On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council approved one of the most significant tech upgrades for the city’s police department in more than 20 years, allocating more than $120 million for drones and tools powered by artificial intelligence. The Dallas Police said one of the biggest upgrades is the a bility to translate spoken languages through their Axon body-worn cameras. “You’ll push a button, and it’ll tell you what the person told you. You can talk back, and it’ll translate back for them,” Assistant Chief Richard Foy said. Foy said the real-time translation technology will be crucial for communicating with international fans during the FIFA World Cup. The upgraded body-worn cameras will also soon be able to help develop the framework for police reports using AI. Right now, Foy said officers spend about 25% of their shifts writing reports at police stations. He expected the AI technology to save police officers significant time. “It’s going to be hundreds of thousands of man-hours when it’s implemented and gone live,” Foy said. For the first time, Dallas Police will use drones as first responders, dispatching them to certain calls to verify caller information and improve officer safety. “It’s also going to give real-time eyes on a situation that officers will know what’s going on, especially in a critical incident, before they arrive, so they’re not having to evaluate as soon as they get on scene,” Foy said. The upgrades come as Dallas Police continue to fill their ranks. The agreement will increase the number of Officer Safety Plan licenses from 3,500 to 4,000, bringing cutting-edge technology to North Texas’s largest police department. “Everybody that we hire also has to be equipped with the latest technology, and it’s going to be better for the city and better for the citizens,” Foy said. The new technology is expected to roll out in the coming months. ...read more read less