BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – Axon body cameras capture the law enforcement interactions all across the country. Now, Bexar County will be implementing that same technology to allow deputies to communicate with those who do not speak English.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said the cameras came equipped with both a language translation and an auto-detect language feature.
“The camera itself will figure out what language that person is speaking, and then make that conversation easier,” Salazar said.
The feature is called the Translate Assistant.
Salazar said the feature uses artificial intelligence to translate 60 different languages and counting.
When a deputy engages someone who does not speak English, they press a button on the body cam and an audible message prompts the deputy to choose what language they need translated, or if they need a language to be identified.
Once the language is determined, Salazar said, “the deputy can actually speak that into the camera and it’ll then automatically translate.”
There is a noticeable delay, but Salazar said waiting a few seconds for the language to be translated is way faster than the usual go-to.
“(We usually) call a deputy that speaks the language that (person speaks),” Salazar said, “and that could take 20 or 30 minutes, especially out in unincorporated Bexar County.”
The sheriff said he ordered patrol deputiesto be trained first because they are the ones that people interact with the most.
Members of the patrol class that graduated a few weeks ago were trained first and now are patroling county roads and streets.
But he said all deputies will be eventually be trained to use the Translate Assistant.
The sheriff’s office is hoping for clearer communication, especially in dire situations, such as when deputies are assisting victims of crimes like human smuggling.
“They may be from an Arab country or an Asian country and absolutely having this technology at our fingertips that allows us to not just communicate with this person,” Salazar said, “but figure out exactly what it is that they’ve been through.”
Looking ahead: Monetary damages to be determined by AI, as well
Soon, deputies will also be trained to use the artificial intelligence to determine the value of items damaged during scenarios that require a deputy to make a report.
Examples of damaged items would include vehicle lights or windows.
Deputies are also able to reference the sheriff’s office policies by communicating with the bodycam, without having to refer to their manuals.
Salazar’s hope is that these AI features allow deputies to carry out their duties a little more efficiently.
“It’s absolutely vital that we’re able to communicate with as many people as effectively as we can,” Salazar said.
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