Axon Hopes To Improve Police Body Cams With Auto-Transcribe
Axon, a company that provides weapons and technology to police, has announced a new service that uses artificial intelligence to review and transcribe videos from police body cams. The idea is the new advancements can help to cut down on evidence review time and increase transparency in general.
Formerly known as TASER International, Axon has become one of the primary suppliers of advanced equipment and software to police departments over the past decade. After breaking into the industry by developing taser technology for police in the 1990s, the company shifted its focus to police body cameras in 2008. With the rising concerns about police brutality in the United States, Axon has responded by developing software that claims to improve the speed and accuracy of police videos and audio transcriptions.
This week, Axon announced the launch of a new auto-transcription service that police departments can use to review and transcribe video and audio evidence. In the press release, Axon claimed that this new tool will "accelerate the review and transcription of evidence" which will lead to "significant time and cost saving benefits for agencies." Axon also says that a large portion of time is spent reviewing considerable amounts of video evidence and that, by creating a way to accurately and quickly transcribe the footage, evidence can be sent through the justice system much faster.
According to Axon, Auto-Transcribe uses artificial intelligence alongside a hypermedia player to transcribe footage as quickly and precisely as possible. Although Axon specifically uses police body cameras as an example of when the software can be used, it also works with dash cams, interview footage, CCTV, and audio recordings. The transcripts created by the program include timestamps and keywords, which allow investigators the ability to immediately jump to relevant information throughout the file.
In the wake of questions about police reform, Axon is positioning its Auto-Transcribe software as a way to increase the accuracy of video and audio transcriptions and officer transparency. However, there have been increasing concerns about the role technology plays in the criminal justice system. Now that police departments are relying more on computers to cut down on cost and time, some researchers and activists have grown uneasy about the role that AI bias against minorities can play in an investigation. Police technology has often been misused to disproportionately target people of color, which has left many apprehensive about how new police tech will be implemented in departments across the country.
These concerns have led many companies to reconsider how they approach allowing police departments and agencies to use their technology. In the case of Amazon, the company recently announced that it was stopping police from using its facial recognition technology for one year.
Source: Axon