TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Rollie Soria for Oscar Ortiz, Sheriff-Coroner
REPORT BY: Erin Corry, Staff Services Analyst II
SUBJECT: Agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for Officer Safety Plan 10 Premium
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize Agreement No. 250148B with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for body worn cameras, conducted energy devices, and fleet video systems and approval of a waiver for competitive bidding and sole source award. (Fiscal Impact: $3,042,638 Expense; General Fund; Budgeted; Discretionary)
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BACKGROUND
In May of 2016, the Sheriff's Office implemented its body worn camera (BWC) program. On June 23, 2020, the Board approved Agreement No. 210016B with Axon Enterprise Inc. for the Axon Officer Safety Plan 7+ (Axon OSP 7+) BWC system. This agreement included hardware, software applications and updates, training and support, secure unlimited cloud-based storage of video and audio evidence, and video redaction software. In addition, Axon’s agreement upgraded the Sheriff’s Office conducted energy devices (CED) that worked in conjunction with the Axon BWC, ensuring equipment compatibility and increasing officer and public safety.
On December 15, 2020, the Board approved an amendment to Agreement No. 210016B to add interview room video equipment, which integrated with the existing Axon platform and could be uploaded to cloud-based storage. This system ensured that critical evidence could be quickly and easily available for review, eliminated compatibly issues and reduced personnel and evidence storage costs.
On October 18, 2022, the Board approved Agreement No. 230195B to replace the Sheriff’s Office Panasonic in-car video system with the Axon Fleet 3 system that uses cloud-based software and storage, reducing on-site storage, back-up, retention, and maintenance costs.
The implementation of Axon public safety products has been successful in creating public trust by providing a level of transparency, improved investigation evidence collection, and increased officer and public safety. In addition, the implementation of Axon products has greatly reduced staff time to retrieve, redact, and make available, digital evidence (primarily video), and reduced the maintenance and storage cost associated with managing digital evidence. For these reasons, Sheriff’s Office proposes to consolidate Agreement No. 210016B & 230195B. The consolidation of agreements will upgrade Axon OSP 7+ to Axon OSP 10 Premium and extend the agreement another 5 years. Axon OSP 10 Premium includes an upgrade of the current Taser 7 CED to Taser 10 CED. Taser 10 CED is more reliable, water resistant, and has a maximum range of 45 Ft, creating more time and distance to de-escalate and resolve conflicts. Axon OSP 10 Premium would also include a subscription to activate the Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) feature in the Axon Fleet 3 video system. ALPR technology is used by many law enforcement agencies and has become useful in identifying stolen vehicles or vehicles used in the commission of other crimes. In recent years, ALPR technology from various sources has helped the Sheriff’s Office and neighboring agencies solve a variety of crimes to include shootings, burglaries, and felony assaults. ALPR is arguably the biggest advancement in crime solving & public safety technology since the development of fingerprints and DNA forensic science.
Credits in the amount of $156,992 from the remaining years on Agreement No. 210016B & 230195B will be applied to the new Agreement No. 250148B, reducing the overall cost. Agreement No. 250148B supersedes Agreement No. 210016B & 230195B.
Requested Actions:
1. Approve a waiver of competitive bidding and sole source award to Axon Enterprise, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona to provide the Axon Officer Safety Plan 10 Premium.
2. Approve and authorize Agreement No. 250148B for a maximum $3,042,638 with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for the term December 1, 2024, through November 30, 2029, to provide the Axon Officer Safety Plan 10 Premium.
FISCAL & STRATEGIC PLAN IMPACT
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Is there a Fiscal Impact? |
Yes |
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Is it currently budgeted? |
Yes |
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Where is it budgeted? |
Sheriff’s Operations Budget - Org 1360000 |
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Is it Mandatory or Discretionary? |
Discretionary |
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Discretionary Justification: |
The Sheriff’s Office Axon body worn camera program has shown to increase public trust through transparency, improve evidence collection and increase law enforcement & public safety. The Axon in-car video system provides real-time awareness features and integrates with connected technology, including a subscription to the automated license plate reader function. |
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Is the general fund affected? |
Yes |
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Future fiscal impact: |
The 5-Year cost of the agreement is $3,042,638, which will be paid in five installments. The first payment in the amount of $612,402 will occur in FY 2024-2025. Four additional installment payments in the amount of $607,559 will occur in FY 2025-2026, 2026-2027, 2027-2028, and 2028-2029. These costs will be budgeted accordingly in the appropriate fiscal years. |
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Consequences if not approved: |
If not approved, Sheriff’s Office would not enter into a new agreement with Axon Enterprise, Inc. Sheriff’s BWC, interview room video, and fleet video system would be eliminated. The Sheriff’s Office would lose a vital law enforcement tool for evidence collection, investigations and sworn personnel training. |
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.