AI and facial recognition require real investigative skill because they are still high risk technologies compared to current policing tactics. As it stands, cops mostly arrest brown and black low income people on capricious charges because the revenue is predictable and the suspects rarely have access to meaningful council that wont immediately direct them to plea-bargain. the revenue from this policing is nontrivial in the city budget, and it puts warm bodies in profitable corporate jails that many deficit-run cities are fully dependent upon to service their debt.
AI and Facial recognition introduce the very real potential to arrest someone who not only isnt your suspect, but is powerful enough to fight back and make you look very bad. You cross over from comfy cop to officer who will need to be able to prove a crime based on evidence. for a lot of law enforcement that have become versed in their union bylaws, buying a product that can get them fired if they arent sharp gumshoes to solve real crime isnt an appealing idea anyway. And since we hire most cops from our boots-on-ground military troops, the argument could be made that most arent the sharpest sherlocks.
Another problem is police overloading. cops are already social workers, dog catchers, school truancy enforcers, and crisis management mental health workers. Theres not much a cop in the US does not do if you call them. the idea of now making them a cloud-based AI guru at some level is likely going to be met with some resistance. What does the FR do? and what additional duties will cops have to absorb once its online? Is every face at a busy festival going to have cops chasing lookalikes? how do you get help if facial recognition is broken?