The Anchorage Police Department is now using artificial intelligence software to better review investigative data. It’s the first time APD has adopted AI for department use.
Police Chief Sean Case told Assembly members Tuesday night that the department has been testing a software called Closure for four months. He said the program is able to analyze large amounts of data.
“There's some cases where you have detectives listening to over 1,000 hours of jail call data to try to find a word, a phrase, a name, a threat, things like that,” Case said. “And so when we tested the software, one of the things that we primarily used it for was throwing in jail call data.”
Case said the department had previously tested a different AI software for writing reports, but officials decided not to adopt it.
Case said the city’s municipal attorney and prosecutors have reviewed the software, and determined it would not negatively impact the prosecution of cases.
The Assembly unanimously approved a five-year contract with Closure for $375,000 at its meeting Tuesday.
