The Seattle Police Department has stopped using an artificial intelligence platform designed to analyze police body-cam footage in search of potentially inappropriate officer behavior.
SPD had been using the software since 2021, when it became an “anchor customer” for Chicago-based startup Truleo, which states on its website that its mission is to “improve trust in the police with body camera analytics.”
“SPD entered a technology demonstration project and decided it had sufficient promise to attempt a limited pilot, to validate functionality,” Det. Judinna Gulpan, a public information officer with SPD, told GeekWire on Friday. “SPD was in the process of that validation but has since discontinued the project, in light of reactions to the recent Axios and GeekWire articles.”
The department did not wish to elaborate on what types of “reactions” or from whom caused it to rethink its use of the technology.
In GeekWire’s report last week, SPD said it was “too early in the process to speak to measurable outcomes” but that the department looked forward “to the possible insights Truleo may provide in the future.”
Gulpan said Truleo first reached out in 2021 to Loren Atherley, SPD’s director of performance analytics and research.
“According to Atherley, this technology has a lot of promise,” Gulpan said. “SPD is dedicated to continuous improvement and evidence-based approaches to risk management, employee performance, and the delivery of police service. SPD might someday re-engage with Truleo but there is no plan to do so at this time.”
Truleo was founded in 2021, and grew out of a platform first developed to analyze phone calls and text messages between Wall Street bankers.
The company’s AI is intended to scan recordings associated with the many thousands of hours of body-cam footage generated by police departments. The technology looks for audio clues to help identify patterns, such as problems patrol officers may have interacting with the public. Departments can then address issues through training before problems escalate.
Reports on the technology noted how it could be more widely adopted after the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, where police “unleashed a barrage of commands that were confusing, conflicting, and sometimes even impossible to obey,” The New York Times reported.
SPD was among a handful of departments that Truleo has identified as current customers, including in the California cities of Alameda, Atwater and Vallejo, as well as departments in Florida, Alabama and Pennsylvania.
