Covington will vote to renew and extend its contract with Axon Enterprise, a company that makes police body cams, automatic license plate readers and other police tech, next week.
Worth just over $6 million, the new 10-year contract will include mobile license plate reader cameras for squad cars, a new police drone, tasers, new AI-integrated tech, and other equipment for the department.
Axon is known mostly for making police body cams, but they also make other technology marketed to police departments, including fixed-angle automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs, similar to those produced by Flock Safety, a company that has been the subject of much public backlash lately.
The City of Covington does not have a contract with Flock Safety; however, the Housing Authority of Covington (which is officially separate from the city) does own ALPRs, which the police use and manage, according to policy documents from the police department.
The new Axon contract with the city itself would include mobile ALPRs for squad cars (not the kind mounted on poles on roads), which Police Chief Justin Wietholter said the city has already been using for about 10 years. The new contract also includes new AI-integrated technology to help officers write reports and perform other clerical duties. Plus, there’s the new drone. The money to purchase this tech had been set aside as part of the city budgeting process earlier this year. The city’s current five-year contract with Axon will conclude on Sept. 30.
The subject of Flock cameras and similar technology was one point of discussion at the meeting earlier this week when the chief presented the new contract to the Board of Commissioners.
“Flock is all over the news right now,” said Commissioner Tim Acri. “Can you just explain quickly what the difference is of what we have versus what most other cities are talking about and residents are talking about, as well?”
Wietholter addressed two main concerns, namely the difference between the cruiser-based ALPRs and mounted ALPRs, and searchable databases.
“The Axon camera, the license plates are being read where the cruiser is driving, just in the normal patrols,” said Wietholter. “It’s not a constant network of unmanned cameras.”
As for the possibility of a searchable, shareable database, Wietholter said, with Axon “we own all of that data, so it’s ours.” The only way it could be shared would be for a “legitimate investigative purpose,” Wietholter said, and only with the department’s permission.
“It’s not just where somebody can go in and search an entire database,” he also said.
Captured data is stored for 90 days, per Kentucky law. Data categorized within the communications dispatch system is stored for a year.
Discussion on the matter ceased after that. The commissioners placed the contract on the consent agenda for next week’s meeting, meaning it will likely pass.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of what’s in the Axon contract; this list is not exhaustive:
- 117 body cams
- 117 tasers
- 117 AI program subscriptions, including transcription and software assistants
- Interview equipment, including cameras, mics and sensors
- A single drone
You can read the complete contract, which includes a complete list of the equipment to be purchased plus pricing information as well as the city’s current policy on ALPRs below.