The Phoenix City Council approved a five-year, $5.7 million contract with Scottsdale-based Axon Enterprise to purchase and maintain video for 2,000 cameras on Wednesday.
Executive Assistant Chief Michael Kurtenbach said the department will now issue the equipment in phases, with priority given to first responder officers.
Kurtenbach said the department will also begin training with the new equipment and using the technology to look at themselves.
“We want to capture what our officers are doing well," he said. "If there’s opportunities for improvement, what can we improve upon, so we can share those videos so we can all learn from them.”
The Phoenix Police Department will have to bring on 21 new staff members at a cost of $1.6 million annually just to handle all the data. The entire program is estimated to cost the city $16.7 million.
