Harvard Law dropout raises $6M for Blue Voice to build a ‘Harvey for police officers’
techcrunch ·
David Lawrence dropped out of Harvard Law after an on-campus shooting sparked controversy over police conduct, leading him to co-found Blue Voice, an AI startup that provides real-time policy guidance to police officers. The company emerged from stealth with $6 million in funding led by SignalFire and Las Olas VC, with co-founders Amit Patankar and Michael Gropman. Blue Voice is trained on department-specific laws, ordinances, and protocols that general-purpose AI tools cannot access, and it cites original regulations rather than generating answers on its own. Officers at 225 county agencies across 25 states use the tool daily, and Blue Voice answers a question every minute. The startup grew its customer base elevenfold over the past year due to concrete results such as reduced crime and fewer operational controversies. Lawrence recounted that Blue Voice helped a rookie officer prevent a kidnapping by confirming the legal criteria for child enticement, and reminded a chief to obtain a mental health evaluation before returning an officer to duty. The company competes with PE-backed Lexipol and has also developed functionality to help detectives solve cold cases. Lawrence hopes Blue Voice demonstrates that properly deployed AI can improve public safety without sacrificing civil rights.
techcrunch