Wright County Sheriff’s Office First in Minnesota to Deploy AI-Powered Wearable Cameras

(KNSI) – The Wright County Sheriff’s Office is becoming the first in the state to use a wearable computer system to enhance officer safety and community trust.

The Oracle Public Safety Wearable Computer Systems are AI-powered, officer-worn devices that automatically record interactions. The move is phase one of the rollout. After the next phase, a plan is to stream high-quality, live footage to an office command center to deliver real-time situational awareness during incidents.

Before this system was used, Captain Ryan Ferguson says the agency didn’t have an officer worn system and instead relied on a “cumbersome, hardware-based squad camera system that delayed our office’s access to critical video footage.” He says the sheriff’s office and Oracle worked together and allowed the department to have a voice in the system’s design, adding, “We can now offload video via cellular in the field with reliable connectivity to allow for fast deployment by officers across our large county. And, once implemented, the live-streaming capabilities will offer everyone confidence that interactions are securely recorded, reinforcing transparency and trust.”

Wright County Sheriff’s Office members’ response to the ease of use of the Oracle system has been overwhelmingly positive. “Our experience with Oracle has been outstanding, from the first discovery phase to the current implementation, and there is a lot of excitement about having the cameras live,” said Wright County technical application specialist, Jody Gagnon.

The Wright County Sheriff’s Office is the third-largest sheriff’s office in Minnesota, servicing unincorporated areas of the 714-square-mile county and providing contract police services to 13 cities. Seventy percent of Wright County’s 176 sworn personnel are already using the system, with plans to reach 100% in the next two weeks.

Wright County is excited about how Oracle will help its officers work more efficiently. They say officers spend a lot of time on manual processing, but with the automation and streamlined nature of this system, deputies could save up to two hours each week. The system should also speed up how quickly evidence gets processed and transferred, which means cases can close faster and the courts can work more efficiently.

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