Oshkosh police seek expanded Axon contract for body cameras, AI features and unlimited evidence storage

Oshkosh police officials told the council they plan to renegotiate the city’s body-camera and evidence management contract with Axon to add new software and hardware features that officials say will save officer time and expand capabilities.

Chief Smith said the department tested Axon’s Draft 1 report-drafting tool in a quarter-long pilot and concluded the product "significantly" reduced time spent on report writing. "Draft 1 uses the body camera, and it helps the officer populate the report based upon the information that the technology pulls off of the body camera itself," Chief Smith said.

Chief Smith outlined a package the department is pursuing under a longer-term agreement: draft-assisted report writing, unlimited evidence storage on evidence.com, auto-transcription and automated redaction assistance, GPS live streaming from officers’ body cameras, live translation and a policy-summarization tool for on-scene guidance. He said the negotiated contract would also include virtual-reality training modules and an updated TASER arrangement so every officer will be assigned a TASER rather than relying on shared devices.

Why it matters: Police officials argued the tools reduce administrative time — freeing patrol officers to return to the street sooner — and centralize digital evidence storage and management. Chief Smith said Axon’s platform also provides accreditation and internal-affairs tools and could supply AI-driven features developed by Axon during the life of the contract.

Details staff provided include: - Draft 1 pilot: tested for a quarter; officers reported meaningful time savings in report writing. - Unlimited evidence storage: move away from terabyte-based billing for body-camera and digital evidence to evidence.com unlimited storage. - TASER and taser-management: department plans to assign TASERs to individual officers and update equipment through the contract. - AI features: city would be included in Axon’s future AI product rollouts under the proposed long-term agreement, according to Chief Smith.

Councilors asked about data security and external review. A council member noted Axon’s public security ratings and asked staff to confirm data-protection measures; Chief Smith said he had discussed the platform with Axon leadership and described demonstrations of live translation and rapid language support.

Ending: Chief Smith said the department is negotiating other contracts (animal shelter/humane society services) in parallel and that staff will return with contract specifics for council consideration.