Six-month controlled pilot

Reduce administrative burden. Return time to public safety.

A limited pilot could test whether AI-assisted reporting, better overtime categorization, and operational dashboards reduce avoidable cost while returning sworn and supervisory hours to patrol, investigations, and leadership.

Proposal basis: Adapted from an independent August 2026 citizen proposal prepared for consideration by the Finance Commission of an Orange County city. Figures below are illustrative assumptions that require procurement, legal, labor, information-security, Police Department, and Finance Department validation.

Pilot objective

Test a narrow use case before considering a larger commitment.

The proposed pilot concentrates on administrative work—not discretionary enforcement decisions, autonomous report submission, or predetermined staffing reductions.

Reduce shift-extension overtime

Measure whether less report-writing and duplicate data entry reduces administrative overtime within one defined test group.

Police officer activating a body-worn camera in a police administrative office — Body-camera activation

Recapture officer time

Track hours returned to patrol, investigations, supervision, and other productive public-safety functions separately from cash savings.

Police officer completing an administrative report in a police office — Report writing

Improve management visibility

Organize scheduling, vacancies, leave, overtime causes, and operational indicators into timely, reviewable information.

Police supervisor reviewing a digital report with an officer in an office — Supervisor review

Proposed scope

One team. One test group. One measurable question.

A small implementation team could work with one patrol shift or specialized unit, creating a defined comparison group and limiting operational risk.

Establish a historical baseline

Document report-processing time, administrative shift extensions, overtime causes, staffing constraints, and service measures before deployment.

Configure authorized data workflows

Connect only approved records and define retention, access, audit, review, and security requirements before using operational information.

Assist with initial report drafting

Test whether authorized dispatch records, officer notes, or body-worn-camera audio can support initial drafts that officers fully review, correct, and approve.

Categorize overtime by cause

Separate vacancy coverage, minimum staffing, sick leave, vacation, court, training, investigations, special events, and emergency response.

Track results throughout the pilot

Compare spending, hours, report time, workload, response, coverage, and quality indicators—not cost alone.

Present an independent cost-benefit review

At Month 6, determine whether validated savings and capacity gains exceed implementation and ongoing costs.

Illustrative investment

A proposed $90,000 six-month test.

The proposal uses a planning budget for roughly 30 test-group users. Actual pricing would depend on procurement, integration, data preparation, security requirements, and selected technology.

ExpensePlanning descriptionEstimate

Software licensingIllustrative subscription for approximately 30 test users$15,000

Technology-team laborContracted data-integration specialist for six months$65,000

Compliance and auditingData-security, legal, policy, and output-review work$10,000

Total pilot investmentIllustrative planning estimate$90,000

Illustrative economic test

A measurable hypothesis—not a promise.

The proposal tests whether four administrative overtime hours per officer per week could be avoided across a 30-officer group at a blended overtime rate of $90 per hour.

Weekly gross savings$10,8004 hours × 30 officers × $90

24-week gross savings$259,200Illustrative six-month basis

Pilot investment$90,000Planning estimate

Projected net benefit$169,200Before financing or discounting

Important: These calculations are scenario assumptions from the proposal, not results achieved by that Orange County city or guaranteed savings. The $169,200 figure is presented as projected net benefit, not net present value, because no discount-rate analysis was included.

Success measures

Financial results must be evaluated beside service results.

Targets would be finalized only after a verified baseline and agreement among Police, Finance, Information Services, labor representatives, legal counsel, and City management.

Administrative shift-extension overtime hours and dollars
Overtime by cause, shift, and organizational unit
Average report-processing and review time
Administrative hours per officer and supervisor
Hours returned to patrol and investigations
Scheduling and vacancy-coverage efficiency
Report accuracy, correction, and approval rates
Response, coverage, readiness, and other service levels

Public-safety safeguards

AI assists. Accountable people decide.

The pilot should stop or be redesigned if financial gains depend on weakened service standards, unreliable outputs, unacceptable security exposure, or unapproved changes to working conditions.

Human review and sign-off

No report is independently submitted by AI. The responsible officer reviews, corrects, and approves every draft.

Labor engagement before launch

Representatives should review the scope, measures, workflows, workload effects, and applicable agreements before the pilot begins.

Legal, privacy, and security review

City counsel and information-security staff determine applicable requirements, acceptable data uses, retention rules, audit trails, and access controls.

Test the assumptions yourself.

Adjust test-group size, hours, overtime rate, pilot duration, and program cost in the transparent CityBudget.ai planning model.

Open the savings model