PORTLAND, Maine — Artificial intelligence, or AI, could soon be used to help Maine police agencies save time writing police reports.
This summer, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office tested out the technology and found it to be "effective" at allowing deputies to focus more on actual policing and creating in-depth reports.
During a mock traffic stop, Lt. James Estabrook showed NEWS CENTER Maine how the software works. He pulled over a fellow deputy and recorded the entire interaction on a body camera.
"The system is designed with LTE technology; it uploads the video immediately,” Estabrook explained.
In his office, he pulled up the video on his computer software called Draft One. It's created by the tech. company Axon.
Estabrook checked a few boxes and then an AI-authored draft of a police report using the video from his body camera appeared.
He then fixed any errors, which were a few spelling mistakes, and added some other details, like the driver's physical description. This all had to happen before he could approve the report.
“It’s been effective in reducing the amount of time that officers have spent typing reports," he told NEWS CENTER Maine. "Instead of officers sitting somewhere for two or three hours during a 10 hour shift typing reports, they’re spending half that time doing that and they’re out patrolling the streets more.”
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce called the software a "game changer."
“The public expects a lot of us," Joyce said. "In order for us to do it effectively, we need to start implementing technology to make the deputies' world a little easier.”
Sheriff Joyce said the software has been included in a future budget, which will give his deputies time to learn more about it before the department invests fully in it.