COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The newly re-elected Cobb County sheriff has a new strategy for fighting crime in the future. Sheriff Craig Owens plans to use AI as one of the tools in his arsenal.
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In a room filled with supporters on Tuesday night, Cobb County Sheriff Craig Owens celebrated another victory.
“It feels good,” Owens said.
In an exclusive Channel 2 Action News interview Owens told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell what he plans to do over the next four years.
“I’m always trying to find the best piece of technology to help us work smarter, not harder,” Owens said.
Technology with a clear focus on artificial intelligence is at the forefront of Sheriff Owens’s strategic plan.
“We are the only agency in the state of Georgia to have AI built into the body cameras in use,” Owens said.
The AI capabilities in the body cameras cut down the time it would take deputies to write incident reports.
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“Once that call is over, he can come back to his car push a button to download and his report is automatically written. He can make sure it has no errors in it,” Owens described.
The fairly new drones have specialized features to catch criminals and detect potential threats.
“We’ve been able to send our drones to identify and locate suspects hiding in a home, roof, or attic,” Owens said.
Sheriff Owens has plans to test out a new device to get dialysis treatments to inmates quickly.
“This mobile dialysis unit is new on the market. Demo that as well. It will save us time in taking people out of the facility for treatment,” Owens said.
Owens told Newell the mobile dialysis machine would help cut back on transports to the hospital and manpower.
He plans on testing it out at some point in the near future.
Owens’ team is testing out jail robots. His agency is the only one in the state, with those special body cameras and drones.
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