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Alamosa council approves 10‑year Axon deal to consolidate police tech and add AI tools
Summary
The Alamosa City Council unanimously approved a 10‑year master services agreement with Axon Enterprises to consolidate body/dash cams, evidence storage, interview systems and tasers and to add an AI 'Draft One' tool intended to speed transcription and evidence review; staff emphasized human oversight and CJIS/FedRAMP‑level protections.
The Alamosa City Council voted unanimously to approve a 10‑year master services agreement with Axon Enterprises that consolidates several five‑year contracts for body cameras, dash cameras, interview‑room systems, evidence storage and tasers and adds an optional AI suite that staff said will speed transcription and searchable evidence review.
City IT staff presented the contract to council as a consolidation intended to lock in pricing and reduce administrative renewal work. Staff described the AI component—called Draft One—as an assistant that generates an initial transcript and draft structure so officers can more quickly locate, review and edit relevant passages. "What I like to to compare it to is is Grammarly for police officers," one staff presenter said during the council briefing.
Police leaders told council the department has tested transcription features on long interviews and found searchable transcripts help investigators prepare narratives for prosecution. "Sitting down and typing a 1‑hour interview takes me up to a day if not 2 days," a captain in the criminal investigations unit said, adding that officers still must edit and verify any draft before submission to prosecutors.
Staff emphasized the software is intended as "human in the loop" augmentation rather than an automated decision‑maker. The presentation said evidence will remain under the city's control even when stored at axon.evidence.com, with access managed through encryption and access controls and subject to CJIS and FedRAMP‑style requirements. "That data is ours," the presenter said, noting two‑factor authentication and audit controls.
City legal and prosecuting staff urged caution and training. A prosecutor told council that reading a report with an AI‑generated first draft will remain the norm and said it is important that officers verify draft material before it becomes part of the judicial record. Staff described planned vendor‑coordinated training, online modules, and virtual‑reality scenarios tied to new Taser 10 devices as part of the deployment plan.
The master services agreement covers equipment refreshes and includes contractual options for restructure or cancellation; staff described an initial total project figure presented to council then amortized over 10 years to reduce initial budget pressure. Councilor Hensley moved to execute the agreement; the motion passed unanimously.
Next steps include final contract execution, deployment planning with Axon, and phased training and feature enablement to ensure officers are comfortable using Draft One and other AI tools before those functions are activated.
