South Fulton Police to incorporate artificial intelligence tool in 2024

December 22nd, 2023

South Fulton recently partnered with IBM to incorporate AI to predict possible crimes. ACLU officials say residents should be particularly concerned with the deployment of Al as the neighboring city of Atlanta sits among the most surveilled cities in the country. (Pixabay)

Police in South Fulton plan to incorporate artificial intelligence or AI, which they say is a way to increase efficiency in the department.

South Fulton recently partnered with the technology company IBM to assist officers with cases in real-time. Police say the new tech is a necessary tool for a new crime center planned for next year.

Brendan O’Neil is the captain of Intelligence and Technology with the police department. He says the AI would work as a predictor of possible crimes.

“The AI is looking for behaviors … there’s some concerns out there with facial recognition type of AI, but that’s not what we’re going to be utilizing in this sense. So it’s just going to analyze behavior,” O’Neil said.

O’Neil says the police will train the AI to pick repeated actions commonly occurring with crimes, like constantly pulling on door handles before a break-in. Police would then verify these actions before arrests, ultimately speeding up police procedure.

Critics of AI usage in law enforcement, like Christopher Bruce with American Civil Liberits of Georgia, say residents should have more say.

“Remember, artificial intelligence is still manmade. It still has serious biases and perceptions within it. And if it’s just the police that’s using it, it is going to be the police bias that’s going to be used within it,” Bruce said. “Artificial intelligence can be used by police departments, if they also bring in the community as partners, to make sure that public safety is foremost, and not the invasion of people’s privacy.

ACLU officials say residents of South Fulton should be particularly concerned with the deployment of Al. According to the human rights organization, the neighboring city of Atlanta sits among the most surveilled cities in the country.

Meanwhile, Police say conversations around the new tech have surfaced in multiple city meetings. Operations are expected to begin at the top of 2024.