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Dearborn approves Axon FUSIS contract and recognizes donations from UM–Dearborn, Henry Ford
Summary
Council authorized a five-year, cooperative contract for the FUSIS real-time public-safety platform and accepted $20,000 donations each from the University of Michigan–Dearborn and Henry Ford to support deployment. Council members asked for public reporting; police said implementation will take about 90–120 days.
The Dearborn City Council authorized a five-year cooperative purchase of FUSIS — a cloud-based, real-time public-safety platform — and recognized two private donations to help implement the system.
The council approved a cooperative contract with Axon (through Sourcewell) for FUSIS at a five-year total of $720,301, and authorized the finance director to appropriate $133,000 from federal drug-forfeiture funds to support the purchase. The council also recognized two $20,000 donations: one from the University of Michigan–Dearborn and one from Henry Ford; both were acknowledged in separate resolutions.
Police Chief Issa Shaheen described FUSIS as a combination of live feeds, mapping and 911 integration that provides dispatchers and patrol officers “real-time awareness.” Shaheen said a critical feature is a near-real-time 911 feed that can be routed to officers as calls come in, reducing response delay and information loss between call-taking and dispatch.
“This is the cutting edge of technology and law enforcement,” Shaheen said. “It combines the ability to have a live feed of what’s happening in real time — not only in a real-time crime center, but actually in the police cars and in the officers’ hands.”
Council discussion focused on privacy and governance. Council member Perez said he had reviewed public materials and case studies and raised questions about data policy and transparency; he asked whether the city had final policies ready for the new platform. The mayor and staff said existing city data-storage and evidence policies that govern camera footage and DVR requests will apply, and that participating businesses control their own access settings; the mayor also said staff had briefed major stakeholders and demonstrated the system to potential partners over the past year.
Perez requested an ongoing status report on FUSIS adoption. Staff said an overview of participating cameras and business opt-ins will be publicly available on the city website; the council requested biannual updates on program adoption and the number of participating cameras or institutions.
Supporters said the system will permit faster access to footage from private cameras when a business or resident permits it and will allow officers to view incident scenes before arrival. Chief Shaheen said the department expects to be among the first in Michigan to field the integrated platform and that implementation will take roughly 90 to 120 days.
Council recorded a unanimous roll call in favor of the authorization.
