The Springfield City Council has just approved a bill allowing the Springfield Police Department to acquire new body cameras.
These new cameras from Axon will use AI technology to transcribe interactions and provide real-time translation. These cameras will automatically create a draft for a police report which the officer can then use as a starting point for their report, then edit, finalize it, and sign off on it if it’s accurate.
The cameras will also have a translation ability so they hear the language, translate it, and feed it back to the officer in english.
The Department will pay the initial cost of $5.3 million thru savings in vacant officer jobs and federal forfeiture money. The contract with the Axon company is automatically renewable for 9 years if the department wants to continue its usage for the next decade.
The total cost for the next decade of using the Axon cameras would be over $16,000,000.
(logo courtesy of Springfield Poice Dept)