Council approves Axon Fusus real‑time operations platform for new Wichita information center

The Wichita City Council on Feb. 15 approved an information‑technology agreement with Axon Enterprises to provide the Fusus real‑time operations platform for a new real‑time information center being built on the fifth floor of City Hall.

The enterprise package is priced at $150,000 per year and was recommended after a staff review of two proposals; the city estimates the enterprise level will support up to 1,500 camera streams. City staff said grant funding (a 2023 COPS technology grant and a Bureau of Justice award) is available to cover the first year’s operating costs and that future operating costs would be folded into the police department general fund budget or pursued via additional grants.

Captain Aaron Moses of the Wichita Police Department described the system as the hub that “brings all available sources of information to a single point of reference for the operators within the real time information center and our officers out on the street,” including internal feeds (body and dash cameras) and external feeds (surveillance cameras volunteered by businesses or residents). He said the physical center’s construction is underway and technology operations could begin late May or early June.

During council and public discussion, residents and council members raised concerns about privacy protections and data ownership. Moses said the contract requires city approval before Axon can disclose information provided under the agreement and that any waiver would be discussed with the Law Department. He said commercially provided feeds are intended for short‑term tactical access and would not be kept indefinitely: “That data ... is meant to be accessed in real time ... Our intention would not be and we would not ever keep all of the video from that camera forever,” Moses said.

Kelly Heron, a Fusus representative, clarified a technical point raised during debate: “The body worn cameras, all the Axon ecosystem is a data point. It does not count as your streams. That would just be the CCTV, streams, the cameras that will count as that 1,500,” he said.

Council members also asked about who would audit records and who could waive confidentiality. Staff said audits could be conducted by the city’s internal auditor and, if sampled, an external auditor; any waiver of confidentiality would be reviewed by the Law Department.

The council voted 7–0 to approve the selection of Fusus, the information technology agreement and to authorize necessary signatures. Staff said the law department and the city IT team reviewed the agreement and the city will continue community outreach about opt‑in camera participation, data retention policies and operational safeguards.

If implemented as presented, the center will be used for incident management and to “right size” emergency responses, city staff said — for example, using city cameras to verify whether multiple emergency resources are needed for a reported incident before dispatching additional units.