The Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office uses AI software Truleo to analyze body camera footage for potential issues.
KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — The Kershaw County Sheriff’s Office is leaning into artificial intelligence with new software designed to review officer body camera footage and flag potential issues.
The department is now using a platform called Truleo, which analyzes body camera video to evaluate officers’ interactions with the public.
“Technology is here, and we can avoid it if we want to, but I have chose to embrace it and use it to our advantage,” said Sheriff Lee Boan.
Capt. David Miller, who leads the department’s investigations unit, said he’s seen plenty of new technology over the years, including tasers, body cams and drones, but nothing quite like this.
“You’re working and you have questions about what the law is, or what the policy is, or what the CDR code is that goes on a warrant — and you can ask Truleo,” Miller said. “It will spit it out to you. It will tell you what it is.”
The department says the software also helps officers stick to the facts.
“It focuses more on fact than emotions,” Boan said. “Sometimes when the human element gets put in — unlike AI — then emotions get put in also.”
Truleo can analyze recorded video and flag interactions, including whether inappropriate language is used. It also assists with writing incident reports.
But Boan emphasized that the goal isn’t just to find mistakes.
“If all you are looking for are law enforcement mistakes, you’ll find them,” he said. “But the good stuff, the more chances we can get to push out the good stuff, because 99.9% of the time the guys are doing really good stuff,” says Boan.
Officers can access the software from their patrol cars by logging in on their laptops, making it easy to use in the field.
Anthony Tassone, CEO and co-founder of Truleo, said a human still makes the final decision when it comes to reviewing or addressing flagged incidents.
“It’s part of your equipment,” Tassone said. “It writes reports for you, it keeps you out of trouble, it gives you credit if you’re doing a good job.”
Boan said he learned about the software after the University of South Carolina’s Department of Criminology released a study on its impact.
“Not only does it make officers happier, it improves their wellness, their morale, it makes them more efficient,” Tassone said. “But also, the community gets better outcomes.”
According to Truleo, hiring someone to manually watch and transcribe the same amount of video already reviewed by the sheriff’s department would cost more than $800,000 over a two-week span.
Kershaw County was able to purchase the software through its existing budget. About 10 officers are out patrolling at any given time, all with access to the AI system.
