(TNS) — The San Francisco Police Department is experimenting with artificial intelligence software that can extract information from body-worn camera recordings to produce first drafts of incident reports, law enforcement officials said.
Police officers began testing the software, called Draft One, last month in an effort to make officers “more efficient and saving time to get them back into the field,” a police spokesperson said in an email.
As of Tuesday, 54 San Francisco officers were using the software at the department’s Central and Southern stations to generate reports following citations or misdemeanor cases, officials said, with the exception of domestic violence, sexual assault and driving under the influence.
As of Tuesday, “no current report narrative drafted by Draft One involves an arrest,” the police spokesperson said.
Police have long lamented the time it takes to produce reports and complete other paperwork associated with law enforcement activity, and the department’s decision to test the AI software appeared to be in keeping with its broader embrace of new technologies, including drones, license plate readers and traffic cameras.
Other police departments in California and the Bay Area have used the Draft One software, including San Mateo, East Palo Alto and Campbell. But civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, have raised concerns that using AI software like Draft One risked introducing errors into official police reports and reduced the amount of transparency and accountability into the criminal justice process. Draft One is made by Axon, a company that supplies police forces across the country with body-worn cameras.
San Francisco police officials said that while the software is being used to transcribe recordings from body-worn cameras and produce parts of police reports, officers must still enter certain details into the report, proofread and sign off on accuracy before it can be submitted. Officers must also disclose in their reports when Draft One was utilized, officials said.
Last year, police officials in Fresno reported that, anecdotally, Draft One was working as intended and saving police officers time as they wrote reports.
San Francisco police officials said their pilot program with Draft One would last through August, when department leaders and the District Attorney’s Office would consider broadening the department’s use of the software.
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