Alaska DPS outlines body‑worn camera program, storage and public‑records costs
Loading...
Summary
The Alaska Department of Public Safety told a House Finance subcommittee it operates roughly 617 body‑worn cameras and 374 in‑car systems, stores about 732 terabytes of video with vendor Axon under a 10‑year, $1.3 million‑per‑year contract, and charges $36.49 per digital evidence request while retaining no fee revenue locally.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety told the House Finance Department of Public Safety subcommittee on Feb. 19 that its modern body‑worn and in‑car video program is centralized with commercial cloud storage and requires significant staff time to process public‑records requests.
"We maintain about 617 body worn cameras, as well as 374 in‑car equipped vehicles," Austin McDaniel, communications director for the Department of Public Safety, said during the presentation. He said the department now stores its digital evidence with Axon and has accumulated "732 terabytes of video data" since the program began.
McDaniel said the Axon platform provides interoperability across responding agencies and automatic activation features—such as triggering nearby body cameras when a Taser is deployed—that streamline evidence capture. He also described how in‑car systems record pre‑event video and how officers categorize recordings after an incident, which then determines retention timelines.
Diana Thornton, the department's administrative services director, told the subcommittee the current contract with Axon is a 10‑year agreement costing about $1,300,000 per year. "That contract includes unlimited storage," McDaniel added, and the agreement covers hardware refresh cycles (body cameras every 3½ years and possible in‑car refresh near the 10‑year mark).
On retention, McDaniel said the department applies different schedules depending on case type: short‑term retention for noncriminal contacts (about 90 days) and much longer retention for criminal matters—"up to 10 to 15 years for most criminal contacts" and up to 50 years for homicides and certain other serious offenses as set by state law.
The department also addressed public‑records processing. Thornton said DPS receives thousands of requests annually and uses redaction software and a specialized team to meet statutory timelines. She said the agency charges $36.49 for a digital evidence request; written reports are provided free. Thornton reported $34,450 was collected in fees last fiscal year and said those receipts are deposited to the state general fund because the department does not have authority to retain them.
McDaniel told lawmakers that reviewing video is labor‑intensive—"for every hour of video evidence that we review for release, it takes about 2 to 2½ hours to process that video"—and that about 5% of requests for video and audio come from media or independent content creators.
Committee members asked whether Axon stores data in Alaska or the Lower 48; McDaniel said he would follow up with the committee. Representatives also raised concern about vendor continuity if a provider ceases operations; McDaniel said the department owns its video and could migrate a full download of video and metadata to another vendor or onto state servers if needed.
The department offered to provide additional cost and data‑center location details in follow‑up materials. The subcommittee adjourned and scheduled its next meeting for Feb. 26 at 8 a.m.
