Denver committee advances Axon license-plate reader contract after privacy and security debate

The Denver City Council Health and Safety Committee voted 5-2 on March 18 to advance to the full council a proposed one-year, $150,000 contract with Axon for an automated license-plate recognition (ALPR) system, after council members pressed city staff and the vendor on safeguards for data sharing, retention and live-streaming.

Tim Hoffman, director of policy in the mayor’s office, said the administration provided a draft contract the prior Friday and that the Axon infrastructure the city will use does not support facial-recognition functionality. "The system and the infrastructure we have with this... doesn't allow it, period," Hoffman said, adding that the city also intends to remove 111 Flock cameras by the end of the outgoing contract to address earlier concerns about that vendor.

Council members spent the bulk of the meeting probing how contractual language will operate in practice. Councilmember Sarah Paradis said the city had not yet updated Denver Police Department policy to reflect vendor obligations and that without internal policy changes "we haven't put that in writing for ourselves towards the public or bound ourselves to that." Commander Cliff Barnes, who leads the DPD cyber bureau, said he would work with the city attorney to revise the ALPR policy and bring it before the committee before a final council vote.

Council members also questioned opt-out versus opt-in language for new or material features. Staff pointed to Exhibit D of the draft contract, which staff said requires Axon to provide advance notice and obtain explicit city authorization before rolling out material system changes in Denver. "They shall not bring any of these material changes online for Denver until they get that consent from us as the city," Hoffman said, describing the provision.

Privacy and security concerns centered on retention and breach response. Staff said the city had reduced the retention period from 30 to 21 days and that the contract requires vendor notification of security incidents within 48 hours, followed by a detailed report within 72 hours. Tara Segura, data protection officer for Technology Services, told the committee that 48 hours aligns with industry standards such as FedRAMP and ISO, but Council President Amanda Sandoval and others said the timeline felt too long for sensitive ALPR data.

Members also pressed staff on whether national or federal requests — including Department of Homeland Security or immigration enforcement inquiries — would be handled differently. Hoffman and Barnes said the contract includes language for law‑enforcement requests and that subsection language in Exhibit D addresses exigent or emergency circumstances; they promised to follow up with the city attorney to clarify where those procedures are specified in the draft.

Separately, committee members asked about drone integrations and Skydio hardware. Ben Rubke, Axon’s key account director, said Axon has a technical and business partnership to resell Skydio hardware but does not own Skydio; Barnes said Skydio hardware is governed by a separate contract and that some drone video may be routed to evidence.com depending on configuration.

After discussion, Councilmember Kendra Sawyer moved to advance the item; the motion was seconded and carried on a roll-call vote with five ayes and two nays. Committee members voting aye were Flores, Flynn, Sandoval, Sawyer and Chair Daryl Watson; members voting no were Sarah Paradis and Savannah Gonzalez Gutierrez. The committee’s action sends the contract to the full City Council; staff told members the administration will provide revised DPD policy language before the floor vote. A courtesy public hearing was scheduled for Monday and extended to one hour.

The committee adjourned with no other items on the agenda. The contract will next appear on the City Council floor agenda for final consideration.