New technology will be used to help improve policing in Cheshire but it won't replace staff, and checks will be in place to ensure it doesn't violate civil liberties, the police panel heard.

Police commissioner Dan Price (Lab) was responding to concerns raised by Cheshire East councillor Judy Snowball (Lab) at the recent meeting of the police and crime panel.

Cllr Snowball, who chairs the panel, said the commissioner's police and crime plan contained interesting developments regarding the use of drones, additional surveillance, recording and updating of data.

"But I am wondering how the civil liberty side of things will go.

"I note that you are talking about, in your plan. an independent ethics panel.

"I am wondering how will concerns be raised to that panel, who would probably be on it, and how would, as far as can be envisaged at the moment, how would these concerns be addressed by it?" she asked.

Mr Price said: "I'm a big advocate for this technology, but we shouldn't suggest it's going to replace people.

"These should be tools that professionals in policing are using to enhance their ability to do their job.

"Ultimately, the decision-making of how it's used and applied, and the consequence of it, will still be at the shoulder of people who are policing professionals.

"If that is seen to be abused or the systems aren't being used in the appropriate way, I would expect the current complaints process and performance development process to be there in place to make sure that there are consequences for people who do that."

He added: "I appreciate there is some nervousness around civil liberties, and we'll have to keep a watching brief on that.

"My job will always be to protect the public's interest in how this technology is deployed."

Mr Price said in terms of the ethics panel, 'we are establishing it, it will take time for me to process how it's going to work'.

The commissioner also gave an example of how technology could be put to good use.

He said he plans to visit Cumbria which has recently opened a CCTV suite for the whole of the county – using AI enhanced cameras.

"What that might mean, practically, is some simple savings for councils, and that's welcome," said Mr Price.

"But it also means that, when a young child is missing… and the parents phone in and say they were wearing a red jumper, the CCTV system is able to only show up children in red jumpers.

"So it takes out all the others which means, in terms of the individuals in that CCTV room who are trying to find that missing person, their ability to do that is really quite quick, and that's obviously to the benefit of policing."