The fleet will be expanded to 50 vehicles nationwide, helping officers identify wanted rapists, killers and violent offenders in crowded streets and transport hubs.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood warned offenders are using advanced technology “in increasingly sophisticated ways” and forces must keep pace.
She said the £140m tech overhaul will mean getting “more officers on the streets and put rapists and murderers behind bars”.
Facing critics, she said fingerprinting was once attacked too, adding:“A hundred years ago, fingerprinting was decried as curtailing our civil liberties…
“Today, we could not imagine policing without it.
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“I have no doubt the same will prove true of facial recognition technology in the years to come.”
AI systems will scan hours of CCTV in minutes, sift huge volumes of digital evidence and flag key clips detectives often miss.
Forces will also explore using police chatbots to give victims quicker updates and deal with routine queries – an option officials say could ease pressure on overstretched 999 handlers.
A new national unit, Police.AI, will lead the programme and test tools before they reach frontline officers.
Early pilots show the software can complete the workload of nearly ten officers, freeing thousands of cops from paperwork and putting more back on neighbourhood patrols.
Officials say the upgraded systems have already helped catch more than 7,700 dangerous criminals, and national standards plus a public register of AI tools will ensure transparency while keeping humans in charge of final decisions.
The tech push sits inside the biggest shake-up of policing in a generation.
A new National Police Service, dubbed “British FBI“, will take charge of serious and organised crime, replacing the patchwork of 43 forces working to different standards.
Forces that fall short will face tougher intervention, while stricter vetting rules will make it easier to remove officers accused of misconduct or sexual offences.
Recruitment will open up to cyber, tech and financial-crime specialists, and councils will be required to identify vulnerable children earlier.
Fraud – now 44 per cent of all crime – will be targeted with a new national prevention plan.