Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Body Worn Cameras topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Des Moines police to replace body-worn cameras after state grant; five-year warranty and cloud storage included
Summary
Police briefed the committee on a grant-funded upgrade to body-worn cameras. A state grant initially for $69,000 was adjusted to cover roughly $77,000 so the city will incur no cost; new cameras include a five-year warranty and cloud evidence storage under the vendor contract.
Police staff told the committee that Des Moines has secured state grant funding to replace aging body-worn cameras and that the vendor and grantor worked together so the city will bear no net cost.
"We had a grant through Waspick for $69,000 to upgrade our body worn camera systems," the police staff member said. The briefing said the grant and vendor negotiations were adjusted to cover an effective total of about $77,000, including sales tax and extra batteries. The new cameras include a five-year warranty and the vendor’s cloud storage for digital evidence is included for the life of the cameras, which police said reduces ongoing server and maintenance costs.
Staff described the cloud storage as secured and certified for digital evidence. Police staff explained the department currently stores evidence on an in-house server (the "J drive") and that moving evidence to vendor cloud storage would free local server capacity and lower local IT maintenance needs. Committee members asked about long-term costs; staff said the current contract terms and warranty apply for five years and that future budget decisions will be required when that term ends. The briefing also noted a department estimate, attributed to the previous chief, that switching to a different vendor could be substantially more expensive.
