Officials warn subscription model for body, car cameras and tasers will raise recurring costs; committee discusses statewide contracting

Beau Mason, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, and Major Matt Holly of the Highway Patrol briefed the committee about the growing shift from outright equipment purchases to subscription or lease models for body‑worn cameras, in‑car cameras, tasers and back‑end data services. Mason said DPS does not currently lease most equipment but is exploring leased turnkey solutions because short technology lifecycles and back‑end server needs make local ownership harder to support. “The cost we've looked at, if we're to replace our in car and body cams every 5 years… the lease… we're looking at anywhere from $1,400,000 to $1,700,000” per year for department‑wide coverage, Major Holly said. Chief Gwen (Salt Lake City Police Department) expressed frustration that vendors may create quasi‑monopolies, force agency platform migrations, and increase recurring costs; he warned the subscription model is a guaranteed revenue stream for vendors and can strain small agencies’ budgets. Representative Lehi and Representative Wilcox urged exploring statewide contracting to aggregate demand and negotiate better pricing; Representative Ballard noted a precedent in the K–12 financial system and state ammunition contracts. Mason and Holly said the subscription model provides turnkey services, automatic upgrades and centralized redaction/download tools but acknowledged the model can lock agencies into annual payments and migrating platforms. The committee discussed options including statewide solicitation, minimum technical standards, and negotiating contracts that smaller cities and counties could opt into. No committee vote was taken during the briefing.