Ottawa police say they are already seeing benefits from the artificial intelligence system built into body-worn cameras, a system the force plans to expand in coming years.
“What we’ve seen is a very high-level improvement for report writing,” Ottawa Police Sgt. Devon Archer told the city’s Police Services Board on March 25. “What would normally take an officer an hour and a half, two hours to do, could be reduced to a half an hour, 45 minutes, dependent on the complexity of the investigation.”
Ottawa Police Service (OPS) started a pilot of the camera systems last fall, which saw 30 members of the OPS Crisis Intervention Team as well as designated Change Agents receive the systems..
In addition to the camera, which is supplied by the American weapons and technology developer Axon, OPS tried Axon’s AIEra bundle, which includes features such as a service that transcribes the audio captured by the camera.
OPS estimates the AIEra bundle produced an annual benefit of $1.2 million, based around the time saving measures the bundle provides for officers.
But board members raised several concerns with the expansion of the program, including privacy and security issues, accuracy of AI-generated transcriptions and reports and future budget impacts.
We do think we are going to have an $11 million better investment in services as a result of (the program’s expansion), because officers will have more time freed to do the work that we and you expect them to do.
OPS Deputy Police Chief Steve Bell
“We need to take real care on dependence on AI,” said provincial board appointee Michael Polowin, “and (provide) full disclosure, if it’s a matter going to court, that these reports were assisted by AI in their creation.”
OPS Deputy Chief Steve Bell said the service has had “extensive” conversations with the Crown around the use of AI in report generation, adding that the Crown’s support is one of the key drivers behind the service’s push for expansion of the program.
The proposed expansion of the body camera initiative would increase the number of officers who are part of the program from 30 to 850. The estimated annual cost of the program is $7.3 million, but OPS projects a $4.5 million annual net benefit from the program – a 61 per cent return on investment for the city.
The costs will be part of the service’s long-term financial plan, which will be before the board in April, but Bell was quick to note that the OPS return on investment calculation was based on improved deployment of resources, not necessarily a reduction in spending.
“We don’t see that you’re going to harvest $11 million out of our budget,” Bell told the board. “We do think we are going to have an $11 million better investment in services as a result of (the program’s expansion), because officers will have more time freed to do the work that we and you expect them to do.”
