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Council approves $17.5 million Axon amendment for body cameras, translation and records management
Summary
The council concurred with a finance-committee recommendation to approve Amendment No. 5 to contract 21-2-27 with Axon Enterprise for $17,532,962.35, covering body-worn cameras, software (including multi-language translation), drone program elements and migration of the records-management system.
The Renton City Council on Dec. 8 approved Amendment No. 5 to contract 21-2-27 with Axon Enterprise in the amount of $17,532,962.35 to procure Axon hardware, software and services. Deputy Chief Rutledge and finance committee members outlined the package’s elements: a software update for body cameras that includes immediate translation capability in more than 100 languages, hardware updates for tasers, continuing in-car cameras and a proposed drones-first-responder program. The amendment does not add additional automatic license plate readers (ALPRs) beyond the existing contract, the deputy chief said.
Officials described records-management migration away from the city’s current system by 2030 and said redaction and automated tools in the new system could speed public-disclosure processing. The deputy chief said the Axon configuration the city is contracting is a closed system separate from the Flock brand of ALPRs, a distinction stressed by Council Member Berg during discussion.
Council members asked about public-records access, third-party back-end access and redaction. City staff said the police department retains ownership of the data, the back-end access remains city-only and the new redaction tools should make public-disclosure responses faster. The council voted to concur with the finance committee recommendation; the motion carried on voice vote.
