In Lafayette, Indiana, the local police department recently took a leap into the future by trying out a new AI tool called Form One, sold by the law enforcement tech giant Axon. This company is worth a whopping $35 billion and is mostly known for its tasers, but now it aims to revolutionize police paperwork. Form One was designed to save time by listening to audio from police body cameras and auto-filling details of police reports like names, vehicle plates, and even the occasional cat video. At least, that was the plan.
After seven months of putting Form One through its paces, officers are singing a different tune than what they expected. Instead of making their lives easier, many found that it was just adding to their workloads. Emails obtained from public records showed officers feeling frustrated with the tool. One officer expressed that the accuracy issues meant they were spending more time fixing mistakes than they would have spent filling out the reports manually. What should have been a quick 30-second task now took three minutes, thanks to a barrage of errors. Clearly, this didn’t seem like an “AI to the rescue” situation. More of a “AI, what went wrong?” scenario.
In a world where police reports play a critical role in the criminal justice system, accuracy is essential. Officers often dedicate up to 15 hours a week filling out these reports, and if they’re filled with inaccuracies, it could create a ripple effect that goes beyond just an annoying paperwork delay. The department was looking for an AI solution to help ease this burden, not add another layer of frustration to it. The irony here is thick as the officers were trying to reduce their busywork but found themselves grappling with an AI that didn’t quite hit the mark.
Axon has tried to defend Form One, stating it’s still in the early access phase, meant for feedback from agencies before a wider release. The company also pointed out that the officers always have the final say on what gets included in the reports. One Lafayette Sergeant confirmed that many of the officers’ concerns were noted for improvement, but specifics on what exactly was fixed were left to our imaginations. As of now, the future of Form One in Lafayette remains uncertain.
Another layer to this story is that Axon’s AI report-writing capabilities, such as Draft 1, have had a rocky history. Studies from departments like Manchester Police in New Hampshire showed that using AI didn’t actually speed up report writing as one might hope. Officers, while ambivalent about the usefulness of these tools, ended up spending more time fixing the AI’s initial draft than they would have if they typed out the reports themselves. The Anchorage Police Department also found no significant time savings and ultimately abandoned the tool.
In the end, it feels like the world of AI just can’t catch a break. What was supposed to be a leap forward in efficiency has turned, in some cases, into a step sideways or even back. The road to smoother police reporting with AI feels a bit bumpy, but perhaps there’s hope that with enough feedback, iteration, and a sprinkle of common sense, these tools could evolve into what they’re meant to be—helpers not hindrances. As for Lafayette, officers may still be waiting for the promised efficiencies as they trudge through paperwork the old-fashioned way.
