Edmonton police using AI to monitor public social media
By YEGWAVE
The Edmonton Police Service is using artificial intelligence to analyze what Edmontonians are saying about policing on social media.
The service uses Zencity, an AI-powered platform that scans publicly available online conversations to identify trends in public sentiment around policing, public safety and neighbourhood concerns. EPS describes it as a tool to gather community feedback and improve public trust.
What the technology does
Zencity's software monitors public posts across social media platforms, using AI to gauge how residents feel about local issues — from perceptions of safety to views on police performance. The company says the goal is to give local governments a broader picture of community sentiment than traditional surveys capture on their own.
The Edmonton Police Commission's 2025 citizen perception survey credits Zencity with helping EPS "gather and analyze Edmontonians' views on crime, disorder and neighbourhood safety."
The company behind it
Zencity was founded in Tel Aviv in 2015. Its co-founder and CEO, Eyal Feder-Levy, is a former officer of Unit 8200, the Israel Defense Forces' elite signals-intelligence branch whose alumni have gone on to found a number of prominent technology companies.
The company works with roughly 200 state and local government agencies, primarily in the United States, and has raised more than $90 million from investors including the venture arms of Salesforce and Microsoft.
Pushback in other cities
Zencity's police contracts have drawn opposition in several American cities. In Minneapolis, residents campaigned against the city's $500,000 contract with the company, raising concerns about surveillance and the use of public funds on a firm with roots in Israeli military intelligence.
Part of a broader toolkit
The Zencity contract is one element of EPS's expanding technology portfolio. The service has deployed automatic licence plate readers and mandated body-worn cameras for officers, and previously trialled facial-recognition body cameras.
