FOR YEARS, police technology firm Axon Enterprises has been dogged by accusations that it\u2019s\u00a0attempting to unfairly corner the market on Tasers and body-worn cameras for law enforcement.<\/p>\n
Despite some hand wringing, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday last week, with Vice Mayor Pam Foley absent, to approve a new, expanded contract with the firm to provide the technologies to the San Jose Police Department. The city extended the existing contract, portions of which were set to expire in December, through June 2031. The decision also increases the city\u2019s payments to Axon over a five-year period beginning July 2026 by about $9.3 million to a total estimated cost of $17.4 million.<\/p>\n
Prior to Tuesday\u2019s vote, city officials raised concerns over allowing one vendor to control such a broad swath of products and services. They warned the firm\u2019s extensive leverage\u00a0could allow it to raise prices even further during future contract negotiations.<\/p>\n
Mayor Matt Mahan questioned whether the new contract might lead to \u201cplatform dependence.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not clear to me how competitive this market is,\u201d Mahan said at the meeting. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t appear to have a whole lot of actors that are providing these specialized services.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, city officials involved in the contract said the cost savings from the updated agreement outweighs these potential risks.<\/p>\n
The restructured contract combines two separate city agreements with Axon,\u00a0leading to $6.6 million in savings over the five-year period\u00a0compared to alternative estimates from the firm, according to a\u00a0memo from Police Chief Paul Joseph<\/a>.<\/p>\n San Jose\u2019s contract with the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company to provide body-worn cameras and related services dates back to 2016. The city council approved a separate contract to provide Tasers in 2020.<\/p>\n The updated agreement allows San Jose to purchase Axon\u2019s latest model, Taser 10. The company has said it will halt support for the Taser 7 model presently in use at the end of the year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will help ensure the Department continues to have access to a reliable, fully supported less-lethal use of force option,\u201d Joseph wrote in his memo.<\/p>\n The contract extension allows the city to continue purchasing Axon\u2019s body-worn cameras along with a number of other evidence gathering technologies. Those include camera systems for police vehicles and various software products designed to manage digital evidence.<\/p>\n The use of Tasers has become an\u00a0increasing point of contention<\/a>\u00a0between South Bay law enforcement agencies and civil rights advocates, who argue the devices are known to cause serious injuries and death despite the \u201cless lethal\u201d billing. Demonstrators rallied at the Santa Clara County Government Center during a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to protest a pilot program that could ultimately lead to\u00a0more widespread use of Tasers<\/a>\u00a0by the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n While Joseph\u2019s memo urged city leaders to adopt the proposed agreement, it also included a stark warning about the potential fiscal risks the city might face as a result of expanding its business relationship with Axon.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter 2031, costs could rise even more since Axon controls the market and its technology, giving it leverage to raise prices,\u201d the memo said. \u201cCreating such a large, bundled contract without competitive solicitation does not align with best practices for ensuring market competition and price fairness.\u201d<\/p>\n But during Tuesday\u2019s council deliberations, Joseph said on balance, the expanded agreement is San Jose\u2019s best option to retain use of these technologies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty niche market,\u201d he said. \u201cHowever, we believe that Axon makes not only the best product, but the most cost-effective product for this use.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph added the updated contract grants San Jose the right to terminate the agreement with only 30 days\u2019 notice.<\/p>\n Other governments have alleged Axon has already used its market leverage to raise rates. They point to Axon\u2019s 2018 acquisition of camera company VieVu, one of its competitors.<\/p>\n In November 2023, a group of three East Coast municipalities filed a class action lawsuit against Axon, alleging that the purchase of VieVu amounted to monopolistic behavior in the body-worn camera market. In February, a judge tossed the portion of the case related to the Taser market, according to a\u00a0report from legal news service Law360<\/a>.<\/p>\n Axon did not respond to a request for comment. However, company officials have defended against accusations that it engages in unfair market practices in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cCompetition in the body camera space has always been vigorous and is more so today than ever,\u201d\u00a0Axon Chief Legal Officer Isaiah Fields said in a 2023 statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Contact Keith Menconi at\u00a0keith@sanjosespotlight.com\u00a0or @KeithMenconi on X.<\/p>\n