The Genesis of Skynet By: Captain Sean M. Sanborn It is a weird time for people of my generation and older. Those movies we watched way back when, such as “The Terminator” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” seem to have been onto something. Today, in 2026, Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has become a thing. When we first started talking about AI a few years ago, I used to joke that it was all fun and games until Skynet became self-aware. Those who follow “The Terminator” franchise know that Skynet was the Artificial Intelligence that turned on humans and started a future war which bled into, and took place in the past, our present. The reality is that when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s, cell phones were not a thing, and electric cars were imaginative fiction. The fact is that technology is becoming prevalent in all of our lives, and law enforcement is no different. When I started my career, I was provided a patrol car that was new the year I graduated high school. It had this giant lightbar on the top with halogen lights. I recall being on a traffic crash directing traffic, and the lightbar ran my battery dead; the alternator could not keep up with the draw, and it killed the engine in my car. I had a radio, which is how we received calls for service from Dispatch, and a notebook to document my notes. I was issued a pager for call back purposes if the department needed to call me back to work. Today, things are a lot different. Our cars are more akin to aircraft cockpits. LED lights are so bright that they look like UFO’s landing. In the digital age, we can take scene photographs on our phones and email them so they are at the office before we get there. There are computers which interact wirelessly with the internet, and calls for service are on that screen where every detail that Dispatch has can be viewed prior to arrival. Maps are digitally transmitted from phones to the car, and it navigates to where one needs to go. It is amazing the leaps we have taken in the past twenty years. We still have radios, which are heavily used in our county. And we still use our notebooks. Some things will never change. Now, however, we can document each incident with Body Worn Cameras. In a lot of ways, body-worn cameras have changed the landscape for law enforcement. Many in my profession expressed disdain for this technology when it emerged. What we have found, however, is that the number of complaints we receive has gone down. For the complaints that we do receive, one can readily view the video and determine what happened in fairly quick order. Artificial Intelligence is on the horizon for law enforcement as well. Technology exists which allows AI to access body camera footage and write a report based upon that footage. To put this into perspective, when I started my career in the military, we were still writing reports using paper and pen. Drones are a huge tool in use in law enforcement now. In conjunction with K9 teams, drones are used to apprehend suspects, look for folks during Search and Rescue operations, and accurately map crash and crime scenes. All of this technology truly does make me wonder what the future will bring. However, with all this technology, the human element remains important. Machines cannot express feelings…yet. They cannot show compassion; they cannot listen to a story and express a true understanding based upon personal experience. They cannot exercise discretion outside of an algorithm, which would be akin to a slot machine hitting the jackpot. While humans are and will remain beings who are imperfect, that need is there for a person to carry out effective policing, at least in my opinion. New toys are emerging all the time, but it comes at a price. Here at the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, we tend to look for relevant and affordable technologies. Most of the new shiny stuff we get, we obtain on a grant, through fundraising, or through service contracts. We are constantly looking for alternative means to pay for new equipment to purchase the technology that is out there. In the meantime, we still have our notebooks; we still provide relevant and timely training to our employees, and we constantly stay updated on current trends in case law and with law enforcement. Despite all the technology, we are policing with the resources provided to us to the best of our ability. In the meantime, we look forward to our positive interactions with our friends and neighbors out in the county, but are prepared for those interactions which are required to keep those friends and neighbors safe. Have a great summer and be safe out there! Sean M. Sanborn Criminal Division Commander Coos County Sheriff’s Office