The city of Dayton has approved purchasing in car cameras, body cams and tasers for 18 of their officers. Council members got into a heated discussion on going ahead with the purchase or putting it off until they could study the matter further. The contract will be with Taser/Axxon, and they will provide tasers along with body cams and in-car cameras. Chief of Police Chris Sneed noted that this will be a unique system that will activate as soon as an officer draws a taser or his weapon or turns on their emergency equipment.
Councilman Bobby Doss, who was the lone dissenting vote on the motion, said, “I’m not against the police at all.
I am for them, but the amount we’re spending is a big chunk to swallow."
Chief Sneed addressed the council on the matter advising that the in-car cameras that they currently have are old and about only 70 percent of them are working.
He said, “We have had to take parts of other cameras to keep the in-car cameras working. The officers themselves have bought body cams to wear to help protect them from possible litigation and it’s not right to ask them to do this. What we are going to spend on getting this system will pay for itself in litigation fees later on.” He also mentioned to the council that the current in-car system was purchased on a grant many years ago.
City Attorney Susan Arnold questioned whether the company Taser/Axxon was a sole proprietary company for the equipment. She had been in contact with MTAS attorneys to ask about this.
Chief Sneed addressed this by saying, “I did my due diligence on this and contacted five other companies to see if they could match what is being offered by Taser and they could not. Taser also sent me a 14-page letter stating that they were a sole proprietor.”
Chief Sneed said they city will outlay close to $300,000 spread over five years. During this time, Taser will replace equipment and keep it maintained for the life of the contract.