An image from a promotional video by Axon shows an officer using the company’s Draft One program to create AI-assisted police reports based on audio from an officer’s body camera. Somerset County is moving forward with a five-contract for its Sheriff’s Office to use the technology. Axon photo

SKOWHEGAN — The Somerset County Board of Commissioners gave the green light Wednesday for the Sheriff’s Office to buy body cameras and artificial intelligence technology to assist with report writing, approving a five-year contract with Axon.

Though the contract price came in much greater than county officials had expected, the five commissioners unanimously supported the decision to move forward with acquiring the technology.

The contract with the Arizona-based company totals about $840,000, according to Somerset County Administrator Tim Curtis.

It includes body cameras for all patrol deputies and detectives, body cameras for some corrections officers, cruiser cameras and software powered by artificial intelligence, or AI, that creates a draft template of a police report.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office has never used body cameras, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said. The new cameras will replace cruiser cameras, inmate transport vehicle cameras and handheld cameras used by corrections officers during some operations, such as a jail cell extraction, he said.

The AI technology could reduce the time sheriff’s deputies spend writing reports, allowing them to focus on other work and deterring them from leaving to work for other agencies, proponents, including the sheriff, have said.

The total contract price breaks down to about $733,000 for the Sheriff’s Office, which includes 31 body cameras, Curtis said. About another $100,000 is for 10 body cameras to be used by corrections officers at the Somerset County Jail in Madison.

The contract also includes service and training from Axon, which previously provided Tasers for the Sheriff’s Office, according to Lancaster. Tasers are weapons that fire electrified darts to stun and immobilize a person.

Earlier this month, Curtis shared an estimate with the commissioners that priced the contract at about $100,000 per year over five years. He said Wednesday, however, that the estimate was incorrect, since Lancaster had not yet worked with Axon to develop an itemized list.

At the commissioners’ regular meeting Wednesday at the Somerset County Courthouse, Curtis and Finance Director Patrick Dolan said the county has the money in the current budget to acquire the cameras and software at the more-than-expected cost.

A still image taken from a promotional video shows a police officer wearing Axon’s Draft One body camera, which uses AI technology to transcribe audio and then generate police narrative reports. The Somerset County Commissioners approved a five-year contract Wednesday with Axon for the Sheriff’s Office to acquire body cameras that use artificial intelligence technology to assist with report writing. Screenshot from video by Axon

The county budgets about $60,000 per year to WatchGuard for its cruiser cameras, which will be replaced by the Axon contract, Curtis said. Removing that cost frees up about $300,000 over the five years to pay for the Axon technologies.

Axon’s services will also replace the Sheriff’s Office’s GPS tracking of its vehicles, now priced at about $5,000 per year, according to Lancaster.

“I feel probably half of this will be covered from stuff that we already have (in the budget),” Dolan said.

For the other half, Dolan added, “we’re going to have to look at other savings in other areas.”

Dolan suggested paying more of the total cost this year, with savings in the budget from open positions and other areas.

“If we front load it this year, then the other years will be closer to the $100,000, $110,000, which would be manageable,” he told the commissioners.

Budgeting for $110,000 in the next four years is an effective increase of about $50,000 over the current price of the cruiser cameras from WatchGuard, Curtis said.

“I would say, as we craft the budget for the coming years, we will probably be able to absorb that through other savings throughout the county,” Curtis said, based on the amount of undesignated fund balance available.

The commissioners said they had no objections to the proposed funding. By voting to approve the contract, they also, in effect, expressed their support for the Sheriff’s Office to utilize new AI technology that has drawn criticism from some about its accuracy since it was launched by Axon earlier this year.

Axon’s software, called Draft One, processes the audio from the body camera recording and generates a transcript, which is then turned into a police report-style narrative template for the deputy or officer to review, edit and revise, a sales representative told the Somerset County Commissioners in August. The final, edited report can then be copied into the records management software already used by the Sheriff’s Office and district attorney’s office.

According to its marketing materials, Axon has been pushing the AI software as a time-saving tool for law enforcement agencies. Lancaster told the Board of Commissioners previously that his deputies spend a significant amount of their work time writing reports.

Lancaster emphasized again Wednesday that the software produces a template draft report for deputies to review and complete before submitting.

An example of a police report is shown in a promotional video from Axon for its Draft One program, which uses AI-assisted technology to create police reports based on audio from an officer’s body camera. The report highlights sections in which an officer needs to write additional information and ultimately approve the complete report as being accurate. Axon photo

Six deputies have tested the AI feature and body cameras, Lancaster said Wednesday.

“I wanted to see how effective it was, how much time it would actually save and what that report looked like,” Lancaster said. “And at the conclusion of the tests that we were doing, all of that was on the plus side, for me.”

Curtis, the county administrator, said previously that the AI tool could help retain deputies at an agency that, like many, has struggled with staffing. Staffing levels have improved, with only one patrol deputy position open as of Wednesday, Lancaster said. The county has 17 full-time patrol deputy positions in its budget.

Commissioner John Alsop, who represents District 4 (Skowhegan and Cornville), said he supported the county’s investing in body camera technology.

“It seems to me that it’s a pretty good bargain for what we get from our tax bill for law enforcement and police protection,” Alsop said. “If this is going to reduce the likelihood of lawsuits and other expensive outcomes, I think I’m in favor of it.”

Chairman Robert Sezak, who represents District 1 (Fairfield and Norridgewock), said he supports the implementation of the AI technology because it frees up law enforcement officers to perform more tasks in the field and other necessary duties.

The body camera videos could also be used in training exercises, Sezak said in a written statement provided to the Morning Sentinel.

A similar AI-powered technology called JusticeText is also used by some defense lawyers, creating a “level playing field,” Sezak said at the meeting.

According to its website, JusticeText transcribes audio from body camera recordings, interrogation videos and jail calls. The company says it works with more than 100 public defense agencies, nonprofit service providers and private practice criminal defense firms across the country.

Body cameras and AI technology “still face cultural, legal and procedural barriers to success,” Sezak wrote in his statement.

At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, Commissioner Scott Seekins, who represents District 3, on the eastern side of the county, suggested issuing a joint statement of support of using the AI technology in response to numerous inquiries he has received in recent weeks from the news media.

The commissioners decided that was not necessary.