Researchers in California will use artificial intelligence to analyze Los Angeles police bodycam footage to determine if officers escalated interactions with the public through language or tone.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) announced the research initiative on Tuesday during a meeting of the Board of Police Commissioners. According to the Los Angeles Times, LAPD Cmdr. Marla Ciuffetelli stated at the meeting that the study will be used to train future officers on how to interact with the public while fostering accountability.
“The Los Angeles Police Department is committed to leadership, quality through continuous improvement and public transparency and is forward-thinking in pursuit of training techniques and technologies that can assist us in achieving our goals,” Ciuffetelli stated to Fox News Digital.
“With this project, the Department hopes to gain valuable feedback to benefit our training, policies and practices. This project also reflects our unwavering commitment to public transparency and accountability,”
The L.A. Times reported that rudeness is one of the most common complaints lodged by the public against LAPD officers, despite recruits learning in the police academy that what they say and how they say it is crucial to de-escalating interactions.
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Evaluating Police Interactions: A Multi-Year Study Involving Multiple Universities
Over the next three years, researchers at the University of Southern California will evaluate footage from approximately 1,000 traffic encounters and establish parameters for interactions deemed appropriate by department policies and public feedback, as well as inappropriate interactions. Researchers from other universities, including Georgetown and UC Riverside, will assist with the investigation.
WHAT IS AI?
The researchers will then train an artificial intelligence system on these boundaries so that it can scan the recordings and determine if an officer escalated a confrontation.
“Even something as simple as, did the officer introduce themselves?” Benjamin A.T. Graham, professor at USC and author of the study, told the Times.
Graham told the publication that researchers will spend the next six months collecting data for the study, which will be followed by preliminary findings. When analyzing their findings, the researchers will consider the location of the traffic stop, the driver’s ethnicity, and the officer’s rank and age.
WHAT IS CHATGPT?
Ciuffetelli stated on Tuesday at a meeting of commissioners that the research would likely be released in four phases before the findings are incorporated into the department’s “training models.”” She did note, however, that it’s “hard to speculate what’s going to happen with the research until it’s done.”
Ciuffetelli stated that machine learning “is in its infancy, but will undoubtedly become a profound element in officer training in the future.”
The Times reported that the LAPD Inspector General’s office will conduct its own study on officer language during interactions with the public.
The use of artificial intelligence in police departments is not a novel initiative; departments across the country are already using facial recognition to help apprehend suspects, despite lawsuits and accusations of racial profiling.
In addition to Ann Arbor, Michigan, a handful of other police departments in the United States use AI to explicitly evaluate bodycam footage. The department announced earlier this month that it would use an AI system to automate supervision and enhance accountability by identifying incidents such as use of force and officer language.
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Source: Fox News
