AI program geared to simplify and expedite police reports
Code Four's Insight tool aims to cut report-writing time and help detectives connect evidence faster
Officers and detectives can spend up to 40 percent of their time writing up reports after an arrest, a process Code Four said it has simplified using AI.
On average, a police officer can spend up to 40 percent of their time writing up reports, and they are often very similar to others, almost cookie-cutter in style. That can be a huge waste of valuable time, according to George Cheng.
It's the reason he started his company, Code Four, and created Insight, an automated "detective" AI program built to streamline that reporting process.
"A case does not go cold because the lead was never there," Cheng said. "It goes cold because the lead was buried. Detectives are still forced to study every case manually. With Insight, it can bring all the information together. It does not replace the investigator, but it brings the information into focus, connects the evidence, shows the sources and prepares the case for review."
He said modern investigations are buried across disconnected systems: records management systems, security cameras, body-worn camera footage, financial records, cell phone and tower dumps, and thousands of pages of unstructured reports.
"Insight can parse data from any RMS, and, without the need for integration, analyze video and documents, surface key connections, and identify timelines," Cheng said. "That helps detectives find the signal inside overwhelming amounts of case information."
The company began in May 2025 in California, where Code Four is based, and is being used in over 120 departments nationwide. Utah has several departments where officers are using the program, including some officers in West Jordan, South Jordan, Taylorsville, Draper, Sandy,
Midvale, Murray, Riverton. West Valley City, Millcreek, Herriman. Bountiful, Woods Cross, North Salt Lake, Centerville, Kaysville, Layton, South Salt Lake City, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs.
"For officers, we offer a pretty lightweight patrol writing tool," Cheng said. "It can take in the video and audio from an officer and write that up automatically into reports. We've spoken with many officers and asked them what they have needed. Then we created the program."
Cheng believes that AI can help expedite the process and produce a report that offers cross-reference.
"There's a lot of time-saving, but more importantly, savings from lawsuits that officers could be facing if they don't write a good report," Cheng said, "because reports that are inaccurately written can get torn apart by defense attorneys. We're helping save officers' careers. One reason I do this is that you can catch a criminal 10 times faster than if you are doing this by hand. We're helping to work on unsolved crimes, and helping to keep cities safe."
He said Insight can also be used by prosecutors and district attorney offices. More information can be found at codefour.com.
