Motorola Services has asked San Francisco Police Chief Derrick Lew, center above, to undo a nearly $10 million contract won by its competitor.
A public safety giant is calling on the San Francisco Police Department to undo a nearly $10 million contract won by its competitor amid questions about financial requests made by a former police executive.
Scott Strazzante/S.F. Chronicle
A public safety giant is calling on the San Francisco Police Department to undo a nearly $10 million contract won by its competitor after the Chronicle revealed that both companies had received ethically questionable financial requests from a former police executive.
Scott Lees, a vice president for Motorola Solutions, urged SFPD Chief Derrick Lew in a March 4 letter to rebid the contract he signed with Axon Enterprise in December to provide the department with a new system for managing its incident reports and other crime data.
An SFPD vehicle in downtown San Francisco on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.
Dan Hernandez/S.F. Chronicle
Motorola Solutions, which separated from the phone maker in 2011, and Axon, formerly known as Taser, are global companies whose products include some related to drones, body cameras and license-plate readers. The conflict between them offers a window into the escalating competition created by San Francisco’s new embrace of police tech.
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The issue stems from SFPD’s then-CIO, William Sanson-Mosier, asking Axon, Motorola and other companies to sponsor a glowing article about him in a trade magazine in August 2024, as the Chronicle previously reported. Axon ran a full-page ad in the publication, while Motorola did not. Soon after, SFPD announced the contracting opportunity, which Axon later won.
City law prohibits certain employees from asking companies that do business with their departments to sponsor projects, even for legitimate governmental causes. The law is intended to curb pay-to-play dynamics in city government.
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Sanson-Mosier, who is currently a civilian manager with SFPD, was placed on leave Feb. 26, after the Chronicle inquired about his sponsorship requests. The San Francisco City Attorney’s Office has also launched an investigation into the matter.
Citing the Chronicle’s reporting, Lees wrote that Motorola was “concerned about the impact these allegations may have on public trust and the integrity of city procurement.”
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“When we were approached for sponsorships during the RFP window, we declined out of respect for San Francisco’s ethics guidelines and our own commitment to a fair process,” Lees wrote. “To ensure this contract remains beyond reproach while the city attorney’s office conducts its review, we respectfully suggest that the SFPD suspend current work and rebid.”
SFPD and the city attorney declined to comment on the letter.
In a statement Monday, Axon said it “is committed to conducting business ethically and in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations, supported by rigorous internal policies and oversight to ensure these standards are consistently met.”
Axon declined to say how much it paid for its ad. It described the ad as “a standard marketing sponsorship with a third-party publication” that was “approved more than five months before the city issued” its request for proposals.
“Axon was ultimately selected through the San Francisco Police Department’s competitive procurement process,” the statement read.
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Records show Axon scored higher than Motorola, even though the total price of its proposal was more than twice as high as its competitor’s. The proposals included pricing for other SFPD tech needs, which the department ultimately did not move forward with.
Sanson-Mosier previously told the Chronicle he was not involved in determining who won the contract nor was he on the evaluation panel.
“I did review the RFP, but I was not with the team that put the RFP together,” he said.
He did, however, give a presentation to the San Francisco Police Commission about the contracting opportunity in February 2025 and later announced it on his LinkedIn. He was also listed as the point of contact for Axon in the ensuing contract.
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Michael Barba can be reached at michael.barba@sfchronicle.com or at michaelbarba.42 on Signal.