Recommend approval to procure 220 Taser body-worn cameras, related equipment and cloud storage from Taser in the amount of $485,825.88.

In 2015, the City began outfitting officers with body-worn cameras and Tasers. Body-worn cameras increase transparency, and improve officer-citizen interactions and investigations. Uniformed officers wear the cameras and capture all interactions throughout their shifts. The data is uploaded for storage and is used for training, incident review, and investigation.

Currently, 390 officers are outfitted with body-worn cameras. This purchase will expand the number of outfitted officers to 610. The expansion of this equipment has been made possible by the receipt of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, which was awarded to SCMPD in 2016 and funds 50% of the equipment costs. This expansion will allow SCMPD to issue additional body-worn cameras to all officers below the rank of Lieutenant.

This is sole source procurement because Taser International is the manufacturer and only distributor of Taser brand equipment. It is the only vendor that can offer the storage of both camera data and data retrieved from conducted electrical weapons on its servers. Further, this equipment is compatible with equipment already in use throughout the department and is only available from this source.

Approval