The trial with virtual agent Wout has ended. The police have now evaluated Wout's efforts. The test has shown that the technology behind the chatbot has potential, according to a message from the Politie.

Virtual agent Wout is a so-called chatbot that works on artificial intelligence. Wout was active in various places in the country (Hengelo, Zwolle, The Hague, Rotterdam-IJsselmonde, Maastricht). For cybercrime, that was even the whole country. The chatbot was deployed between September 24 and December 1, 2019. Residents of the cities mentioned could report noise nuisance via Wout. Reports of hostage software and helpdesk fraud could also be made from all over the country.

There are 2978 conversations with Wout registered. Of these, 2310 were about noise nuisance and 668 about cybercrime. Wout handled 443 reports independently (234 noise nuisance and 209 cybercrime) and 318 chats about noise nuisance ended up with a police officer via Wout (live chat). About half of the noise nuisance reports were forwarded to a police officer (live chat). Half of the citizens liked this.

The cybercrime team called back people who reported ransomware, phishing and SMS phishing to help them unlock their computers. It was striking that citizens also approached the chatbot with questions about sellers at the door.

The police have asked users of Wout what they think of Wout. This research shows that users rate Wout with an average of 7,3. 85% of the people who reported noise nuisance indicated in the survey that they would like to use Wout more often. For cybercrime reporters, this number was even higher, namely 91%. More than 74% believe that virtual agent Wout lowers the threshold for reporting.

An important goal of the test was to gather information with which this virtual agent can be further developed. The survey among users also provided valuable information for this. For example, users indicated that they would like more space to provide additional information with a report. They also gave practical tips. People also want feedback on the handling of their report.

The results of this test will be presented to the corps management. They will decide whether Wout will be further developed in order to eventually be used as a fully-fledged service channel. If this is decided upon, a tender process will follow.

Technology