Artificial intelligence is rapidly gaining popularity. And the Chicopee Police Department wants to buy in.
AI is one of the many technological advancements the police department is looking to provide its officers. The department also hopes to provide cutting-edge equipment and a center that would provide real-time information to officers.
At a City Council meeting this week, Mayor John Vieau told the council that “public safety is paramount.”
“We want to make sure (the police department) has the right tools to not only protect themselves but to protect everyone who lives here,” he said.
On Monday, the city’s finance subcommittee will discuss and decide whether to approve appropriations for new body and dash cameras, Tasers, a Real-Time Crime Analysis Center and staff to run it.
This is not the first time the police department has stepped toward using forward-thinking technology.
Last year, it purchased a one-year subscription for Fusus, short for “Fusus Real-Time Crime Center in the Cloud,” a software that improves police response time to crime.
“We integrated it into our city cameras and other systems,” said Chicopee Police Deputy Chief Eric Watson. “The software brings everything together on one screen and has all the information.”
Over the last year, the department has spent time building out the software and is now looking to hire analysts.
The police department has a contract with Axon Enterprises Inc. — an Arizona company that provides technology to law enforcement and the military.
In July, the Chicopee Police Department was awarded a grant for nearly a quarter of a million dollars for body cameras. Axon has also provided the department the Fusus software and its Tasers.
At the City Council meeting, Chicopee Police Chief Patrick Major discussed the finances required to fund the new technology, which includes body cameras that will immediately translate from other languages to English, improved Tasers and expedited report writing.
The finance subcommittee will need to approve shifting an appropriation of $447,461 from the city’s stabilization fund to the police department’s computer software expense account. This money will be used for the purchase of body and dash cameras, the lease of Tasers, the continuation of the FUSUS program, cameras for the department’s interview and booking rooms, and cloud-based storage, according to City Council meeting documents.
Major said the department has received $300,000 in grant funding to offset the cost of this program.
The department will also need to approve the transfer of $147,000 for the Axon AI Era Plan, which will “increase efficiency, (enable) faster decision-making, and streamline processing for time-saving while keeping police ahead of emerging public safety challenges and threats,” according to the documents.
The requests include salaries for newly proposed positions, including an information and technology systems engineer, a real-time investigative crime analyst and a supervisory position for the crime analyst.
Real-Time Analysis Center
Springfield’s Police Department introduced its Real-Time Analysis Center in January 2018.
Coming up on its seventh anniversary, the center had a rough start but the police department now relies heavily on the center for support, said Director Bill Schwarz.
“We have the ability to provide responding officers with real-time intelligence,” he told The Republican.
Schwarz, a former Connecticut police officer, said the center is staffed by civilians, not police. Its staff has grown nearly six-fold, going from three to 17 employees.
“We have a variety of talent: College graduates, people who have worked at surveillance companies, data analysts, geographic information system (GIS) experts,” he said, explaining that the staff members run a 24-hour operation.
A few weeks ago, Vieau, some members of the police department and Chicopee city councilors visited the Springfield Real-Time Analysis Center for a briefing.
Watson, the deputy chief, said Springfield’s operational model is similar to what the Chicopee Police Department would implement, just on a smaller scale.
He explained that Fusus, the software integrated into the city-wide camera systems, was the preliminary step into creating a Real-Time Analysis Center. The next step would be to hire staff to oversee the center.
“These centers provide real-time information,” he said. “So we would have staff trained as analysts to identify trends and create reports, help with predictive policing and analysis based on trends, and provide investigators with technological support via video after the fact.”
Watson also discussed the ethics of using artificial intelligence in policing and emphasized that Axon’s use of AI has “guardrails.”
Axon’s AI is not generative, meaning it does not create new content, he said.
“Axon uses responsible and ethical AI,” he said. “Nothing happens without an officer or an employee who is in control.”
The company has its own Ethics and Equity Advisory Council, which was created to understand the technology from a racially aware and ethically responsible lens.
(Artificial intelligence) makes the process more streamlined,” he said. “To not use technology that is available to make things streamlined is, at that point, irresponsible.”
Tim Wagner, an at-large City Council member, and Mary Beth Pniak-Costello, the City Councilor for Ward 9, both commended the police department for considering taking this leap.
“With all of this AI innovation, (the police department has) assured me that there will be appropriate civilian safeguards and human checks on all of the technology …. I think it’s going to be game-changing in terms of policing not just in Chicopee or the Commonwealth, but across the nation,” Wagner said.
Pniak-Costello said the new technology would ease the minds of her constituents who have been asking about body cameras at the police department.
“Constituents agree with the mayor – public safety is their main concern and you are addressing public safety with this initiative,” she told Major, the police chief.
Vieau said he is excited about the technology and the future of the police department.
The advances, he said Tuesday night, would not only protect the patrol officers, but “build (the) public’s trust as we handle those situations in real time.”
The finance subcommittee meeting is on Monday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall. Committee members will decide whether the new technology will be added to the department’s toolbox.
Members of the public are encouraged to share their views.
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