Despite residents asking them to wait, Covington city commissioners have entered a 10-year contract with Axon Enterprise, a technology company that develops hardware and software for law enforcement.
The contract takes Covington from a five-year contract to a 10-year contract. For resident and Human Rights Commission chair Pamela Mullins, that time frame changes everything.
“Technology will change dramatically over the next decade,” Mullins told commissioners. “Locking Covington into a single vendor for that length of time means we lose negotiating power, we lose flexibility, and we are fully dependent on Axon's pricing policies.”
Axon will provide technology like body cameras and tasers to the city. Commissioners approved the contract without automated license plate readers, which would have been a new addition to the equipment the city buys from Axon. The city has been using automated license plate readers from another company since 2010.
Mayor Ron Washington had previously proposed further restrictions on the Axon technologies. On Tuesday night, commissioners amended the contract to require the police department to report how it used the technology to the city manager every month.
The contract
As approved, Covington’s 10-year Axon contract includes:
- New: One Axon Air Skydio (Drones as First Responders)
- 120 body cameras
- 120 tasers
- Subscription to Axon AI Era: transcription tools, evidence review, translations, field decision-making and more.
- Four Axon Fleet 3: AI-driven recording systems in police cars
- Two passes per year to Axon Accelerate Conference Registration for the next 10 years.
The contract includes warranties, software, hardware and other services.
Covington has used Axon Evidence to store data since 2016 — City Manager Sharmili Reddy said there has been no breach or issues with the platform since then.
“If another agency wants access to that information, it would have to be authorized by it individually on a case-by-case basis,” Reddy said. “This is not free for all.”
She also pointed out the city has been using body cameras and tasers for about 18 years. Axon has been the city’s vendor for the camera technology used during interviews since 2021.
However, both Axon AI and a first responder drone would be new tools for the police department. Reddy said Axon AI automatically drafts report narratives based on body cameras. The software also drafts translations. The police would use the drone for emergency situations to capture an aerial view of terrain that is hard to access.
Residents ask for renegotiation contract, reallocation of funds
Like Mullins, resident Mohammed Ahmad was also concerned about the contract length. For Ahmad, it was related to safety during protests.
“Ten years, $6 million contract with no civil liberties conditions sends a pretty specific message to certain communities,” he said.
Other residents advocated for reallocation of funds to roads, bike lanes, code enforcement and other infrastructure that would improve quality of life in the city.
Resident Gordon Gewin called back to the killing of cyclist Gloria San Miguel on the Licking River Bridge in 2022. The city has since created bike lanes, but Gewin said they have not been enough.
“If we can't throw some paint and plastic up to protect and serve our actual community, why does a weapons manufacturer get a $6 million contract?” Gewin said.
Jim Johnson worked on the city’s AI policy, which passed last year. He said this contract violates it.
“Nowhere in the contract is the language required by the city's own recently passed AI policy, which makes me question the point of passing a policy at all,” Johnson said.”
Overall, residents who addressed the commission asked for more time to reconsider the length of the contract and the new technology included.
“Maybe we do need this, but what if someone’s better at it?” resident Jillian Caldwell asked. “We’re just going to lock ourselves down for 10 years.”
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