Saline City Council Approves Body Camera Contract Continuation

Saline City Council approved a recommendation to extend its contract with AXON, a company that supplies body and vehicle cameras for the Saline Police Department, at its Jan. 5 meeting. Originally approved in 2022, the partnership will now extend through 2036. The contract extension will charge a total of $710,000 for equipment and maintenance, spread out over ten years.

“Yes, it does look like a heavy lift, but I can also tell you that this, especially in this climate, I don’t know how we can operate without having body-worn cameras and in-car cameras as well,” Chief of Police Marlene Radzik said.

City Manager Dan Swallow voiced agreement with the Chief’s recommendation to extend the contract, emphasizing affordability in comparison to other services along with high quality equipment.

“AXON is definitely a leading technology provider in this area,” Swallow said. “As mentioned, there are other providers, but the quality of the equipment is not as good, as well as some of the tools. And just talking with even IT Director Shonk, some of the other technology he’s investigated, the images can be shaky. This has stabilization technology.”

While ten years is commitment, Swallow said the fixed equipment cost could ultimately save the city funds in the future.

“Obviously, it is a longer term contract, which was something that we discussed at length, but just based on what we see in terms of technology increasing costs year after year, and we actually had that discussion at our department of meeting this morning, that we are seeing technology costs go up for this type of this type of equipment. So that’s why we are recommending the 10 year contract and certainly support Chief Radzik’s recommendation.”