David Lawrence was a Harvard Law student when an on-campus shooting involving a police officer sparked intense controversy over police conduct. Realizing that most policing errors occur when officers lack instant access to department rules, Lawrence dropped out to tackle the problem with AI. He teamed up with co-founders Amit Patankar, a Harvard MBA and former Google engineer, and Michael Gropman, a retired Boston police deputy chief, to launch Blue Voice—a Boston-based AI startup that provides real-time policy guidance to officers in the field.
Three years later, Blue Voice is coming out of stealth with $6 million in funding led by SignalFire and Las Olas VC. Officers at 225 county agencies across 25 states now rely on the tool daily to ensure their actions follow department protocol—a platform Lawrence likens to Harvey, the AI tool widely used by lawyers, or OpenEvidence, which is a similar tool for doctors.
