Local police departments are receiving ongoing training to catch up with a new type of crime: offenses related to the use of artificial intelligence.
Recently, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Department encountered its first case of an alleged crime involving AI when it arrested a man for allegedly using an AI engine to put the face of a child on a person in a sexually explicit image.
State legislators changed laws in 2025 to make actions like this one a felony on the same level as if the image had been of the actual child. Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley said he was grateful that the Legislature had acted quickly to change the law.
“I would anticipate more calls as people become more aware that this law is in existence, because it might surprise some of these perverts,” Shelley said. “So as this gets out there, I imagine we'll get more business.”
“AI gives criminals superpowers. Now, it's much easier and faster to generate child abuse materials than it ever was before,” said Prof. Lee McKnight of Syracuse University, an expert on advanced computer systems and author of an upcoming book on the lack of security of AI systems.
McKnight said that AI engines’ lack of safeguards is intentional as billionaire owners race to create the most widely used system, regardless of how it is used. That creates big challenges for communities and police agencies as they scramble to keep up.
He said Onondaga County has a solid program that local agencies can tap into.
