The Fort Pierce city commission on Monday voted unanimously 5-0 to approve a $10.1 million, decade-long contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. for body cameras, Tasers, and artificial intelligence technology tools for the police department.
The contract runs for five years with an optional automatic renewal for another five years. The 10-year contract will cost Fort Pierce $10,139,037.87. The city will make annual payments of $999,000 during the first five years. If the renewal option is exercised, the city will pay Axon Enterprise $1,028,807.57 annually for the final five years.
Fort Pierce Police Department Chief David M. Smith described the package as Axon Enterprise's top-tier offering. The equipment includes Tasers, also known as stun guns, and body cameras that translate languages immediately for officers.
An officer would speak in their language, and the body camera will relay the message to the subject in their language. Smith said prior to the vote that the technology "will absolutely be a force multiplier for us."
The Axon technology will also help officers with redaction of police reports. Redactions are used to prevent personal information, like Social Security numbers, from being made public. According to the commission agenda, the current Axon body cameras owned by the police department were at the end of their life and needed to be replaced. Axon Enterprise is in Scottsdale, Arizona.