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Clermont approves Axon translation upgrade for officers, funded by federal grant; council limits future upgrades
Summary
Clermont approved a five‑year agreement to add Axon translation capabilities to officer body cameras, paid by a federal designated immigration officer grant (about $151,000 over five years). Axon stated the product provides in‑the‑moment translation only and does not alter or auto‑write reports; council required future service expansions to return for approval.
The Clermont City Council on June 9 approved a five‑year, grant‑funded purchase of Axon translation software for officer body cameras, with a condition that any future expansion beyond real‑time translation return to council for approval.
Chief John Gray introduced Teddy Duffy of Axon, who said the feature provides live translation in the field for more than 50 languages and “it’s not writing any reports. It’s not transcribing anything. All it’s doing is translating in the moment.” Duffy added the translation output is treated like other recorded evidence and stored in Evidence.com under existing protections. He said a separate Axon product called Draft One — not part of this purchase — would be used for report drafting.
Chief Gray said the purchase will be paid with federal grant funds designated to the city’s designated immigration officer program and will not come from the general fund. The five‑year cost presented to council was about $151,000; staff said those funds will cover the current Axon package and scheduled upgrades included in the vendor agreement.
Council members raised privacy and upgrade concerns, asking whether translation outputs could be altered, whether the system depends on connectivity, and whether future features (for example, automatic report drafting) could be activated without council review. Duffy said the translation feature is stored alongside other body‑camera evidence and does not modify underlying recordings; it communicates via LTE and stores evidence in the city’s Evidence.com account.
A motion to approve the purchase passed unanimously after council added a condition requiring the city to return to council for approval if the service is later changed or upgraded to expand beyond translation services.
Chief Gray said staff will report back if the vendor proposes new functionality that changes the product scope. The purchase will include existing upgrade provisions; staff told council that a distinct Draft One product would require a separate contract.
