Technology that Thunder Bay Police Service (TBPS) have been using for almost a year will be used in a more critical way, but TBPS is asking the public for their opinion first.

The artificial intelligence software called Briefcam can take help investigators by combing through hours of video footage and looking for certain indicators.

As the software continues to learn through use, investigators can ask it to look for a certain coloured car, or someone with specific clothing attributes – this could aid in investigations where there are hundreds to thousands of hours of footage that would take up huge man-hours to look through manually.

With the aid of the software, it could assist in cases like missing persons, abductions, violent & property crimes along with sudden deaths.

The survey is short and takes less than four minutes to complete. Questions range from if using AI software is a good idea to having a reporting system that goes to the Police Board.

At the start of the survey, it is indicated that there would be “very strict procedures for the limited use of facial recognition”, like in instances of missing person cases.

The survey closes on Monday, Jan. 23.