College Station City Council voted June 25 to buy additional police safety equipment from Axon, which is part of a 10-year agreement the city signed with the company for use of its body cameras, Tasers, law enforcement software and artificial intelligence assistance.
The overview
Axon Enterprise manufactures police safety equipment and is known for the invention and sales of the Taser. The company also produces police body cameras, drones, robots and digital records management software.
According to city documents, College Station and Axon signed a 10-year contract in 2022 to purchase equipment for the city’s police department. The original contract amount was roughly $6.4 million and has been amended twice in its almost four years, increasing to the current $8,518,186.
Axon has integrated AI technology in various products to “make public safety faster, smarter and more effective,” according to its website. The company also states that using AI helps “boost efficiency, speed up decision-making, and make [police's] job easier, all while keeping [them] ahead of emerging public safety challenges and threats.”
A closer look
The purchase invoice order details the equipment recommendation for the 13 additional officer packages. According to Axon, the “Officer Safety Plan T7” includes “the most effective Taser Energy Weapon to date, Taser 7, as well as virtual reality empathy training and Axon Standards for streamlined reporting.”
Along with the Taser 7, the package includes the Axon Body 3 body camera, which is integrated with Axon’s AI ecosystem. An included AI feature called “Smart Detection" helps "organizations quickly identify human forms within video footage captured by Axon Body 3 and Axon Body 4 cameras.”
The tool, which automatically detects humans in body camera videos, does not use facial recognition according to Axon; however, it does detect all features of the human body to identify individuals.
There are four factors in determining detection:
- Distance from the camera
- Lighting conditions
- Number of frames
- General visibility
Axon cameras also offer auto-transcription services, including full integration of Spanish-to-English transcription. According to Axon, the transcripts can be used in court, with the auto-transcription producing the transcript in a “fraction of the time and cost compared to human transcription alone.”
In an effort to help officers with police reports, Axon also includes software called “Draft One,” an AI software to help draft reports. Drafts are imported directly from body camera footage and audio and can be created five minutes after the officer stops recording.
The takeaway
The council voted unanimously to purchase the equipment at its June 25 meeting without discussion. Thirteen more officers will now be equipped with Axon equipment in the near future.
