23-117 1R An emergency ordinance authorizing purchase orders and a ten (10) year contract with Axon Enterprise Incorporated for Body Worn Cameras, In-Car Video Equipment, Tasers, Records Management Software and other products and services for the Police Department. The initial year outlay would be $1,456,654.96. The annual cost for additional years would be $1,215,870.81. The total for all ten (10) years would be $12,399,492.25.

Staff recommends approval of expenditures and appropriations.

On October 1st, 2023, the City of Independence was awarded a Federal Body-Worn Camera (BWC) Grant by the Department of Justice that provides $400,000.00 for equipment and personnel when matched by local funds. The grant period is from October 2023 through September 2026. The grant was accepted and approved by City Council on Ordinance No. 19500 on November 6, 2023.

While exploring BWC providers, IPD looked for a proven product with a robust support framework as well as the potential to incorporate other technologies, thus consolidating our numerous existing platforms.

Current in-car video equipment was provided by L-3 (now SafeFleet) and is past end-of-life. The in-car recorders and back-end will cease to be supported in 2024 and 2026, respectively. Customer service has been insufficient and technical problems remain unresolved on open tickets.

Current Tasers (X26P) are nearing the end of support and are two generations behind. IPD has funds budgeted to replace a substantial portion of the allocated devices in December 2023.

Current Records Management is dated, cumbersome, and not tailored to our workflow and requires additional effort to include video and external documents in any format. Technical support has been spotty at times and the Fire Department has already decided to move away from the Fire module of the shared platform.

Internal Affairs Investigations are serviced by Blue-Team and IA Pro. This product is serviceable but incorporating audio and/or video evidence requires additional steps and reporting can be cumbersome.

Currently, there is no platform for Body-Worn Cameras, Virtual Reality training, transcription, redaction, or cloud-based storage and records request fulfillment.

Axon checks all the boxes and continues to expand their footprint in the world of Police technology. They can provide BWC, in-car video, the newest technology in tasers, transcription and redaction services, administrative and criminal investigative and reporting software, unlimited cloud storage and records fulfillment, seamless inclusion of video evidence in cases, Virtual Reality training equipment, and refresh on all hardware at three years for BWC and VR and five years for in-car cameras while the tasers carry a no-questions-asked warranty for the duration of the contract as well as training and replacement cartridges as specified. The attached quote also identifies several pieces that add to officer safety and department transparency, including sensors that activate the BWC when the taser or sidearm leaves the holster or injury or impact is detected that indicate probable injury to an officer. GPS also provides exact location for the BWC as deployed and gives the location of the officer and not just the patrol vehicle.

The cost for a ten-year contract may be equalized for the life of the contract or weighted to the front or back end. This cost includes all software licenses including records, but a transition from the current platform would take 18-24 months and require approximately $100,000.00 one-time fee for data migration and start-up. This could be supported by existing Use Tax fund balance and is not due until the software goes live. An equalized contract yields an ongoing annual cost of $1,215,870.81 from FY 2024-25 through FY 2032-33. While this is no insignificant amount, it will be offset somewhat by eliminating current platforms and represents a step toward updating and streamlining technology needs of the Independence Police Department for years to come.

This purchase is utilizing the Sourcewell Contract #010720-AXN.

Approval of this item shall authorize change orders up to a total of ten (10) percent of the authorized annual amount, provided appropriations are available.

The fiscal impact to the City is $1,456,654.96 for fiscal year 2023-24. Funds are currently budgeted for tasers and in-car cameras in the 2023-24 approved budget, on page 231, account numbers 0164564-5313 (PST Small Tools & Equipment) and 0164564-5404 (PST Mobile Equipment) respectively. This will cover $299,857.25 of the total cost.

In addition, IPD has two grants that will cover a portion of this expense. One is the 2021 Justice Assistance Grant for $57,226.68, budgeted in 0154550-5405-JAG21, to cover a portion of the Virtual Reality Training System to be provided by Axon. The other is the 2023 DOJ Body-Worn Camera Grant that was just recently approved by Council. That grant will provide $190,773.00 toward the purchase of body cameras that are included in this Axon proposal.

IPD is requesting the remaining $908,798.03 needed for FY 2023-24 to be appropriated from the Use Tax Fund Balance (Fund 018), which at the end of October 2023, had an unassigned fund balance of $6,378,251.

This contract for all the technology, equipment, software and support as mentioned above will have a continued fiscal impact each fiscal year of $1,215,870.81 annually. Some of this cost will be offset by funds that would have continued to be budgeted in the Public Safety Sales Tax (Fund 016) for these same expenses each year. Additional funding will be requested annually via the department’s proposed budget submittal, with the request that the funding come from tax revenue sources designated for Public Safety. The contract does include a Termination Clause that allows the contract to be terminated if sufficient funds are not appropriated or otherwise legally available to pay the fees. (Page 3, Section 16 of Axon Master Services & Purchasing Agreement).