An artificial intelligence (AI) company owned by a former Merseyside Police firearms officer has been valued at £300m by Silicon Valley. Steven Richardson worked at Merseyside Police for 17 years before incorporating 22one Technologies in December.
The company has yet to publicly reveal what it is going to do, but it is understood it will use AI to make policing more effective. Its fundraising efforts have received early backing from Silicon Valley venture capital firms, including Sequoia, an early investor in Apple and Google, reported the Financial Times.
Career and Background
According to his LinkedIn page, Mr Richardson joined Merseyside Police in 2004 and held roles including specialist firearms officer and commander, critical incident manager, head of intelligence and operations, strategic lead for serious and organised crime, director of intelligence and head of cybercrime. He left the force as director of digital transformation at the rank of detective chief superintendent.
After leaving Merseyside Police in 2021, he joined Amazon Web Services, where he became UK policing lead. He then went on to hold roles of head of policing and public safety and principal advisor of global public safety at Palantir Technologies.
Company Details and Funding
While at Palantir, Mr Richardson co-founded his first company - software specialists Riven - in June 2023. The Times reported that Riven, which developed tools to reduce data breaches, is used by nearly half of UK police forces.
It has been reported that Mr Richardson's company name is a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes' address, 221b Baker Street. Its website currently shows only the word "investigate".
Impact on Policing
22one's funding push has coincided with the push for UK police forces to adopt AI to free up officers' time. PoliceAI, launched in June this year, could save six million officer hours a year, the government said.
The Home Office estimated the scheme, which includes tools to analyse CCTV, summarise digital evidence and detect deepfakes, will free up time equivalent to 3,000 extra officers by 2028.
Mr Richardson was born and raised in Dingle. In 2016, he was featured in a recruitment drive as Merseyside Police sought to hire 140 officers, especially from "under-represented communities".
