La Marque approves Axon body and in‑car cameras; financing uses grants, forfeiture funds and four interest‑free payments

La Marque — The La Marque City Council approved the purchase of body-worn cameras (BWCs), in‑car cameras and the Axon cloud evidence-management system on March 10, 2025, authorizing a contract not to exceed $620,000 and approving a financing plan that uses grant proceeds, forfeiture funds and four interest-free annual payments.

Why it matters: The equipment upgrade replaces older cameras and adds modern features such as live streaming, GPS tracking and cloud storage. Council members and public-safety leaders said the package would strengthen evidence management, officer safety and public transparency.

Presentation and features: Brent Herrera, an Axon account executive, told the council Axon’s package includes Body 4 cameras, fleet (in‑car) cameras, evidence.com cloud storage and periodic refreshes so the department receives current hardware on a set cycle. “These cameras out the box would come with live streaming and GPS tracking,” he said during the presentation. Axon representatives said the system can integrate with other tools — including drones and newer software features — and that evidence.com stores footage in the cloud rather than on an offline local server.

Procurement and coverage: The overall contract covers procurement, on-site installation and training for the department. Axon proposed equipment refreshes: body cameras on a roughly 2.5‑year refresh cycle and in‑car cameras every five years; the vendor also offered warranty and support terms.

Financing plan: The police leadership and staff described how the purchase will be funded: • La Marque has been awarded a state “catalytic converter” grant that will cover a subset of the cameras (16 in‑car and 16 body cameras), reducing the city’s immediate out-of-pocket cost. • The city has an available $143,000 allocation (previously designated) that will be applied to the in‑car cameras portion. • The remaining balance (approximately $142,000 after grants and prior allocations) will be amortized in four equal, interest‑free annual payments beginning in April 2026. Police leaders said roughly half of each annual payment would be covered from department forfeiture funds and half from the general fund (approximately $17,000 per year from the general fund under current estimates).

Council discussion: Council members asked technical and policy questions about pre-event buffers (how much pre-recording is stored before activation), automatic activation triggers (lights, siren, speed, crash, taser activation) and storage policy. Staff confirmed current body cameras are older models that require officers to manually begin recording; the proposed system would allow for more automated activation.

Vote and next steps: The council voted to approve the purchase and the financing arrangement. Staff said the department can accelerate payment if other grant funds become available; Axon representatives confirmed there is no penalty for early payment.

Sources: Axon presentation and council discussion at the La Marque City Council meeting on March 10, 2025; statements by Brent Herrera and police staff recorded in the meeting transcript.