ChatGPT on Future of Policing
[Investigation]
BY MARTIN PETTIS
A visit into the future of policing with everyone’s new friend, Chat!
In 2023, like most people, I found myself intrigued and a little concerned by the creation of a new entity.
“And we marveled at our own magnificence as we gave birth to AI”
This may have been the most anticipated birth of all time, since Christ himself, or at least Beyoncé, based on the number of people participating in the spectacle. The celebration wasn’t unwarranted — the potential of artificial intelligence, accessible to everyone in the world, was unlimited.
And it happened at a time when the world desperately needed something to stop it from perpetuating its own destruction. There were wars in areas of the world so large they should have prevented discussion about anything else, but people barely talked about them. Millions of refugees were displaced and forgotten. Environmental resources disappeared daily. A brutal police force no longer — if it had ever — served the communities they were sworn to protect. Mental health was at an all-time low.
And yet, in the world of technology, we pushed forward to places we had never been, hoping to create a better world.
I thought it might be relevant to ask this AI about the future, in an area of social change I have been working on for years: the creation of new systems to replace the prison industrial complex with what we came to call alternatives to incarceration. For instance, in 2023, we were actively developing healing justice centers, where someone might go when they were struggling in life, unable to avoid violence and crime, rather than being sentenced to prison. These programs were based in, run by, and developed for people in local communities.
(I asked Chat GPT to write a story for me about the creation of a new community program in the future that would replace modern-day policing, and I got a night of endless prompts, and me trying to teach it about generational trauma and systemic racism.)
My initial prompt was:
I’d like you to write a story based in the year 2047 about the United States after it replaces the prison system with alternative to incarceration (healing justice centers) and the police in every city have been replaced by unarmed community peace keepers.
This was chat’s first response -
In the year 2047, the United States underwent a major transformation in its approach to justice and public safety. The prison system was replaced with alternative healing justice centers, where those who had been accused of crimes could receive treatment, therapy, and rehabilitation instead of punishment. This change was met with both skepticism and hope, but over time, it proved to be a successful solution to reducing crime and recidivism rates.
As a result of this new approach, the police in every city were replaced by unarmed community peacekeepers. These peacekeepers were trained in conflict resolution, de-escalation, and empathetic communication, and they were tasked with maintaining public safety while also working to heal and strengthen the communities they served.
One such peacekeeper was a woman named Maya, who had been with the program since its inception. Maya loved her job and was passionate about helping those in her community. She often worked with individuals who had struggled with addiction or mental health issues, and she was always amazed by their resilience and ability to change.
One day, Maya was called to a local park where a group of young people were involved in a heated argument. When she arrived, she saw that tempers were high, and the situation was on the verge of becoming violent. Maya approached the group and listened as each person shared their perspective. She then offered some suggestions for resolving the conflict, and everyone agreed to try her approach. To Maya’s delight, the argument was soon diffused, and the group went their separate ways, peaceably.
Maya’s work was not always easy, but she felt that it was important and fulfilling. She was proud to be part of a system that focused on healing and rehabilitation instead of punishment and imprisonment. The United States was a better and safer place because of this new approach, and Maya was happy to be a part of that change.
As she walked back to her office, Maya smiled to herself, thinking about the difference she was making in the world. She was grateful to be a community peacekeeper and felt that her work was making a positive impact on her community and the world at large.
Definitely nothing to write home about. The AI had delivered a very childlike narrative around a topic it clearly knew nothing about… but why was I expecting anything more? The creators of this technology did not come from the communities I served. They most likely did not know anyone involved in the criminal justice system, or who had experienced police brutality and community violence.
I decided to ask more pointed questions. How did this program come about? Why did this program come about? What happened to men and women who were incarcerated, now that there were new systems in place to replace the prison industrial complex? What happened to the police, now that they were no longer needed?
Chat’s responses got a little clearer, but still lacked any level of cultural or historical sensitivity to the subject.
I then began a discourse about the past. I went all the way back to slavery and Jim Crow, explaining how oppression impacted each subsequent generation movingcreating and furthering the economic disparity and violence that we see in our communities today.
I’m not going to lie — at times it felt more exhausting than facilitating a difficult workshop on healing justice for a room of people who have barely ever thought about this subject. But I persisted, and eventually — many, many prompts later — we found common ground.
In 2047, the United States underwent a significant transformation as the prison system was replaced with the Community Peacekeeper Program. This alternative to incarceration was created by Nia, a young graduate student pursuing her PhD in Healing Justice and Race Relations, who saw first-hand the impact of police brutality on her community and those around her. She realized that the system was not just and needed to change.
The Community Peacekeeper Program was the result of years of advocacy and activism, representing a transformative step towards creating a more just and equitable society. It was a radical departure from the traditional prison system and policing, prioritizing healing and restorative justice. The program’s cornerstone was the establishment of healing justice centers, which offered support and resources to individuals who have been affected by crime, violence, and systemic racism. Community peacekeepers, who were selected from the communities they served, worked at these centers and were trained to de-escalate conflicts and provide assistance to those in need.
The Community Peacekeeper Program focused on addressing the root causes of crime in marginalized communities by hiring people who were formerly incarcerated. The program provided extensive training in nonviolent conflict resolution, trauma-informed care, and restorative justice. This training helped peacekeepers understand the complex issues facing their communities and gave them the tools to address them. Moreover, the program recognized the deep wisdom and life experience that these individuals brought with them.
The Community Peacekeeper Program was made possible, in part, through a national reparations program for slavery. This program was crucial in creating the Community Peacekeeper Program and supporting the Healing Justice Centers. It acknowledged the harm caused by slavery and Jim Crow laws and provided a path to redress.
Jack, a former white police officer, was one of the peacekeepers who underwent a long process of unlearning his biases and relearning how to approach his community with empathy and respect. This was a critical part of the program, as many people had grown up in communities where they were taught to fear law enforcement. Jack’s transformation was not easy, but it was essential for him to become an effective peacekeeper. He had to confront his internalized racism and work to understand the systemic issues that had led to it.
The Community Peacekeeper Program worked by building relationships between peacekeepers and members of their community. They engaged in proactive conflict resolution and provided access to resources that addressed the root causes of issues faced by the community. The Healing Justice Centers offered mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and other social services that provided support to those affected by past generations’ traumas.
The program worked in conjunction with other community organizations, such as mental health clinics, substance abuse treatment centers, and community development programs, to create a comprehensive support system for those affected by systemic racism and its consequences. It was grounded in the principles of restorative justice, which aimed to repair harm and heal relationships between individuals and communities. By prioritizing the needs of those who have been harmed, the program worked collaboratively to create a more equitable and just society.
When an incident occurred that required intervention, community peacekeepers were dispatched to the scene to de-escalate the situation and provide support to those involved. They worked with those affected to identify the root causes of the conflict and develop a plan to address those issues. In this way, the program strove to prevent future incidents by proactively addressing the underlying causes of violence.
It took almost 200 years since the end of slavery for this transformation to take place, but for the first time in history, people in marginalized communities were heard and empowered to shape their own future. The Community Peacekeeper Program recognized the impact of systemic racism on Black communities, which had made it harder for them to succeed and thrive. The program provided a path to redress and created a future where peacekeepers and their communities worked together to build a more just society
In the end I would say it was much more my story of how the future of policing will look in 2047, with Chat GPT transcribing, but as far as transcribers go, at least this one asks questions. It’s worth remembering that just because technology is advancing, it doesn’t mean that it is going to advance us with it. If, as a society, we’ve barely done any work on how to truly reconcile our current situation with our history of systemic racism and generational trauma, no technology is going to do it for us.
