New AI tool instantly analyzes police bodycam footage to Improve Police Training and Reporting
A small but growing number of police departments are using a new AI system that analyzes officers' bodycam footage and flags problematic encounters — as well as commendable ones.
Why it matters: Police departments may be more likely to seek out such tools after five Memphis Police Department officers were charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the death of Tyre Nichols.
Case study: In Alameda, California, the police department's use of force dropped 36% after adopting Truleo, according to a report.
Reality check: With or without AI's help, bodycam footage can only be used as an aid in the effort to help prevent police violence if officers keep their cameras rolling, and if chiefs, sergeants and other leaders immediately address problematic behavior.
New AI tool instantly analyzes police bodycam footage (axios.com)

A small but growing number of police departments are using a new AI system that analyzes officers' bodycam footage and flags problematic encounters — as well as commendable ones.
Why it matters: Police departments may be more likely to seek out such tools after five Memphis Police Department officers were charged with second-degree murder and other crimes in the death of Tyre Nichols.
- The platform, developed by a company called Truleo, is designed to identify behavior problems with individual officers as well as potentially troubling patterns within a department.
- The platform reviews the recordings in seconds using natural language processing, highlights good and bad interactions, and sends reports to supervisors.
- Officers who are polite and professional when a citizen refuses to obey a command get an email praising their performance — as does their sergeant.
- If an officer uses profanity, racial slurs, insults or threats — or gets into an inappropriate physical altercation — their boss finds out within hours.
- Problematic phrases — like "I can't breathe" or "you're hurting me" — get flagged right away.
- "The number one feature you want in an officer is someone who gives a lot of explanation relative to commands," Tassone tells Axios.
- But "we see a lot of officers, especially young officers, who give lots of commands with no explanation" — and such encounters are more likely to end badly.
- In the Nichols case, officers gave 71 commands in 13 minutes — including "dozens of contradictory and unachievable orders," a New York Times analysis found.
- Police in Aurora, Colorado — who are under a consent decree with the state's attorney general over racial bias and excessive use of force — are also about to start using the system.
- "In order to effect cultural change, leaders need to understand the current status of the culture within the organization," Art Acevedo, a longtime police chief who just took over in Aurora, said in an interview posted on Truleo's website.
- Truleo helps commanding officers "identify patterns of conduct early on — to provide counseling and training, and the opportunity to intervene far earlier than we’ve traditionally been able to," Acevedo said.
Case study: In Alameda, California, the police department's use of force dropped 36% after adopting Truleo, according to a report.
- Unprofessional language used by officers fell by 30%, and civilian non-compliance was down 12%.
Reality check: With or without AI's help, bodycam footage can only be used as an aid in the effort to help prevent police violence if officers keep their cameras rolling, and if chiefs, sergeants and other leaders immediately address problematic behavior.
- "The number one problem I have is a chief who doesn't want to know what's on this video," Tassone says. "That breaks my heart."
- Most bodycam footage lies untouched unless there's a civilian complaint or obvious problem — like Nichols' death. "The hardware itself doesn't improve policing," Tassone says. "You've got to analyze the data."
- "Because we realized that there's hundreds of millions of hours of video sitting in the cloud that could solve this problem, but right now it's just locked away, totally unusable."
New AI tool instantly analyzes police bodycam footage (axios.com)