On June 5, a Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting was asked to approve a $500,000 contract between the county and Massive Blue in order to license Overwatch.
“I was looking at the website for Massive Blue, and it’s a one-pager with no additional information and no links,” Kevin Cavanaugh, the then-supervisor for District 1, said to Pinal County’s Chief Deputy at the Sheriff’s Office, Matthew Thomas. “They produce software that we buy, and it does what? Can you explain that to us?”
“I can’t get into great detail because it’s essentially trade secrets, and I don’t want to tip our hand to the bad guys,” Thomas said. “But what I can tell you is that the software is designed to help our investigators look for and find and build a case on human trafficking, drug trafficking, and gun trafficking.”
Cavanaugh said at the board meeting that the basic information he got is that Massive Blue uses “50 AI bots.” He then asked whether the software has been successful and if it helped law enforcement make any arrests. Thomas explained they have not made any arrests yet because they’ve only seen the proof of concept, but that the proof of concept was “good enough for us and our investigators to move forward with this. Once this gets approved and we get them [Massive Blue] under contract, then we are going to move forward with prosecution of cases.”
Cavanaugh asked if Overwatch is used in other counties, which prompted Thomas to invite Clem to the podium to speak. Clem introduced himself as a recently retired border agent and said that Massive Blue is currently in negotiations with three counties in Arizona, including Pinal County.
“As a resident of 14 years of Pinal County I know what’s happening here,” Clem said to the Board of Supervisors. “To be able [to] use this program […] to provide all the necessary information to go after the online exploitation of children, trafficking victims, and all the other verticals that the sheriff may want to go after.”
Cavanaugh again asked if Massive Blue gathered any data that led to arrests.
“We have not made arrests yet, but there is a current investigation right now regarding arson, and we got the leads to the investigators,” Clem said, explaining that the program has been active for only about six months. “Investigations take time, but we’ve been able to generate the necessary leads for the particular counties that we’re involved with and also in the private sector.”
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors concluded the exchange by approving payment for a handful of other, unrelated projects, but with board members asking to delay the vote on payment for Massive Blue “for further study.”
The decision not to fund Massive Blue that day was covered in a local newspaper. Cavanaugh told the paper that he asked the company to meet with supervisors to explain the merits of the software.
“The State of Arizona has provided a grant, but grant money is taxpayer money. No matter the source of the funding, fighting human and sex trafficking is too important to risk half a million dollars on unproven technology,” he said. “If the company demonstrates that it can deliver evidence to arrest human traffickers, it may be worthwhile. However, it has yet to achieve this goal.”
