Axon Bundle Memo

City of
EL MIRAGE

Arizona
GRAND HERITAGE, BRIGHT FUTURE!

Police Department

12401 W. Cinnabar Ave., El Mirage 85335
623-500-3000; Fax 623-500-3019

TDD 623-933-3258; www. elmirageaz.gov

MEMORANDUM
TO: Crystal Dyches
City Manager
FROM: Paul Marzocca
Police Chief

SUBJECT: Axon Bundle

DATE: June 2022

The Department uses Axon Enterprises exclusively, as a sole source provider, for our Body
Worn Cameras (BWC), the BWC Licensing & Storage, Evidence.com, Tasers and for our
Interview Room Software. In FY 20/21, we entered into a 5-Year Agreement with Axon for our
Taser’s. The Agreement allowed for upgrades to the Taser 7, holsters, training and more. At
the end of the 5-year Agreement, we will be set for an automatic upgrade to the next model.

Over the past 2 years, with an increase of personnel, we have purchased additional Body Worn
Camera’s or BWC’s which are outside of the current BWC Agreement we have with Axon. In
discussions with Axon, regarding combining our BWC’s for a similar agreement as we have for
the Taser’s, they provided us with a bundle that we have determined will put the department
more in line with the recommendations of the recent CPSM Police Study.

It is our desire to enter into Axon’s Unlimited 7+ Plan. In addition to including the Interview
Room Software, this plan provides 16 benefits to assist the department in making the most of
Axon’s equipment and software.

The highlights of this plan include:

e Axon Redaction Assistant Seventy percent of our Police Administrative Specialists
time is conducting redactions for public records requests. This includes the body worn
video but also having to redact the audio. This redaction software will dramatically
reduce this time-consuming process.

e Axon Standards Axon Standards is a Professional Standards Suite of products which
includes:

> Use of Force reporting,

Internal Affairs Reporting

Vehicle Pursuit

Vehicle Collision

Citizen Complaint tracking

VVVV

We currently have no software that can do this function. We do everything via paper
which is very time consuming. This past year it took six months to produce our use of
force tally sheet. We now have a directive from the state to produce use of force
statistics monthly that gets forwarded to the FBI. To have Axon Standards software
suite will dramatically increase efficiency and help fulfill recommendations 27, 28 and 29
from CPSM in the recent police study.

« Axon Performance We have been testing Axon Performance for the past few months.
Axon Performance allows us to conduct an audit on when officers are turning their body
worn cameras on. Axon Performance also tells us when and if an officer deployed their
Taser. This will prevent any rogue use of force on residents without us knowing.

e Axon Capture Axon Capture is an application built specifically for officers’ smartphones
— with added security and organization features. With Axon Capture, recording evidence
is easy and managing it is secure. Photos, audio, and videos are automatically tagged
with GPS locations, and metadata is synced to Evidence.com profile — all without
leaving the scene.

e¢ Axon signal Sidearm When a firearm is removed from the holster the BWC will
automatically start recording. Because the BWC continually records the 30 seconds
prior and rewrites over itself until activated by the officer, we would have all shootings
on camera regardless if the officer activated the camera or not.

« Axon Citizen for Communities Residents can upload their own video to Evidence.com
(this will be of benefit when we launch the virtual block watch) In addition, Axon Citizen
for Communities allows agencies to create public evidence submission portals where
the public can submit evidence during both large-scale and smaller, day-to-day events.

e Unlimited storage of BWC video and other uploads

« §-year warranty, along with many additional benefits.

e Axon Respond Incident Commanders can view a live feed in times of emergency to
view the incident as it’s happening. In addition, if we can’t find an officer who may be
struggling with a suspect, Axon Respond will locate the officer for dispatch via the GPS
feature included in the Body Worn Camera.

Current expenses related to BWC:

Our current expenses for Axon Body Worn Cameras and storage are just under $100k. This
figure includes the Interview Room software agreement which is $15,600 per year.

The FY22/23 Budget has been approved by Council, which included our current agreement(s)
for BWC’s and the Interview Rooms Agreement. Acknowledging that the Year 1 payment of
$141,103.42 is higher than what was budgeted, the Department will make every effort to absorb
the cost overage for the Year 1 payment within the overall budget as we continue to be fiscally
responsible in our spending. Moving forward, Years 2-5 of the 5-Year Agreement shows
$156,024.90 per year.

In closing, | believe this is an outstanding opportunity for the police department to go from
tracking incidents by hand via excel document to tracking using Professional Standards
software and would meet the recommendations from the Police Study.

From CPSM

Overall, the internal investigation process for EMPD is comprehensive and mostly meets
industry standards. That said, while there is a process for tracking official complaints, there is no
process for tracking supervisory inquiries. Many issues that might start out as a potential
complaint against an officer are resolved when a supervisor meets with the complainant,
explains the policy involved, or reviews the body-worn camera footage. These are considered
supervisory inquiries and often get resolved by the supervisor but are not tracked.

The low ratio of unfounded complaints compared sustained allegations is not what CPSM
typically sees in other agencies. The fact that inquiries are not tracked unless they become an
“official complaint” may indicate that some inquiries should have been handled as complaints or
investigated further. Without a tracking system for these supervisory inquiries, there is no way to
determine if the inquiry was indeed an inquiry or should have been investigated further as a
complaint. Adding a tracking system for supervisory inquiries will help gather data and allow for
the review of allegations by management to verify which ones were complaints and which ones
were legitimate inquiries. A tracking system would add accountability along with a check and
balance to those handling inquiries to ensure they all are investigated and documented properly.

Another function of the Professional Standards Unit is to track use of force incidents. During the
onsite visit, CPSM consultants reviewed all use of force reports from 2018 through 2020. In
2019, there was a change in the forms used and the data captured. The form and investigative
process changes improved significantly with the change implemented in 2019.

Each use of force requires a sergeant to conduct a review and complete a multipart report
submitted through the chain of command to the Police Chief for final review. The reports are
completed on PDF forms, and the process appears to be cumbersome and inefficient. Some
supervisors complete the form electronically and others complete the form on paper. The paper
copies flow through the chain of command and require supervisors and managers to sign the
paper copies, which end up in the Professionals Standards Unit office once approved.

The data regarding administrative investigations, public complaints, and uses of force are
valuable as a risk management tool to identify training needs, performance deficiencies, or
patterns of misconduct. Although EMPD tracks a good deal of data manually, valuable pieces of
data are likely not being captured.

Many departments have turned to software systems to assist in this critical management
responsibility. Although there are several systems on the market, IAPro, with its Blue Team
feature, is one of the industry leaders. IAPro or similar software packages can be used to track
very important information, including personnel complaints, use of force incidents, traffic
accidents by officers, and personnel commendations. These systems also have an early
warning system to alert managers to potential problems based on real-time data. CPSM
recommends EMPD examine available software tracking systems and implement a means to
track and evaluate more comprehensive data on uses of force for risk management purposes.
Regardless of the software system, once the data is captured, the department should also
devise a process to assess the data for training needs or policy changes.

Professional Standards Unit (PSU) Recommendations

= Create a system for tracking supervisory inquiries made by citizens. (Recommendation No.
27.)

= Evaluate available software systems for tracking public complaints, personnel investigations,
and uses of force. (Recommendation No. 28.)

= Devise a formal process for an annual evaluation of all risk management data, including
pursuits, uses of force, traffic accidents, and other incidents that may incur liability for the City
of El Mirage. This review should specifically focus on identifying possible training and policy
needs or improvements and be reviewed by the command staff. (Recommendation No. 29.)