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Sedona council approves $1.2M Axon contract amid privacy questions
Summary
The council unanimously approved a $1,199,393.15 linking agreement with Axon Enterprises to replace tasers, in‑car and body cameras and related services; police and the vendor said evidence remains Sedona PD’s property in Axon’s evidence.com cloud and LPR functions are not being activated without further approval.
Sedona’s City Council voted unanimously to approve a linking agreement with Axon Enterprises for replacement tasers, in‑car cameras, body‑worn cameras and related hardware and software in a contract totaling $1,199,393.15, using a Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract.
Police representatives said the purchase replaces existing equipment and comes in below the city’s approved capital improvement budget for the project. Jessica Bryson of the Sedona Police Department told council the equipment delivers “transparency and accountability to our community,” supports officer safety and serves as an evidentiary tool. She said the department has used Axon Taser products for nearly two decades.
During questioning councilors pressed the department and the vendor on data storage, access and retention. An Axon representative, identified in the meeting as Adam Smith, said evidence is hosted in evidence.com and stored on Microsoft Azure and Amazon servers, and that "the department owns 100% of the evidence." He added that Axon does not have independent access and that sharing evidence with prosecutors or other agencies occurs only when the department pushes evidence for a specific case.
Councilors asked specifically about license‑plate‑reading capabilities included in some Axon packages. Staff and the vendor said the ALPR/LPR capability is included in certain packages but is not being activated; activation would require administrator action and, per staff, could be constrained by council direction or contract amendments. The police chief and project team said administrative controls limit who can enable such features and that evidence.com operates as a department‑specific domain rather than a centralized, searchable database shared across agencies.
Public commenters remained critical. Tim Perry called the proposed equipment a surveillance expansion and urged residents to review contract language and legislative actions related to the vendor. The police and vendor rebutted the assertion that evidence was centrally accessible to other agencies without Sedona’s action.
Councilor Bridal moved to approve the linking agreement subject to city attorney review of a written contract; Vice Mayor Plueg seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Next steps: staff will finalize contract language with the city attorney and proceed with a planned rollout and training schedule; staff said installation and transition are scheduled in September pending contract finalization.
