Isanti PD to purchase upgraded body camera system

Due to current body camera hardware being outdated and hard to repair, the Isanti Police Department is updating its body camera system.

Isanti Police Chief Travis Muyres explained officers wear body-worn cameras for evidentiary purposes as well as transparency. Currently the police department operates with a Watchguard in-car and body-camera system that is a synced system with an on-premise data server (remote backup service).

Muyres said there are issues with the body camera hardware being obsolete and difficult to repair. Muyres said of the 12 body-camera systems, only six or seven are currently operational.

Furthermore, Muyres said the IT services for backup and virtual servers are being quoted at several thousand dollars a month.

Since Watchguard was purchased by Motorola, Muyres said the police department needs to upgrade the body camera hardware to the new Motorola unit. The new body cameras will sync with the current in-car cameras as well as the new in-car systems by Motorola. The new squads will be outfitted with the up-to-date software in-car cameras as they are built going forward.

Muyres said due to the necessity to back up its current on-site server data, he has been advised by IT that the upfront backup cost is $4,222 with an annual cost of $25,548. Due to the cost of the server maintenance and the backup, city staff has concluded that the cloud-based storage with Motorola is more reliable, and a better value for the city.

Muyres provided a quote of $138,194 that is for the new body cameras, docking hardware in squads and office as well as all software licensing and cloud storage fees for a five-year period. Under the contract Motorola will upgrade the body camera hardware at year three. Body cameras will be warrantied for the five-year period.

At the end of the five-year contract, the city will own all the hardware and only be obligated to the software and storage fees.

“We think this is the best option,” Muyres said. “At the end of the five-year period we own the equipment.”

Following discussion, the council authorized the city to enter into a contract with Motorola to purchase new body camera hardware and service for the amount of $138,194 plus 5% contingency for any other necessary expenditures, and to enter into contract with Motorola for the software and cloud storage service for five years.