Last week, we broke the news that the San Diego Police Department is weighing acquiring artificial intelligence software that can assist officers in writing police reports. In July, the department issued a request for information from companies that can provide such a program, writing their goal is to “enhance efficiency in report writing, thereby allowing officers to respond more quickly to calls for service.”
It’s far from a done deal. Department spokesperson Ashley Nicholes said they’re just in the “exploration phase” and have no timeline to actually acquire such technology.
Still, the prospect of AI-police reports garnered opposition from some community leaders and activists, like Khalid Alexander, the president of Pillars of the Community, an organization dedicated to supporting individuals impacted by law enforcement.
“It’s just one more example of them trying to take any kind of humanity away from policing,” Alexander said.
Alexander’s not the only one with misgivings. It turns out the department contracting with a company for this kind of AI-enabled software is also opposed by a pretty high-profile figure in policing: Jared Wilson, the head of the San Diego police union.
He’s not outright opposed to this kind of tech. He thinks departments need to be careful with how it’s implemented but said it can be a great way to enable cops to do more if paired with a robust system of community policing. What he is opposed to, though, is the city splurging on fancy new tech when he says they can’t even pay for the basics.
“We haven’t found sustainable funding for the technology that we already have,” Wilson said. “It would be nice to have if we had enough cops on the street, but we don’t. Until the City of San Diego can maintain what it already has, we have to stop getting new stuff.”
He also worries that adding more tech to policing creates an over-reliance problem that makes it hard to turn back.
“Then you’re literally reliant on the system because like ‘fuck, if we get rid of this it’s going to create an even bigger problem – our response times are going to go up, we can’t fight crime as much,'” Wilson said. “These technology companies are like drug dealers who get you hooked on free stuff and then you can’t give it up, and now your budget’s screwed.”
Beyond the budgetary issues, Wilson also worries about the ramifications of relying too heavily on technology. As more techno-police baubles are added, it can crowd out the kind of community policing he feels is most effective, where officers are given the space and time to become known figures within the neighborhoods they patrol.
“Do we want to create this dystopian future where we have all this technology to fight crime, but it’s just some random person you’ve never seen before who shows up to fight it only when there’s a crime committed?” he asked. “There’s people that probably want that, but I think a lot of people don’t want that. I’m the union president and I don’t want that.”