The Merriam Police Department is getting new body and patrol car cameras.
Last week, the Merriam City Council unanimously approved a $340,000 purchase for new body cameras and fleet cameras from Arizona-based camera and taser company Axon.
This comes about five years after the last purchase of new cameras for the police department from a company that was recently bought out. Chief Darren McLaughlin previously told the Post that Merriam first deployed body cameras to police officers in 2009.
Merriam purchased cameras from Watchguard in 2019
- McLaughlin told the city council on Sept. 23 that he did not anticipate coming back to the city council after five years asking for approval to purchase new fleet and body cameras.
- McLaughlin said Watchguard was purchased by Motorola, a Chicago-based smartphone company, in 2022.
- Motorola discontinued the Watchguard camera system and only kept its own camera system, he said.
- This means the police department is unable to replace body cameras or order replacement parts.
‘Almost a monopoly’
- Merriam police already use Axon tasers, McLaughlin said.
- Other Johnson County police departments and agencies nationwide use Axon fleet and body cameras, as well, he said.
- McLaughlin said he is less worried about Axon being bought out like Watchguard because Axon is “almost a monopoly in the United States” for police tasers.
- Other companies the police department looked at had quality products, but Axon is a much bigger, established company.
- “I don’t want to be here in five years again and go, ‘hey, guess what,’” McLaughlin said. “That was part of our decision-making as well, to make sure we’re in this for the long term, because the amount of money total being spent for me looks like a lot of money.”
The $340K purchase is for 11 fleet cameras, 35 body cameras
- McLaughlin said the $340,000 purchase is for cameras in all 11 fleet vehicles and for 35 body cameras.
- Broken down, the city’s purchase includes $325,000 out of next year’s budget for the cameras, and $15,000 out of an equipment reserve contingency fund in this year’s budget for the deposit.
- The 2025 budget included a $450,000 placeholder for fleet and body cameras, according to city documents.
- The $15,000 deposit comes from an equipment reserve contingency fund, McLaughlin said.
- The 5-year contract includes a body camera refresh every two-and-a-half years and a fleet camera refresh every five years, he said.
Go deeper: Watch the city council’s full discussion of this topic online here, starting at 18:08.
