Rockland Police Keep Code Four’s AI Reports, but Editing Still Decides the Payoff

Rockland Police Department has signed a yearlong contract with Code Four after using the company’s AI report-writing software for several months. The department began with a free trial; the system turns body-camera audio and video into incident-report drafts that officers must review and edit before signing.

The deal grew through a local police referral. Rockland asked Wilton’s police chief about that department’s experience with Code Four before signing up. Deputy Chief Alex Gaylor said the tool gets paperwork done faster and that its drafts often include more detail.

Review is the product’s hard boundary

Code Four requires officers to edit and review generated reports before signing them. Its check against rubber-stamping is unusually literal: officers must remove intentionally incorrect words, which the company calls “Easter eggs,” from the draft.

That safeguard does not erase the workflow trade-off. Some Rockland officers have chosen not to use Code Four because the drafts can require time-consuming edits, even when the software can save time overall.

More input does not settle accuracy

Code Four presents its use of video alongside audio as a safeguard over audio-only systems. Experts cited in the Maine reporting said the additional input could also create more opportunities for errors. Gaylor said Rockland had not encountered hallucinations while using Code Four.

The risk is not theoretical for the category. A Draft One report in Utah drew attention in January after body-camera audio apparently captured a movie playing nearby and the draft described an officer shape-shifting into a frog. The Electronic Frontier Foundation said last year that Draft One lacked adequate oversight and transparency mechanisms industrywide.

Augusta has not committed

Code Four has offered Augusta Police Department a free trial. Augusta requested a cost estimate but was not using the software when it commented. Company co-founder and chief executive George Cheng said the company had grown from about 50 law-enforcement customers in February to nearly 140 nationwide.

Cheng also says Code Four meets FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Division standards for encryption, cybersecurity and access controls. That claim covers one part of adoption. Rockland’s experience raises a more immediate question: Does the required human review save officers enough time to keep using the tool?