GOODYEAR, AZ — The Goodyear Police Department is using artificial intelligence to help track down suspects.
The police department recently released an AI-created photo of a suspect who attempted to grab a young woman earlier this month near Village Boulevard and Watkins Street.
Fortunately, the victim was able to get away and run home, where her family contacted police.
The photo provided is not a real person, but another version of a suspect “sketch,” and was generated based on witness and victim statements.
Police are hoping the AI image will be another way to help solve crimes.
"We are hopeful that these new techniques and AI technology will assist in solving more complex cases in the future, here in Arizona and around the country," the Goodyear Police Department said.
ABC15 reached out to other Valley police departments to ask about their usage of AI.
Scottsdale Police Department provided the following statement:
We had approximately 40 Scottsdale PD employees from across the department test Axon’s Draft One program for numerous weeks. Our test ended on February 28, and the employees who used it said it made report writing easier and faster. Officers still write portions of the report and officers and their supervisors still review the content of the reports to ensure everything is accurate and correct. Scottsdale PD has not made Draft One accessible to all field employees yet.
Glendale Police Department provided the following statement:
We do in fact use AI under different circumstances.
For example, we have a great relation/partnership with AXON. There are different AI features as part of the tools they offer to our department such as “Auto-Transcribe” and Face, License Plate, and Screen detection on body and fleet camera videos.
Our RTCC uses “BriefCam” which is a tool that assists our RTCC Operators in processing video evidence to be more efficient when looking for specific details such as certain types of vehicles, colors of vehicles or clothing, and people.
Again, our RTCC as well as our Communications Center, uses “Smart Transcription” to improve efficiency when processing information from both emergency and non-emergency 911 calls. This is useful for ensuring all details provided to our Dispatchers and Call Takers gets relayed to our responding officers out on the street.
As far as other uses for AI such as report writing, our department is always looking to innovate and move forward to become more efficient and better serve our community. We regularly look for opportunities to improve the way we operate, and if AI proves to be successful and reliable, our City Leadership considers all opportunities for growth.
