Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
North St. Paul approves Motorola in‑car and body cameras after staff describe failures with current system
Summary
The council approved a five‑year contract to buy 12 Motorola M500 in‑car cameras and 25 V700 body cameras (estimated five‑year cost just over $322,000). Staff cited chronic failures with the current IPRO/UDE system; Motorola representatives described cloud storage, AI‑assisted redaction, LPR and live‑viewing features.
The North St. Paul City Council approved the purchase of in‑car and body‑worn camera systems and a five‑year cloud contract to replace the department’s existing video management platform.
Sergeant Ben Badawitch presented the need for a new system, describing repeated technical problems with the department’s current IPRO/UDE setup: weekly failed uploads from squad cars, inconsistent linking of body and in‑car video, poor redaction tools that require manual, frame‑by‑frame editing, and retention‑date failures that left older recordings on the server. Badawitch said the IPRO contract expires in mid‑2026 and that repeated support tickets were needed to restore uploads.
Motorola representative Nate Kinsey described the proposed system’s features: 1080p body and in‑car recording, swappable batteries, in‑car front and back‑seat cameras (the front camera includes license‑plate‑recognition), cloud storage with a web‑based backend (DEMS/Command Central), AI‑assisted redaction and transcription, live supervisory streaming, and tools to accept civilian video through a community upload link. Motorola said several neighboring agencies have adopted the product and reported low support demand.
Implementation points raised during council Q&A included an on‑site deployment and training window, a cradle‑point gateway in each squad car for uploads, spare cameras and batteries for swaps, an RMA replacement turnaround (described by Motorola as approximately one week), and data‑migration needs for legacy files (staff noted more than 16,000 videos currently stored in older formats that will need conversion). The city attorney asked about vendor migration and access; Motorola said recorded MP4 files belong to the agency and can be exported without additional fees.
Estimated cost and contracting: staff presented the 5‑year contract cost as just over $322,000 (includes devices, deployment and hosting estimates) and additional quotes from Metro Inet for migration and server handling in 2026–27. Sergeant Badawitch said the department currently has about 20 officers (authorized strength 23) and recommended 25 body cameras plus 12 in‑car systems to provide coverage and spares.
Council member McKenzie moved approval and Council member Woods seconded. The council approved the purchase by voice vote.
Why it matters: police video systems affect evidence collection, public records processing and transparency. Staff argued the new system would reduce officer downtime spent on video housekeeping, speed redaction for public data requests and provide more reliable recordings for critical incidents.
What comes next: staff will finalize contracts, coordinate migration of legacy video files with Metro Inet and the vendor, and begin device deployment and training according to the implementation plan.
