Police are using AI to write reports. Is it a high-tech time-saver or cause for concern?

Ask a roomful of police officers if they could make any part of their job disappear with the wave of a magic wand, and more than a few will choose the time spent filling out reports and other paperwork.

The Elgin Police Department thinks it’s found that magic wand — or at least some of it — through the power of Artificial Intelligence.

The department in 2024 became the first in Illinois to test new technology enabling a handful of officers to produce AI-generated police reports. It went so well that the Elgin PD is expanding the capability to all its officers in coming weeks.

Here’s how it works, according to Michael Bayard, supervisor of the department’s systems technology unit:

Body-worn cameras purchased through Axon Enterprise will upload audio from an officer’s interactions during an incident to a cloud storage system. From there, the Arizona-based Axon’s Draft One AI software will transcribe the audio to create a “shell” of a police report.

Once that shell is complete, the reporting officer will review the document to ensure its accuracy, make any needed corrections or adjustments, and fill in any relevant information that’s absent. Draft One will even insert prompts in the report where it recognizes that details are missing, Bayard notes.

When that’s complete, the officer must sign off on the report, attesting that it’s a true and accurate representation of the call.

As part of the two-month test last year, the department compared the amount of time officers spent writing reports with Draft One to how much they spent the traditional way. They found officers using Draft One cut their report-writing time by 40% to 50%, Bayard said.

“If officers aren’t writing reports, that’s time they can spend out on the street engaging with citizens, providing citizen services and answering calls,” he added.

Of course, like any emerging technology, Draft One isn’t perfect, Bayard notes. For example, it has trouble transcribing audio from calls in which an officer is dealing with a large crowd or when several people are speaking at the same time.

And while it’s great at recounting what’s spoken during a police interaction, it cannot account for what an officer observes, he added.

Still, “Overall, it’s liked by the department, the officers are happy with it and it’s going to be a big time saver,” Bayard said.

How much does this all cost? The department committed to a $159,120-a-year contract for the next two years with Axon, Bayard said. That ends at the same time the department’s body camera deal with Axon is up for a possible renewal.

Skepticism, support

While Elgin police are all-in on AI, others have some deep reservations about its use in law enforcement. Among them are the American Civil Liberties Union, which last month published a white paper arguing against AI-generated reports.

“It is an emerging technology that makes lots of mistakes,” Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy of the ACLU of Illinois, told us Wednesday.

Yohnka said ACLU technology experts fear AI users are “training into the systems all the biases we have as a society.”

The ACLU white paper also found that there is a value in having officers write things themselves, “in terms of reinforcing the range of limitations” of their duties, he said.

The organization hopes that at the very least regulations are enacted requiring police to indicate whether a report was generated with AI as a “modest safeguard,” Yohnka said.

Kane County’s top prosecutor doesn’t share the ACLU’s skepticism, however.

“I support the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate police reports, as it allows evidence to be presented more efficiently to prosecutors and defense attorneys, freeing up more resources for keeping our community safe,” State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser told us in an email. “Having read the ACLU’s report, I believe their concerns are unsupported.

“Officers take an oath to tell the truth and uphold the law and submit reports under that obligation. There is no reason to believe this standard will change,” she added.

Not a safe bet

You can place a wager on the Super Bowl through legal sportsbooks in Illinois, but that doesn’t mean you’re safe from crime when you cast your wager.

The Better Business Bureau issued a warning this week about scammers taking advantage of novice gamblers ahead of Sunday’s big game, which is expected to generate nearly $1.4 billion in legal bets.

“What the scammers do is create fake look-alike websites to mimic legal sports betting operations,” BBB President and CEO Steve J. Bernas said in the warning. “BBB Scam Tracker is seeing reports from people who accidentally placed bets with scam sports betting websites or apps.”

The BBB said phony sites can appear legit, but as soon as you try to cash out, you can’t withdraw your winnings or deposit. Scammers will claim they’re having technical issues or ask you to deposit more money before you can access winnings. Either way, you’re likely never getting your money back, says the BBB.

How to avoid a scam? The BBB says bet only through sportsbooks that your area’s gaming commission has approved, don’t get sucked in by gambling-related pop-up ads, email spam or text messages, read the fine print on new customer incentives and be sure to check the terms of service.

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