Chandler police propose five-year, $3.5M renewal with Axon for body-worn cameras

Chandler Police presented a proposed renewal of its contract with Axon to supply 392 body-worn cameras and supporting services.

Assistant Chief Deandra said the prior contract covered roughly $2.9 million for 369 cameras; the replacement five-year agreement before council is for just over $3.5 million and would include 392 body-worn cameras, six POV units for motor officers, mounts, spares, ‘‘unlimited storage’’ and software features such as GPS tagging, evidence management on evidence.com, redaction assistance, auto-tagging linked to CAD and Axon Performance metrics for auditing.

Deandra described activation and access policies: officers must activate cameras when dispatched to calls for service, during traffic stops, searches, detainments, arrests, uses of force, transport and similar enforcement activities. Evidence uploads to Axon’s cloud platform are audited; supervisors review sampling through Axon Performance and the department’s professional standards unit performs audits. Deandra said employees may not review other personnel’s footage without supervisory approval and that improper access would trigger an internal investigation.

Council members asked about storage costs, policy enforcement, and competition in the market. Deandra said the Axon contract includes unlimited storage and that the department negotiatied lower pricing; she indicated the city continually evaluates technologies and vendors.

The study-session presentation described the contract terms and policies; the transcript excerpt did not record a final council vote on the renewal.