Hays County commissioners have rejected a proposed 10-year, $4.5 million expansion of the sheriff’s law-enforcement technology contract after concerns were raised about the use of artificial intelligence.
The Commissioners Court voted 3-2 on Tuesday, September 15, to remove funding for the proposed Axon package from the county’s final budget. The decision overturned an earlier 4-1 vote that had set aside money for the agreement. ([aol.com](https://www.aol.com/articles/hays-county-rejects-4-5m-000107000.html?utm_source=openai))
Hays County rejects Axon AI contract
The Hays County Sheriff’s Office already uses Axon body-worn and in-car cameras. Sheriff Anthony Hipolito had sought to broaden the partnership by adding a suite of artificial intelligence tools intended to help deputies and investigators process evidence more quickly.
The proposed technology would have included automatic transcription of recorded conversations, searches across hours of video, instant translation between languages, facial identification, the extraction of information from driving licences, evidence organisation and licence-plate searches.
Mr Hipolito said the package contained between 16 and 18 separate AI products, which he believed would make the work of officers, investigators and support staff more efficient.
One proposed report-writing tool was removed from the package after objections from the district attorney’s office. Concerns centred on the reliability of AI-generated reports and the potential legal and constitutional risks of using them in criminal cases.
County Judge Ruben Becerra was the only commissioner to vote against the earlier budget allocation. He said public opposition grew after a local forum highlighted concerns about the proposed technology and the length of the commitment.
“There’s no way a 10-year contract of any kind is good or smart,” Mr Becerra said, arguing that artificial intelligence was developing too quickly for the county to tie itself to one supplier for a decade.
He also raised concerns about data access, privacy and the possibility of information being exposed to international organisations. Those claims have not been independently established.
The money earmarked for the Axon expansion is now expected to be used to hire additional correctional officers, according to Mr Becerra.
Axon, which supplies body cameras and other public-safety technology, was approached for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
