Thunder Bay police survey suggests public supports AI recognition software, but want to see oversight policy

Officials with the Thunder Bay Police Service say a public survey suggests the public supports having officers use artificial intelligence software when searching surveillance video, but an oversight policy would be needed to ensure the software is used properly.

The software, called BriefCam, was acquired by city police for use as, essentially, a video search tool, as it can search hours of video much more efficiently than officers can.

Thunder Bay police director of communications and technology Chris Adams said the software has only been used as part of a pilot project so far, but the results were "quite dramatic" in terms of the software's efficiency.

"Say you had approximately just over 3,000 hours for example, of video to examine," Adams said. "That is tremendous as far as the amount of time that an investigator would have to actually sit in front of the screen and try to look at these videos in real time."

Using BriefCam, Adams said, the same amount of video can be search for a specific thing — say, a vehicle or article of clothing — in about 30 hours.

The software was acquired as part of an overall expansion of the city's Eye on the Street camera program, which included the creation of a secure network connecting the cameras to a central control centre, a report to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board states. However, the BriefCam software can also be used to analyze video from other sources.

On Tuesday, a report was presented to the Thunder Bay Police Services Board outlining the responses to a recent public survey about the use of the software.

The survey drew more than 500 responses; about 71 per cent of those agreed the software would be an aid to investigators.

About 19 per cent said use of the software would be a "bad idea."

However, 48 per cent strongly agreed, and 23 per cent somewhat agreed, that the city's police services board must develop a policy to ensure proper oversight.

Police board secretary John Hannam told CBC News in an email that the board's governance committee will be developing the policy, but it's unclear when the policy will be finalized.

Adams said there is still other work to do in terms of BriefCam, as well.

"We still have some more consultation to do," he said. "We have spoken to other police services who have used BriefCam, and we're sharing our information with them as well."

"We have to consult with the Crown Attorney's office. We did an initial consult on that as far as how does this look as far as evidence goes, and taking a case forward."

However, while BriefCam does also have facial recognition capabilities, a report to the police board from police Chief Dan Taddeo is recommending those capabilities should not be used "for the foreseeable future."

"Facial recognition is probably one of the most controversial aspects of technology that is out there," Adams said. "There is a concern on the public's part, and I think it's one we obviously have to listen to, is the concern that it could be misused."

"So as far as we're concerned, the object recognition, that means searching based on a colour of a coat someone is wearing or a car or truck description, that's extremely useful, extremely efficient, and we think that is effective for us right now."

Taddeo's report also recommends BriefCam only be used to investigators who have received the proper training, and that the software's use be audited twice a year to ensure it's following policy.