Des Plaines police soon will be equipped with Axon body cameras, similar to the one a Naperville officer wears here. Des Plaines police have used cameras from a different company since 2015.
Daily Herald file photo
Des Plaines police officers will get new cameras for their uniforms and their squad cars under a roughly $3.8 million contract approved by the city council Monday night.
The 10-year deal is with Axon Enterprise, an Arizona-based company that provides such gear to police departments in Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Hoffman Estates, Palatine and elsewhere across the Chicago area and the nation.
Des Plaines police officers have used cameras from a Missouri company called Safe Fleet since 2015 but have experienced quality and service issues, Chief David Anderson said in a memo. Additionally, in February, Safe Fleet will stop servicing the software and computer server it provided, Anderson said before the council’s vote Monday.
In researching other systems, Des Plaines police spoke with representatives from 14 suburban departments that use or are planning to use Axon gear, Anderson wrote. Axon’s equipment “stood out” and will meet the department’s needs, he said.
“There was really one clear leader,” Anderson told the council.
An Elgin police officer’s Axon body camera. Des Plaines police are getting cameras from the company, too.
Daily Herald file photo
Des Plaines police will get 107 body-worn cameras and 30 in-car cameras, documents indicate. They’ll also move from on-site server storage to unlimited cloud storage, which paves the way for cloud-based storage of other types of digital evidence, Anderson said.
Anderson hopes to have the new equipment on the street by mid-February.
The gear will cost the city about $362,441 annually for the first five years of the contract and about $402,119 annually for the next five years. The department will apply for available grants to offset the annual costs, Anderson said.
Under state law, all Illinois police departments must use body cameras starting Jan. 1.