That’s according to the soon-to-be-released 2025 Law Enforcement Outlook Survey commissioned by investigative analytics software company Cognyte. The survey conducted by independent global research firm Global Surveyz Research included responses from people actively working in law enforcement organizations from 32 countries.
According to the survey, law enforcement agencies worldwide are struggling to keep pace with the malicious use of deepfakes and other AI-generated content. More than half (55 percent) of respondents identified chatbots as the top tool fueling crime, while about one-third (38 percent) reported deepfake videos and audio as the biggest crime enablers.
Meanwhile, as sources of digital evidence continue to grow, many investigators feel it’s difficult to access and decipher that data effectively. Most respondents (53 percent) said their inability to access relevant data is the top technological pain point causing delays in investigations. Another large portion (46 percent) reported challenges with analyzing it to generate court-admissible insights.
North American law enforcement may also be more interested in open-source intelligence tools; 52 percent said it was one of their top tech investigative tools, compared to the worldwide count of 37 percent. Open-source intelligence tools are being used by these investigators and analysts to find clues in public data sources, social media and the dark web.
Meanwhile, North American law enforcement is less interested in blockchain analytics solutions. Only 28 percent identified it as impactful tech to fight crime, compared to 35 percent of worldwide responses.
“This was surprising given that North American respondents cited cryptocurrencies as one of the top five technologies enabling criminals,” wrote Fabio Gambacorta, Cognyte general manager for North America, in an email. “But the survey results indicate that 49 percent of North American organizations already employ blockchain analytics solutions, so that may be why it’s lower ranking as compared to global counterparts.”
Cognyte has a blockchain analytics software solution called BLINK which de-anonymizes crypto wallets to find the people responsible, even if they’re using illicit crypto exchanges (or non-custodial crypto wallets).
“We’re seeing a clear trend of bad actors shifting away from traditional social media platforms, and even away from dark web marketplaces and forums,” said Gambacorta. “Now, they’re moving over to group messaging apps due to their focus on anonymity, privacy and security.“
Other tech that investigators say are their biggest obstacles include GenAI chatbots (46 percent) and satellite phones and satellite Internet (46 percent).
AGENCY SIZE MAKES A DIFFERENCE
One theme in survey responses from across the globe was that the bigger the law enforcement agency was in size, the more they valued the use of predictive analytics.
While 57 percent of law enforcement personnel from organizations with more than 5,000 employees ranked AI-powered analytics as the top technology to accelerate investigations, only 42 percent of respondents from organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees responded the same.
“This makes sense given that larger law enforcement organizations tend to have access to more data, both in volume and diversity of data sources,” said Gambacorta. “Also, since they are generally more technologically advanced and have more information technology staff and resources internally, they’re better equipped to put new AI technologies into practice for analysts and investigative teams.”
Cognyte will publish the full 2025 Law Enforcement Outlook Survey on Feb. 11, 2025.
