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Issaquah staff say federal grant will pay for taser upgrades; ALPR portion paused after community concerns
Summary
City staff told the Committee of the Whole that a $452,477 congressional community appropriations award will be used almost entirely to replace aged conducted‑energy devices (tasers) and to upgrade an interview‑room camera, and that the ALPR (Flock) portion of the original proposal has been removed pending policy work and community input.
Issaquah city staff told the Committee of the Whole on May 11 that a federal Community Appropriations grant originally drafted to fund both new conducted‑energy devices (CEDs, commonly called tasers) and automated license‑plate readers (ALPRs) will be used primarily for taser replacements and interview‑room cameras, and that the ALPR component is not being advanced at this time.
The move follows weeks of public comment and expert testimony about privacy, data sharing and the architecture of commercial ALPR systems. Assistant to the City Administrator Dale Markey Crimp and Issaquah crime analyst Ryan Smith said the grant award totals $452,477; after an updated vendor quote raised the price of CEDs to about $447,900, staff said roughly 99% of the funding would cover CED replacements with the remaining $4,517 to upgrade interview‑room cameras. "Given the increased costs and community concerns, we're not moving forward with the ALPR portion of that proposal right now," Markey Crimp said.
The administration…
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