Big Brother Has A New Helper In The Form Of AI

By APB Team American Police Beat

Police officers have done a lot of adjusting over the last several decades. While good cops shouldn’t have to worry about their actions being filmed, it can still be daunting nonetheless. Videos can be edited or taken out of context. Sometimes, it’s just plain stressful knowing that your every action is being monitored and recorded. It’s also worth noting that none of the politicians calling for 24-hour recording of law enforcement officers have been willing to don body-worn cameras themselves.

If you’re an officer who’s nervous about the ever-growing Big Brother aspect of the job, fear not. Your supervisor won’t be watching you for long.

The bad news is that his robot assistant will be doing it instead.

A report from NPR discusses a relatively new software called Truleo, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze police body camera footage, identifying various behaviors such as use of force, things said by officers and citizens and more. While Truleo was originally used by researchers to analyze body camera footage, it’s now in use at more than 30 law enforcement agencies, including the NYPD.

Ian Adams, a researcher at the University of South Carolina, led an independent study looking at how Truleo affected officers and control groups at the police department in Aurora, Colorado, and the sheriff’s office in Richland County, South Carolina. He and his team found that the AI program can mold officers’ behavior.

“The difference that we see in these findings is, you know, in [Aurora] it’s driving the rate of low professionalism down, which is good,” Adams said. “And [in Richland County], it’s raising the rate of highly professional encounters, which is also good.”

Adams was also surprised by officers’ openness to being judged by AI. Some of them liked the machine’s impartiality. However, officers in other parts of the country (outside of Adam’s research) have felt differently.

“… When does it stop?” asked Mike Solan, the president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild. “They went behind our backs and rolled this thing out. They were indeed spying on us…”

The Seattle Police Department has since ceased its contract with Truleo. Solan told NPR that while he isn’t entirely opposed to Truleo, its usage should be a matter negotiated within the union contract.

Truleo co-founder Anthony Tassone pointed to his belief that officers welcome the product, saying that it is most beneficial in departments that are transparent about the use of AI and how it evaluates officers.

“Officers devour this information. They’re in the car, they rewatch their footage. They’re like athletes watching last night’s game,” Tassone said.

Despite the clear differences in opinion on the software, systems like Truleo are the next likely step in the evolution of BWCs. 

Find the original article at American Police Beat.

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