Brittany Kelley
SAN MARCOS — An acknowledgement to not activate or implement any artificial intelligence (AI) feature without court approval was made by the Hays County Sheriff’s Office in exchange for acceptance of its plan request at the Sept. 1 Hays County Commissioners Court meeting.
This follows discussion at the Aug. 25 meeting, where HCSO requested money for the Axon Era AI Plan. Here, several residents, including Amy Kamp, spoke against the item implementation, stating that there could be racial bias and data-sharing concerns. Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra also shared his opposition to the item.
Because of this, HCSO Chief Deputy Brett Bailey offered to bring back a statement noting that HCSO wouldn’t implement any additional AI services without court approval.
In the statement, Bailey stated that, HCSO “recognize[s] that this represents a significant investment by Hays County and we understand the importance of ensuring that the technology is implemented responsibly and provides meaningful value to the sheriff’s office and the citizens we serve.”
The letter continues, stating that if the court approves the plan request, the following capabilities from the plan will be included:
• Unlimited Auto Transcribe
• Auto Translate
• Axon Assistant to obtain general knowledge and policy related information
• Policy Chat for guidance with HCSO’s policies and procedures
• Unlimited Smart Detection to locate and identify human forms within video evidence
• Smart Capture for driver’s licenses
• Brief One for Law Enforcement to summarize transcripts
• AI Auto Tagging for digital evidence
• Form One to complete common forms with audio transcripts
• Attribute Search to use descriptions of clothing and accessories to locate individuals in video evidence
• CAD Call for Service Lookup
• 911 Call Lookup
• Vehicle Lookup
• Smart Performance to analyze video and performance data
• Investigative Assistant to ask questions about a case within Axon evidence and obtain answers to be verified
• AutoIntel to extract intelligence from evidence
However, it was noted that Axon Draft One, an AI report-writing feature, will not be implemented, due to concerns about its capability. Furthemore, HCSO stated that it will not implement this ability or any future abilities that become available, without court approval.
“People are not comfortable with the idea that AI is coming at a rate that no one can predict and we are wide-open door for a 10-year contract with this that’s before us,” said Becerra at the Sept. 1 meeting, though he commended Bailey’s willingness to work with and provide information on the item.
“Axon does not own our data; we own our data. This is dissimilar from the conversation we had with Flock [Safety] and I have been assured by Axon … [that] there is a safeguard between us and them. They are not able to do anything with our data, unless we give them permission,” Bailey clarified.
Additionally, Stephanie Hunt, county purchasing agent, stated that there is a procedure in place to go through to be brought to court for approval.
Commissioner Walt Smith said that the court should move forward in accepting the letter. The letter was accepted unanimously.
Following this item, Smith moved to include the first-year payment — approximately 25%, according to budget officer Scott Woodland — as part of the 10-year contract with Axon for the AI plan, in the fiscal year 2026-27 budget. The totality of the contract would amount to $4.5 million.
Becerra emphasized that “there is no world” where he would support a 10-year contract for anything, whether or not it was AI-related.
The item passed 4-1, with Becerra dissenting.
To listen to the full discussion, visit bit.ly/4clpX8q.
