. DCP Rupesh said the technology could also change how witness statements are recorded during investigations. “Witness statements are supposed to be verbatim. But many times, when they are written manually, they get converted into formal documented language. In that process, some details can get filtered or altered,” he said. The new system, he said, preserves exactly what the witness states in their own words. Officials added that the recorded audio would also be played back to witnesses later, helping them recollect what they had originally stated and reducing the possibility of witnesses turning hostile during trial. The application currently uses ‘Bhashini’, a government-backed AI language platform, along with additional editing and correction options developed by the police and technical teams.

Police officials believe the application could improve operational efficiency, standardise record-keeping across more than 80 police stations and reduce dependence on human interpreters. The records generated through the application would also be digitally archived and audit-ready. “Language should never stand between a citizen and justice. With AI-CopWriter, it no longer will,” Commissioner Sajjanar said during the launch. The application was developed by Bluecloud Softech Solutions along with the IT Cell of Hyderabad City Police.