Fargo mayoral candidates share their thoughts on case of Tennessee woman held for crime she did not commit

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — For over a week, Fargo Police have been faced with scrutiny after news of a Tennessee woman was held for nearly six months in jail for a crime she did not commit.

“We just feel so bad that this happened for this lady. I mean this disrupted her life totally. And so there’s things that we can do that we will do and the first step is to have this investigated as to what were the actions that the city took and what can we do. And so our next step is that,” said Dave Piepkorn, City Commissioner.

Early this week, city commissioners held an executive session to discuss with an attorney on actions they may have to take in the near future with Angela Lipps. While city commissioner Denise Kolpack knows Fargo Police will do their own investigation, she believes there still needs to be better communication in the future.

“There’s an analysis after the fact on what we can learn and what we can do better. But I think communication overall could have been better about this,” said Denise Kolpack, City Commissioner.

But besides communication, the one thing that has been on everyone’s minds has been the use of artificial intelligence in this case.

“There’s a lot of great applications of AI. But, I think a lot of Fargo residents don’t understand how it’s being used, and I don’t think the city has done a good job in being proactive in that conversation,” said Sen. Josh Boschee, (D) Fargo.

“I think we should put a pause on it, give it some more observation and really develop it to the point that at least we can be seventy-five, eighty percent, ninety percent sure. And even at that we still putting in some work to make sure we not just in a hurry,” said Sekou Sirleaf, Chair of Human Rights Commission.

The City of Fargo is underway with new policies and rulings on the use of artificial intelligence as Lipps case is one of many across the country that has been accused of a crime with the aid of AI.

Another candidate running for mayor did not respond in time to be included in the story.