To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Robert Plummer, Police Chief
Prepared By: Patrick Manzer, Police Captain
TITLE:
Title
Police Department Body Worn Cameras
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution authorizing the Police Chief to execute an agreement with Axon Enterprises, Inc., in the amount of $572,069.70, to purchase body worn cameras and digital evidence storage for a five-year term.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The Napa Police Department in collaboration with the Information Technology Division brought forth a budget request for the purchase of Body Worn Cameras ("BWC") and a Digital Evidence Storage program. The request was approved for the current 2-year budget cycle. The Napa Police Department has identified the preferred vendor to be Axon for the BWC's, which includes evidence storage through Evidence.Com.
The Napa Police Department performed an evaluation of the two largest and most used products. We evaluated the Vievu BWC with their cloud based evidence storage system and the Axon BWC with their cloud based evidence storage system. The cameras were furnished for testing by the respective companies and deployed for use by Napa Police Department Officers in the field. Property Room Technicians and Records Bureau Personnel were trained and worked with the officers to insure proper storage and routing of the evidence to the Napa County District Attorney's Office. The unanimous choice of staff at the end of the test period was the Axon BWC and their cloud based digital evidence storage platform. It should be noted that shortly after we completed our test, Axon purchased Vievu.
Body Worn Cameras are a real part of the world in which we live. The officers involved in the pilot recognized very quickly the positive benefits of using the BWC's and have commented on how they miss them. On the evidence storage side, the use of one system to store video, audio recordings and photographs will take the pressure off o...
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