Aldermen renew Axon contract covering body and dash cameras, interview‑room recording and cloud evidence

The Milford City Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a consolidation and renewal of the police department's contract with Axon Corporation, a renewal the department described as necessary to replace expiring equipment and to maintain a single cloud ecosystem for evidence storage and redaction.

Police Chief Keith Mello told aldermen the contract consolidates replacements for body‑worn cameras, in‑car dash cameras, the interview‑room recording systems and tasers, and it includes Evidence.com cloud storage and support. "Body worn cameras are required by law," Mello said, and interview‑room and dash‑camera systems likewise satisfy statutory recording requirements for certain interactions and felony interviews. He said the consolidated contract also covers modem replacements and recurring maintenance and training costs.

Mello highlighted a suite of operational features: dual‑facing cameras and live streaming for supervisors; an AI translation tool he described as "real time translation" for interactions in multiple languages; an AI assistant to speed review and to help identify exempt material for redaction; and an ecosystem that links officer, vehicle and interview‑room recordings to permit coordinated review. "When an officer goes through a critical incident . . . we can also see what the officer sees," Mello said, calling the combination of camera, cloud and live‑streaming tools "a game changer." He also explained the department's retention schedule and redaction process: "The minimum retention is 90 days for everything," Mello said, while records needed for ongoing criminal or civil cases are retained for the duration of those matters.

Several aldermen asked about funding. Chief Mello said the previous procurement used ARPA funds for an earlier multi‑year purchase; the renewal shifts ongoing annual operating costs onto the city's budget in future years. Finance staff told the board the city could consider bonding for capital components in the capital improvement plan but cautioned that short equipment life cycles (two‑to‑five years for cameras and tasers) argue against very long bond terms.

Aldermen expressed support for the department's move to a single vendor ecosystem given the integrated features and mandated equipment requirements. The board approved the motion by voice vote; the chair declared the motion passed unanimously.