A Maine police department said it inadvertently posted an AI-altered evidence photo to social media this week.
The Westbrook Police Department apologized after uploading a Facebook photo of paraphernalia seized in a drug bust on Brackett Street, saying a picture-editing app had “altered the packaging and some of the other attributes on the photograph.”
Westbrook Police Captain Steven Goldberg confirmed via email that the app used was ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence software.
A side-by-side comparison of the original and altered photos shows several discrepancies – the lettering on the packages was scrambled, the contents of the bags were changed, and all of the items were warped.
The department said an officer took a photo of the drug evidence and was attempting to digitally insert the agency’s patch into the picture before it was uploaded online.
“Usually when we take evidence photos like that, an officer will physically put a department patch in the photo,” Goldberg said. “They did not have a patch available, so the officer thought he could use Chat GPT to do it.”
No one from the department noticed the changes the app made to other parts of the image, according to Westbrook police.
The photo was then posted to Facebook.
“We apologize for this oversight. It was never our intent to alter the image of the evidence. We never realized that using a photoshop app to add our logo would alter a photograph so substantially,” the Westbrook Police Department said in a statement online.
Westbrook police said it is not uncommon to find drug paraphernalia with gibberish text on the packaging, which made it that much tougher to distinguish the image as altered.
“When initially alerted to the public concerns of the image, we assumed this was the case in this situation as well. Clearly, we should have looked further into the shared image,” the department said.
To prove that the evidence exists and to “remain fully transparent,” the Westbrook Police Department said it would invite members of the press to see the paraphernalia in person.
Goldberg said this situation was the first time the department used ChatGPT or any similar app to alter a photo. He also noted it would be the last time.
“We consider this a valuable lesson learned,” the department said in the online statement.

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