Brittany Kelley
KYLE — The Kyle Police Department will be seeing new technology, following approval of its 10-year master service agreement with Axon Enterprises at the Nov. 18 Kyle City Council meeting.
Assistant Chief Pedro Hernandez presented the item, with Chief Jeff Barnett assisting virtually. Hernandez explained that the item consisted of a service agreement for public safety technology systems, with the first payment occurring in 2026 for a total of $431,860.02.
“The city of Kyle Police Department relies on Axon Enterprises for a range of essential public safety technologies, including tasers, body-worn cameras, in-car video systems and digital evidence management software. These systems are critical to modern policing and provide both transparency and accountability in police operations,” said Hernandez.
These items span across multiple contracts, but the agreement presented to council, he continued, will combine these into one, single 10-year master service agreement, while ensuring that each officer is equipped with the technology. According to Hernandez, the agreement will replace body-worn cameras, car video systems — that will be updated at the five- and 10-year marks — tasers, cloud-based evidence management software and virtual reality (VR) training tools.
The following equipment will be added:
• 18 body cameras
• Seven tasers
• 14 evidence.com licenses
“The first year cost is $431,860.02, which aligns with the city’s current annual expenditure for existing Axon services. Beginning in year two [of the contract], the annual cost will increase to approximately $729,692, as the expanded equipment and software subscriptions are fully deployed and brought under unified support,” said the assistant chief.
The total savings with the presented contract, versus individual agreements, is an estimated $3.7 million. Additionally, Hernandez stated that the new contract has its advantages, as it will streamline five existing contracts, which will improve efficiency of processing and making payments, as well as set fixed pricing for the duration of it.
There will also be early access to current and future artificial intelligence tools, if the department requests it, and will allow the Real Time Crime Center analysts and supervisors to monitor live feed from officers’ body cameras and improve 911 dispatch procedures.
Furthermore, Hernandez explained that it will reduce the time an officer spends working on a computer, typing up reports by creating customizable forms with the Axon Standards Module and link features from the taser logs or body camera videos to the report.
Regarding data storage, he emphasized that everything in cloud-based storage belongs solely to KPD.
“I think it’s critical. I think it will be extremely useful. It will take some of the tedium out of the jobs of filling out forms,” said council member Lauralee Harris. “I think we have protected ourselves through this contract by being able to opt out and that we’re maintaining our own data.”
Council member Claudia Zapata questioned whether the $90,000 upgrade to Fusus Pro+ — which is a software that provides live video footage — was necessary after council previously approved a $400,000 upgrade in September 2024. According to Hernandez, the upgrade is required because the version that council approved is no longer an option that is available. Barnett also stated that the Pro+ version will bring added features, which he believes are beneficial and safe to officers in the field.
“I do believe that there are some great things in this package that alleviate administrative burden and that assist with officer and resident safety, but I think that we need to try exploring whether or not Axon can work with us, so that we can get those items a la carte and then, bundle them together,” said Zapata.
The council member was also concerned about the smart detection system, which Hernandez stated scans videos for human detection, improving efficiency when going through body-cam footage, as instead of scrubbing through the entire feed, staff can jump directly to where a human is found. She asked whether every bystander is scanned and whether it records significant detail, such as clothing, color, hats, backpacks, physical attributes and more.
“Yes, smart detection is going to do that, but it’s looking for figures; it’s not looking for facial identification. It’s not trying to do that kind of technology. It’s simply helping us look for human forms in a video when we want to speed along the review,” said Barnett.
“I think I, ethically, cannot support just this facet of it — the smart detection. I have really big issues because we don’t know how that metadata is kept, tracked [and] logged. We don’t have enough answers. I would appreciate a conversation with an Axon [representative], so that way, I can ask these more technological questions that I think also the public has, as well, in order to get clarification because there’s nothing that prohibits Axon in our contract from not moving towards things that get closer to facial recognition technology,” said Zapata.
Finally, she noted that Axon has several litigations with wrongful death and misidentification lawsuits, where Axon is not listed, instead, the officers and the cities are, meaning that the city is gaining a liability issue by partaking in these technologies.
Several community members voiced concerns against the contract during public comment, as well, including resident and former military police officer Alfonso Salazar.
“I noticed there was body camera footage [in the contract] that would do live translations on scene, yet we’re responsible for any errors that occur. So, we’re going to place our officers into some dangerous situations and we’re not going to be able to communicate properly with one another. I think there’s an issue there,” said Salazar. “VR training is a nice bell and whistle, but it’s not necessary. Also, with all of the training that I have provided, real life people [are] a better model for training than putting some goggles on … I’ve seen people crumble just in training. You won’t get that with a VR headset.”
Council member Michael Tobias explained that he has concerns, as well, about data storage and the recording of individuals, but that this is an opportunity to hold officers accountable, which is what residents want. This can be useful in cases, he said, where it is often based on hearsay, but that by having these instances on camera, information can be better presented.
The item passed 4-1, with Zapata dissenting. Mayor Travis Mitchell and council member Bear Heiser were not in attendance.
To listen to the discussion, visit bit.ly/47S6dr9.
