Greenville approves one-year Motorola AI assist pilot for police; data use questions remain

The Greenville City Council on Tuesday approved a one-year, no-cost pilot of Motorola Solutions' AI assist platform for the police department, a tool the department says will help officers quickly search policies and procedures, offer translation support and assist with certain report tasks.

"The police department is asking for a resolution to enter into a 1 year no cost agreement with Motorola Solutions for what they call their AI assist software," Chief Chris Smith told council. He described the platform as "very limited" and said it's mainly intended to speed policy lookups and support translation in the field. Smith said the system would be tested to see whether the department wants to continue it after the trial.

Council members asked several questions about data ownership and cybersecurity during the presentation. "At the end of this test, do they get to maintain the information gleaned from it?" one councilmember asked. Chief Smith said he did not have full answers but noted that the city's policies and procedures are public records and that the platform is integrated with the department's existing Motorola Spillman records system. Another councilmember asked whether Motorola would retain reports generated through the assistant; Chief Smith said he would obtain details and return them to the council.

After the follow-up discussion, the council voted to adopt the pilot agreement unanimously. Staff said they would provide further information to the council about data retention and security before the pilot proceeds further.