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AXON FLEX REPLACES IN-CAR VIDEO FOR POLICE DEPARTMENT Laramie, WY March 2013 In December 2012 the Laramie City Council approved a contract between the Police Department and Taser International to supply all LPD officers with officer- mounted cameras. The cameras, called Axon Flex, will replace the in-car systems currently in use by the PD. The deployment of the Axon cameras represents a shift in how police departments nationwide utilize cameras, since until now cameras have been primarily fix-mounted in patrol vehicles. The Axon units are a small (about 3 inches long by one-half inch round) camera that is mounted on glasses, worn on a headband, or mounted to a flexible strap that can be worn over a hat or ball cap. The camera is attached by wire to an activation / storage unit that clips to the officers uniform. By mounting the cameras in this manner, the camera “looks” where the officer looks. In contrast, an in-car camera looks only straight ahead or behind with a 45 degree angle lens, so it could see only what occurred in front of or in the backseat of a patrol car. Now, officers who contact people at locations well away from their cars will be “on camera” as well. The decision to migrate to the Axon cameras was requested when we determined that over a five year period, we could save about $80,000 by not replacing aging in-car systems as well as not having to maintain media storage servers. This is because the Axon camera costs about $1,000 v. $6,000 for an in-car system and all the media is downloaded to a secure website, so the City and PD don’t have to continually upgrade a storage server in order to hold the downloaded video media. We will save staff time as well, since the cameras are docked into a charging / download station at the end of shift and all video media is automatically downloaded to the secure storage website. Then, when the officer comes to work the next day, they classify their videos from the previous shift and have a fully charged camera to work with during their shift. The use of cameras in policing has become widespread over the past 10 years. Where once video was used only on crime scenes or in special circumstances, today video is demanded by prosecutors in DUI cases, is expected in citizen contacts, and is routinely relied upon by police administrators when evaluating the work performance of officers in field situations. In short, the use of video in the field is now an expectation and not an option of the police, for both the public and the police’s benefit. With the development of technology that allows officers to “unplug” from their patrol cars, the expectation of video in expanded situations is also rapidly occurring. By the end of February, all LPD officers will be trained and operating their personally assigned Axon cameras. In all encounters with police – on traffic stops, during all enforcement actions, on “in progress” calls for service, and whenever the officers believe that video documentation of their work would be beneficial, the cameras will be activated. So, tell all your friends to smile the next time they meet an LPD officer because they really will be on candid camera!