California county sheriff’s office starts using AI software to redact documents

The sheriff’s office in Riverside County, California, this week announced it’s using AI-powered redaction software, allowing officers to accelerate the process of concealing personal information — such as names, addresses or other identifying details — to safeguard the privacy of individuals involved in investigations or captured in recorded footage.

Software provided by the California AI firm Veritone, called Redact, will assist law enforcement officers in automatically identifying and redacting sensitive content, like faces, license plates and other personally identifiable information, across bodycam, dashcam, CCTV, interview footage and other digital evidence.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office is often tasked with managing large amounts of digital media,” Wenndy Brito-Gonzalez, a public information officer for the sheriff’s office, told StateScoop in an emailed statement. “With Redact, we can now manage this data more securely and efficiently.”

Brito-Gonzalez said the automation feature will reduce the manual workload and free up staff for other tasks.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department claims to be the state’s second-largest police agency, with more than 4,000 staff responsible for law enforcement in unincorporated areas, contract cities and other duties like jail management and court services.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office aims to process and redact sensitive audio, image, and video evidence quickly and accurately, often with limited resources. By combining the speed of AI with the expertise of our law enforcement professionals, we can help ensure accuracy and accountability, leading to faster case resolution and improved transparency,” Brito-Gonzalez said.

She said the redaction software will also help the sheriff’s office comply with Freedom of Information Act requests, which has exemptions that protect certain types of information from public disclosure, including individual privacy of individuals, government functions and national security. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office also uses redaction software to process FOIA requests.

“The growing demand for public records requests can strain our daily law enforcement resources,” Brito-Gonzalez said. “Redact allows us to be more effective and efficient in this effort – enabling us to maximize our existing resources.”