City Council approved the $835,000-a-year Axon deal on Oct. 26. It brings three docked drones, 10 fixed cameras and AI report writing to Lawrenceville police.
The Lawrenceville Police Department wants drones that launch from docks when a priority call comes in. The plan is part of an $835,000 request that City Council discusses at its work session at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Updated Nov. 8: City Council approved the agreement 5-0 on its consent agenda on Oct. 26, the draft minutes show. Read what else the council approved that night.
Police Chief John Mullin is asking the council to replace six separate contracts with Axon, the company behind the department’s body cameras and Tasers, with one five-year agreement. The new deal would also add drones, fixed cameras and artificial intelligence tools, according to the agenda report in the Oct. 13 work session packet.
The money would come from the city’s speed zone fund, the report says.
What the department would get
The packet includes a presentation from Axon. It lists what is new:
- Drone as First Responder: three Skydio X10 drones with docking stations. The presentation says they give dispatch “real-time aerial awareness on priority calls before officers arrive on scene.”
- Drone detection: Axon Dedrone, which spots and identifies other drones flying in and around the city, near large events, sensitive sites and active incidents.
- 10 fixed cameras: five that mount on existing light poles along key corridors, and five solar-powered cameras for places without power or a network connection.
- AI tools for all 100 sworn users, including:
- Draft One, which writes a first draft of an incident report from body camera audio
- transcription of interview and body camera audio
- an assistant for policy lookups, with in-field translation in 55 languages
- Prepared 911, which listens to emergency calls and pulls out location, weapon and suspect details as the caller speaks
- Auror, a hub that links retail crime reports from businesses to investigators
The deal would also refresh body cameras, in-car cameras, Tasers and virtual reality training gear on a set schedule through 2031.
The presentation does not say where the drone docks or fixed cameras would go.
What it costs now, and what changes
The department has six Axon contracts today, ending on four different dates between 2028 and 2030. Axon’s slides list them:
| Contract | Covers | Ends | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body cameras and Tasers | 96 users | July 31, 2028 | $215,000 a year |
| Taser certification | 90 users | March 14, 2029 | $390,000 upfront |
| Virtual reality training | 90 users | July 31, 2028 | $24,000 a year |
| In-car cameras | 60 vehicles | Feb. 28, 2029 | $174,000 a year |
| Interview room cameras | 5 rooms | Feb. 14, 2030 | $165,000 upfront |
| Fusus camera network | 150 streams | March 31, 2028 | $304,000 upfront |
Axon puts today’s effective spending at about $583,000 a year. That is $413,000 a year in payments, plus about $850,000 paid upfront, spread over the contracts. The new agreement would be a single payment of $835,000 a year, the presentation says. That is a net increase of about $252,000 a year.
The agenda report lists the fiscal impact as $835,000. It does not give a total for the full five years.
The Fusus contract is paid for by a grant and would run to the end of its term in 2028. It would then roll into the new agreement.
The timeline
If the council approves, the presentation lays out this schedule:
- November 2026: delivery of new body cameras, Tasers, virtual reality gear, fixed cameras and interview room equipment begins
- December 2026: the new agreement starts and the six old contracts end, with credits carried over
- 2028: the Fusus camera network and an interview room upgrade are brought in
- 2029 to 2031: scheduled hardware refreshes at no added cost
What it means for you
- It is now approved. The council voted 5-0 on Oct. 26. Axon’s schedule has the new agreement starting in December. Our story on the vote.
- Watch or attend. The meeting is at City Hall, 70 S. Clayton St., and is streamed on the city’s meeting videos page. The full packet, including Axon’s slides, is on Municode Meetings.
- Questions for the department or council? Our page on who to call at City Hall has phone numbers for the mayor, council and Police Department.
- Other items Tuesday include 106 townhomes proposed beside the Costco site and the swearing-in of a new council member. Read our preview of the rest of the agenda. For calls and arrests, see the Police and Fire log.
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