Police departments in Idaho are using artificial intelligence to draft police reports based on body camera recordings, a move that aims to reduce the time spent reviewing hundreds of hours of recordings, but raises legal and ethical concerns about the accuracy of reports and the possibility of violating litigants' rights.
For more than a year, the Bukatillo City Police have been using Code Four, a program developed by former MIT graduates that analyzes body camera recordings, listens to dialogs, identifies speakers and sequences of events, and then prepares a draft report that is presented to the officer for review and amendment before it is officially adopted. Caldwell City also joined the use of the system after the Bukatillo City Council agreed to extend his contract by $33.6 thousand.
Reduce administrative burdens
And police departments emphasize that the goal of using artificial intelligence is to reduce the administrative burden on officers, as reporting takes long hours compared to the short time it takes to respond to incidents. The Bukatillo police say the technology allows officers to spend more time on fieldwork and community service rather than rewatching recordings and writing reports manually.
It is estimated that Caldwell police officers produce hundreds of hours of body camera footage per month, making it a major challenge for human cadres to fully review.
Legal and ethical concerns
Legal experts warn that excessive reliance on artificial intelligence could lead to errors in police reports, which could affect the course of justice, given the reliance of judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers on these reports in their decisions.
And a 2025 report by Fair and Just Prosecution suggests that the use of AI in reporting could lead to what is known as “cognitive dump,” where officers rely on the system to remember facts, reducing their focus and ability to detect errors or fine details.
The human element is indispensable
And the developers of Code Four emphasize that the program is not a substitute for officers, but a utility, stressing that artificial intelligence is "not infallible", and that the responsibility for reviewing the final report lies with the officer.
And so the Pocatello police have put in place controls that prevent the use of the system in sensitive cases, such as murders, violence and assaults, where investigators and competent cadres review recordings and prepare reports themselves, while the use of artificial intelligence is limited to routine cases, such as traffic violations and nuisance complaints.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Police
And while more than 100 police departments in the U.S. have partnered with Code Four, some departments, such as the Ada County Sheriff's Office and Boise City Police, have preferred not to adopt the technology yet.
And officials and experts believe that the entry of artificial intelligence into policing has become unavoidable, but they stress that the success of this experiment depends on the continuation of full human supervision, and not allowing the technology to replace the officer's experience or legal responsibility.
The report concludes that AI can contribute to raising the efficiency of policing and speeding up reporting, but it cannot replace human judgment or understand precise human contexts, making human review a prerequisite for ensuring fairness and accuracy of legal procedures.
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