Pedro "Pete" Lopez Jr.
Killeen Police Chief Pete Lopez Jr., at Tuesday’s City
Council meeting, presented a police technology upgrade through a contract with Axon Enterprise.
The technology includes body cameras, docks and a virtual reality headset and tablet, contracted out in an eight-year comprehensive bundle, according to the presentation attached to the agenda.
Lopez told the council
that the Killeen Police Department wanted to take advantage of Axon’s body-worn cameras, digital evidence management systems and real-time data analytics.
“These innovations are designed to improve the effectiveness and transparency of KPD and foster stronger relations with the community we serve,” he said.
According to the presentation, the initial cost will be $1.7 million in the first year, but Lopez claims it will save the city $3.1 million over the next years because of its “enhanced capabilities.”
He also said the transition to Axon would streamline nine existing technology functions, which would result in a cost reduction of value of approximately $773,000.
Lopez highlighted some of the gaps within the Killeen Police Department as far as technology was concerned. This included integration, cost considerations, training requirements, ethical concerns, delayed response times and difficulty with crime analysis, among other things.
“We are concerned with data quality to
ensure that it’s accurate, consistent and reliable,” Lopez explained was one of the challenges. “And data storage issues are the biggest concerns.”
He also said ethical concerns were particularly important for residents.
“As a city government and police department, we must
safeguard sensitive information against breaches and unauthorized access,” Lopez said. “Additional, proper audit procedures ensure that this technology is used ethically and respects civil liberties.”
Lopez emphasized that the new technology Axon provided would guarantee more efficiency.
“Currently, deputy
employees spend 22 hours per month doing things that Axon can automate, because that was all taken by one camera’s video, finding and tagging digital evidence and writing reports,” he said. “With 20 to 50 employees, that equates to about 5500 hours per month.”
Lopez said that Axon would cut the work down to 6 hours per month for each employee, which is a 75% reduction.
“The efficiency saved through Axon allows KPD to gain an additional 66,000 hours per year so that employees can respond to citizens’ calls for assistance.”
Mayor Pro Tem Jessica Gonzalez asked where the data KPD collected went and who was responsible for collecting it.
Lopez responded that the data belonged to KPD and was evaluated on a weekly to monthly basis.
