BACKGROUND:
The 2021 DPS budget includes an expenditure for the purchase of a body-worn camera system for the Police Department. After extensive testing and evaluation by police personnel, the Axon body-worn camera (BWC) system was deemed to be a superior product and system from a user and admin/support perspective. The Axon BWC system was quoted for a five-year program that includes all necessary equipment, unlimited cloud storage, software licenses and updates for a total cost of $182,081.78 (discount applied), with the below listed program payments:
2021 – $61,121.78 (purchase of forty-four cameras, charging/uploading system, cloud storage, software licenses, updates and warranty)
2022 – $30,240.00 (cloud storage, software licenses and updates)
2023 – $30.240.00 (cloud storage, software licenses and updates)
2024 – $30,240.00 (cloud storage, software licenses and updates)
2025 – $30,240.00 (cloud storage, software licenses and updates)
Total BWC system cost: $182,081.78
The other BWC system evaluated by police personnel was from Watchguard. The Watchguard BWC system was determined to be less advanced from a design and reliability standpoint that resulted in it being less user-friendly from the officers’ and backend support staff perspective. Additionally, the quote from Watchguard for a similar five-year BWC program was $242,078, so the preferred Axon BWC system was also less expensive (quote available upon request).
The use of body-worn cameras by police personnel has been identified as a national standard and best practice for ensuring transparency and accountability for police departments nationwide. The public's rightful demand for police accountability with the use of body-worn cameras for police-citizen contacts has been highlighted by the numerous incidents of BWC footage that have been documented in the media over the past few years. Most police officers also wish to benefit from employing a BWC system to document their policing activities as evidence that they are performing their duties in a positive, courteous, and professional manner. It is highly recommended to purchase the BWC system to document police-citizen contacts without delay.
It was also determined during the testing and evaluation process, and confirmed when contacting other police departments that have implemented BWC systems, that the increase of video processing and amount of backend support necessitates the creation of one full-time administrative support position, which will be included as part of annual DPS budget submission. The support position will be responsible for managing the in-car camera and BWC systems for fulfilling requests for FOIA, criminal and civil legal processes, internal reviews and complaint investigations, etc., as well as assisting with random checks for policy compliance, system updates, maintenance, and user functionality.
At this time, due to inadequate funding, the in-car and BWC systems cannot be brought onto the same operating platform. The in-car camera system is Watchguard and it is not compatible with the Axon BWC system, which means the in-car camera system will remain on a server in the DPS headquarters and will not synchronize with the Axon BWC system. However, once funding is available, a purchase request for bring both systems onto the Axon in-car camera and BWC platform will be submitted for review. Having the in-car cameras and body-worn cameras on the same platform will allow full integration of the two systems for synchronizing of video and audio recordings and cloud storage. The Axon five-year program quote for an in-car camera system was $169,119.00 (discount applied) for equipment, unlimited cloud storage, software licenses and updates. It is not recommended for purchase, at this time.