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Swain County hears Axon body-camera pitch; budget amendment to be considered at regular session
Summary
Axon representative Tate Murrow demonstrated a proposed package of 35 body cameras and four in-car units, outlining cloud storage, AI-enabled transcription/translation, redaction and geolocation features. The board received the presentation; funding would come from fund balance and no vote was taken at the work session.
Swain County commissioners heard a presentation Tuesday on a proposed Axon body-camera program tied to Budget Amendment No. 1 and agreed to consider the request at a later regular session.
Sheriff (unnamed) told the board the request would fund cameras for deputies and detention staff, including four in-car (NCAR) cameras. “We're also asking for 4 NCAR cameras in this bundle,” the sheriff said during the introduction of the item.
Tate Murrow, identified as an Axon support representative, described the quoted package as 35 body cameras and four in-car cameras and outlined the system's capabilities: cloud-hosted evidence management, automated chain-of-custody logging, live feeds, geolocation tracking, pre-event buffering and AI-enabled features such as live transcription and translation. "These cameras are the same cameras we use currently... We have them used in over a 150 countries," Murrow said. He added the system offers redaction tools and the ability to share a public portal link so community members or media can upload evidence into a triage queue.
Murrow told the board each camera action is logged and traceable. "Every button press on those cameras' is part of the chain of custody," he said, describing audit trails that record who accessed recordings and when. He said the system supports automatic activation from certain vehicle light-bar events or a Taser deployment, and that docking stations handle charging, automated upload and basic firmware repairs.
Staff said the purchase would be funded from the county's fund balance because it was not budgeted during the regular budget process. A county finance representative (unnamed in the transcript) said the expense would be additional ongoing funding and explained the proposal is structured over a five-year term; Murrow confirmed most contracts run 60 months with equipment refreshes on a roughly 30-month schedule.
Commissioners asked practical questions about SOPs, whether the system can show if a deputy turned a camera on and how reassigning equipment is handled when shifts change. Murrow said those events are recorded and that agencies can require secondary confirmation to power cameras off so accidental shutoffs are unlikely.
No formal vote was taken on the budget amendment during the work session; the chair said the presentation would be considered at a future regular session where the board could vote.
Next steps: the county will bring the budget amendment and contract terms back for action at a regular meeting; staff will prepare any additional contract details and financing information requested by commissioners.
