Police officers are already using artificial intelligence to write police reports

Several police departments across the country have been trying to integrate modern technology into law enforcement and have been experimenting with using artificial intelligence to write first draft police reports. The Oklahoma City Police Department is one of the units testing the technology and is pleased with the results so far, according to multiple reports.

A police officer reported on his experiences with AI in Related PressSergeant Matt Gilmore of the Oklahoma City Police Department's canine unit ordered the use of this technology after spending about an hour searching for a suspect with his dog, Gunner.

The department's AI tool used audio recordings from the microphone in Gilmore's body camera to create a draft police report in less than ten seconds, according to the Related PressGilmore said writing a report typically took 30 to 45 minutes.

“It was a better report than I could have ever written, and it was 100 percent accurate,” Gilmore said. “It was more fluid. He even documented a fact he didn't remember – another officer's mention of the color of the car the suspects fled from.”

According to the Related PressMany police officers who have tried AI chatbots to write drafts of policy reports share Gilmore's enthusiasm for the technology, expressing delight at how it helps save significant time on otherwise tedious work..

“They become police officers because they want to do police work, and spending half the day doing data entry is just a boring part of the job that they hate,” says Rick Smith, founder and CEO of Axon, the company that developed this AI product known as Draft One.

Others, however, are not so enthusiastic about AI and have raised concerns that its use in the criminal justice system could ultimately be problematic. Some prosecutors, legal scholars, police oversight organizations and other groups worry about how the details produced by AI in the police report, which is an essential part of many criminal investigations, could potentially affect a trial that could decide the fate and life of a suspect.

“There are certainly concerns,” Smith told the Related Press“You never want to put an officer on the stand who says, 'The AI ​​wrote that, not me.'”

Because of these concerns, AI technology currently used by law enforcement, such as to scan license plates or recognize suspects' faces, has come under fire. Criminal justice experts and lawmakers have analyzed these tools to develop safeguards and restrictions that protect a person's privacy and civil rights. However, Draft One and other similar AI applications used to create draft police reports are such a recent development that few or no rules and guidelines are currently in use. Related Press reported.

Due to this news, the police confirmed to the Related Press that the first draft is not currently used in “high-stakes criminal cases.”

“So no arrests, no felonies, no violent crimes,” said Captain Jason Bussert, Oklahoma City Police Department information technology officer.