The Heber City Police Department went viral recently after Chief Parker Sever told a story he’d heard from an officer at West Jordan Police Department about an AI program that generates police reports based on body camera audio. After overhearing a movie playing in the background, it generated a report claiming that a police officer had transformed into a frog.
The story was picked up by Forbes, Vice and Axios, all originating from The Park Record’s reporting and a follow-up story by Fox 13. But the attention hasn’t stopped Sever from implementing such technology into the Police Department’s practices.
The Police Department purchased Code Four, an AI software that drafts police reports based on body camera footage, following a pilot program that pitted the startup against law enforcement technology juggernaut Axon’s competitor, Draft One. The Police Department engaged in two-month free trials for each program, which ended in January.
Sever was interested in the software for the time savings, which he said would allow officers more time on the streets instead of in the office.
Sever said one reason Code Four was chosen was because of its greater capabilities. Draft One creates reports based only on body camera audio, while Code Four analyzes video as well. That allows for greater detail in the reports.
For example, the software can identify clearly visible objects, like a laptop, and provide information like brand and model, distinguishing features, serial numbers and a typical value range for the object.
Code Four co-founder George Cheng explained that the software is compliant with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Security Policy, including end-to-end encryption. Additionally, the software uses Customer-Managed Encryption Keys, meaning the Heber City Police Department has the “ultimate authority over who can access the video and audio data” collected from body cameras.
Code Four is available to officers who have completed their probationary period.
Police reports are signed off by the officer who created them and their supervisor before being sent to the records department. Sever believes this provides a sufficient defense against inaccurate reports. He also said officers who were caught not reviewing their AI-drafted reports would be disciplined or terminated.
Code Four costs the department about $6,000 to $8,000 annually, while Draft One would have cost around $30,000 annually.
In a previous article by The Park Record, David Ferguson, executive director of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, raised concerns about AI software writing police reports. He said it would be unethical for defense attorneys to trust an AI’s interpretations as fact, meaning attorneys would increasingly be forced to review body camera footage themselves.
Sever does not share Ferguson’s concerns.
“I actually think they needed to look at the cases closer when the officers were writing them,” he said. “If you ask my records clerks right now, our reports are better.”
He attributed that to the greater level of detail in a report drafted by Code Four instead of an officer. He said officers tend to provide only the essential facts because of time constraints an AI program is not subject to.
Sever has since identified a second AI program for the Heber City Police Department. It’s an AI assistant for police officers called Blue Voice.
Blue Voice works similarly to ChatGPT or any other AI search engine and is accessible from cell phones, tablets, computers and mobile data terminals. The difference is that it only searches from data and documents uploaded to it by the police department that uses it.
The Heber City Police Department has uploaded its policy manual, maps of areas like the public schools and the codes for Heber City, Midway, Wasatch County and the state of Utah, all of which are public sources of information.
“You’re just limited by your imagination,” Sever said.
The Police Department has also uploaded private information, like the phone numbers and addresses of all officers and the gate codes for areas like the animal shelter and gated communities.
Blue Voice is compliant with the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Systems Security Policy.
Administrator accounts like Sever’s are required to use multi-factor authentication. All data uploaded by law enforcement agencies is end-to-end encrypted. And on Blue Voice’s end, all employees who access, process or maintain sensitive data are fingerprinted U.S. citizens who have undergone thorough background checks and information security training and signed non-disclosure agreements, according to the software’s website.
Blue Voice was founded by a group of former law enforcement employees and engineering professionals from the East Coast.
“Immediate access to vital information is critically important for a number of reasons,” said Michael Gropman, Blue Voice’s chief business officer. “It improves safety and security for the officers and the public, decreases mistakes and ensures all citizens’ civil liberties are acknowledged and respected.”
The software has been implemented in about 250 police departments and sheriff’s offices in 14 states, according to Gropman. The Heber City Police Department is the first law enforcement agency in Utah to use it.
Sever imagines Blue Voice being used to help sift through code and policy documents more easily.
That could be especially helpful when an officer encounters an unfamiliar situation.
“There’s a lot of little nuances to code that the officers don’t have memorized because they just don’t encounter it very often,” Sever said.
He provided an example by demonstrating a search for “water theft.” None of the documents uploaded use the phrase “water theft,” but Blue Voice was still able to understand the search and outline unlawful or unauthorized uses of water.
Sever described the policy manual as the lifeblood of the Police Department, governing all practices and interactions with the public.
“Just about everything you can possibly think of, there’s a police policy for it,” he said.
That includes policies on public breastfeeding, hate crimes, aircraft incidents and more.
Sever said his frustration with holding officers accountable to so many dense policies and codes that are difficult to access is what led to implementing Blue Voice.
The department got a “smoking deal” of a free year, which begins this month. After that year is up, Blue Voice will cost the Police Department about $7,000 per year.
Reactions to the Heber City Police Department’s implementation of AI have been positive both internally and externally, Sever said, adding that he has received multiple calls from law enforcement agencies across Utah asking about Code Four.
The Heber City Police Department is currently the only law enforcement agency in the Wasatch Back to have implemented AI into its policing.