The Clackamas County Board of Commissioners is set to approve a new contract with Taser and body camera manufacturer Axon to incorporate artificial intelligence into the Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office’s process for evidence analysis.

The 10-year $2 million contract is included on the consent agenda for the commission’s Thursday, April 9, meeting, meaning the board is not planning to discuss the proposal before taking a vote.

Two years ago, the DA’s office penned a five-year $650,000 contract with Axon for a set of services called Axon Justice Premier. The new proposal amends the 2023 contract, upgrading the services the office will receive from “Justice Premier” to “Justice Premier Plus.”

The DA’s office did not respond to OPB’s questions about the new AI program and how it differs from the previous services Axon provided. A report to the commission included in the agenda states, “Justice Premier Plus includes enhanced system capabilities including AI tools that support improved evidence analysis, allowing us to take advantage of quarterly updates to improve capabilities with discovery, trial preparation, and exhibits.”

Defense attorneys, civil rights organizations, and even prosecutors have criticized another Axon AI product used by law enforcement across the country. That product, called Draft One, writes police reports for officers based on the video captured on their body cameras.

In 2024, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Washington let agencies in its jurisdiction know it would not accept police reports written with AI and specifically called out concerns with Draft One.

“It has ‘hallucinations’ (errors) both large and small. It does not track its rate of errors, or how many errors an officer fixed in prior drafts,” King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office Deputy Chief Daniel Clark wrote in a memo to law enforcement agencies in the county.

Agenda materials related to the new contract for the DA’s office notes: “The majority of our evidence comes from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, and they already have an updated contract with this company for their own digital evidence purposes.”

A sheriff’s office public information officer told OPB that its contract with Axon gives it access to Draft One “however we are not using it at this time.”

Over the past few years, Axon has toured the country, promoting Draft One to police departments. Now, it seems to be doing the same thing with its new AI for prosecutors.

Axon’s Justice Premier Plus package includes a suite of programs for prosecutors that serve similar functions as Draft One. The company’s website says its technology uses AI to transcribe interview and body camera footage and “surface key events and generate clear summaries, helping legal teams work through evidence in minutes instead of hours, without compromising diligence or discretion.”

Another function included in the Justice Premier Plus package, “Policy Chat,” provides law enforcement with “instant answers” to questions about their own agency’s policies.

As Washington state government officials embrace AI, policies are still catching up

Clark told OPB the King County Prosecutors’ Office had also been approached by Axon regarding Justice Premier Plus but was still deciding whether it would adopt the program.

While the Clackamas County DA’s office did not respond to OPB’s requests for comment on Justice Premier Plus, Clark offered insight into his thinking as the King County office — which has led the pushback on AI in police reports — grapples with whether to adopt the new technology.

Clark said AI has its uses that don’t necessarily raise the same red flags as generative AI programs like Draft One. For example, he said AI can be used to help prosecutors sift through hours of body camera footage and identify anyone wearing a red jacket, or listen to jail calls for mention of the word “gun.”

These uses, Clark said, are less concerning because they identify the source of information. He suggests a real person can go back to that source and verify whether the word “gun” was actually used or if the AI misidentified someone mentioning “gum.”

Washington city officials are using ChatGPT for government work

Clark’s concerns with AI begin when the technology starts thinking on behalf of a real person.

“If AI is being used to substitute for the discretion of a prosecutor — here are the people we think you should charge, here are the charges they should face, or here’s [what] an opening argument would look like — those to me raise more red flags,” he said.

Clark said he’s still looking at Justice Premier Plus to see where those lines are between using it as a time-saving identification tool and where it might cross into generative work creating arguments and opinions.

If prosecutors were to use Axon’s Brief One, for instance, which can “generate summaries,” there should be very clearly delineated rules about how that summary can be used. Brief One is included in the Justice Premier Plus package in the proposed contract with the Clackamas County DA’s office.

Clark added that the rise of AI use in legal filings is not limited to civil court. Though the King County Prosecutors’ Office has banned its prosecutors from using generative AI like ChatGPT, there are instances of prosecutors across the country of prosecutors using it.

As his office in Seattle and others across the country weigh whether to adopt programs like Justice Premier Plus, Clark said it’s important for prosecutors to be extremely cautious with AI.

“If you’re using AI to assist in making determinations about criminal justice matters, the consequences are extraordinarily serious and could result in disproportionate impact on the individuals involved,” he said.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/04/08/clackamas-county-district-attorney-ai/