David Lawrence was pursuing a law degree at Harvard when a shooting on campus involving a police officer ignited fierce debate about law enforcement conduct. It became clear to him that many policing mistakes happen because officers can't quickly access their own department's rules in the moment. So, he made the bold choice to leave school and build a solution using artificial intelligence.

Lawrence joined forces with Amit Patankar—a Harvard MBA and former Google engineer—and Michael Gropman, a retired deputy chief from the Boston Police Department. Together, they founded Blue Voice, a Boston-based startup that gives officers real-time policy guidance while they're out in the field. Now, three years in, the company is stepping out of stealth mode with $6 million in funding, led by SignalFire and Las Olas VC. The platform is already used daily by officers across 225 county agencies in 25 states, helping them stay aligned with department protocols. Lawrence compares Blue Voice to Harvey, the popular AI assistant for lawyers, or OpenEvidence, which serves a similar role for doctors.

Before Blue Voice existed, an officer who couldn't recall a specific procedure—like the exact seventh step at a crime scene—had limited options. They could dig through a 15,000-page manual, wake up a supervisor in the middle of the night, or turn to generic tools like Google or ChatGPT, which weren't trained for policing. Those approaches either took too long or produced wrong answers as often as 30% of the time, according to Lawrence. Blue Voice tackles this by training on department-specific laws, local ordinances, protocols, and guidelines that general-purpose AI simply can't access on the open web. The tool also provides officers with detailed school maps on their phones during active-shooter situations.

Today, Blue Voice fields a question every minute. Lawrence notes that officers trust the platform because it always directs them to the original regulations rather than just generating a response on its own, the way ChatGPT might. It doesn't dictate what to do; it simply presents the relevant laws, leaving the final call to the officer's judgment and experience.

Over the past year, Blue Voice has grown its customer base elevenfold, and Lawrence attributes that to tangible outcomes—lower crime rates and fewer operational controversies. He points to a recent case where a rookie officer noticed a man pressuring a young girl to get into his vehicle. Unsure if he had legal grounds to intervene, the officer pulled up Blue Voice on his phone. The app instantly confirmed the situation met the legal definition of "child enticement"—which covers attempts to lure a minor for criminal purposes—giving him the authority to act right away. In another instance, the platform reminded a department chief that an officer couldn't return to duty after a shooting without first getting a third-party mental health evaluation.

The startup also faces competition from private-equity-backed Lexipol, and Blue Voice has recently added features to help detectives crack cold cases. As police use of AI—like Flock Safety's license plate readers—comes under increasing scrutiny, Lawrence hopes Blue Voice shows that thoughtfully applied AI can enhance public safety without eroding civil rights. Having previously worked for Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Lawrence developed a strong commitment to public service and says he has no regrets about leaving law school. "This is the best thing I could do with my career and the most impact I could potentially make," he said.

Above, left to right: Michael Gropman, David Lawrence, and Amit Patankar.