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Pasco interim police chief outlines drones, Axon systems and AI-assisted reports; council raises privacy concerns
Summary
Interim Police Chief Cook told the Pasco City Council about expanded use of drones, Axon-connected cameras and AI-assisted report drafts, citing operational gains; council members praised safety benefits but pressed about privacy, ALPR rules and safeguards against immigration enforcement.
Interim Police Chief Cook gave the Pasco City Council a detailed briefing on the department's technology stack, saying the tools are intended to speed response, improve evidence collection and enhance officer and public safety.
Cook described a connected Axon ecosystem — chest-mounted body cameras with roughly 160° fields of view, in-car Fleet 3 cameras, interview-room recording linked to evidence.com and Axon Fus, a real-time crime-center platform. He said Axon Citizen allows members of the public to upload relevant digital evidence and that a new AI-assisted drafting tool generates report drafts that officers then review. "The report does say that it was assisted by AI in generating," Cook said, adding prosecutors have praised the quality of the resulting reports.
He also reviewed the department's drone program and operational metrics: about 1,283 non-training flights (~300 flight hours), 365 docked flights in a pilot period, pilots first on scene 57% of the time, 10% of calls cleared without an officer having to go, and 35% of incidents in which a suspect or suspect vehicle was located first by a pilot. Cook said drones reduce the need for vehicle responses on noncritical calls and give officers more information before they arrive on scene.
On ALPR (automatic license-plate recognition), Cook said Pasco's system is currently disabled "due to the Washington state legislation," and staff are developing policies, training and audit processes required by law before reactivating fixed or mobile readers under the statute's narrow parameters.
Council members asked about device lifespans, future AI capabilities and, repeatedly, privacy and immigration-enforcement concerns. In response to whether technology would be used to track immigration status, Cook replied that "Pasco Police Department is not tracking anything that is related to immigration" and emphasized the department will follow state law and internal policy.
Several council members acknowledged the operational benefits but urged caution. Council Member Figureroa framed the tradeoff between safety and civil liberties: "If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to," she said while urging the city to ensure the human element and legal limits remain central.
No formal action was taken; the briefing was informational and council directed staff to continue policy work, training and audits required before bringing some systems back into service.
