County sheriff's office has new camera contract

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office is getting new body and vehicular cameras. Sisters DCSO Lieutenant Chad Davis reported this development as part of his status report to Sisters City Council on August 26. The Nugget inquired as to whether the new cameras have any relation to the very unpopular Flock automated license plate recorders (ALPRs) that have raised public concern and ire across the nation in recent months. Lt. Davis reported this at the supplying company Axon, and that the agreement with Axon does not include ALPRs. On June 3, the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a five-year $2.4 million agreement between Axon and DCSO, which includes procuring body-worn cameras, tasers, and fleet cameras. The DCSO's former contract was with Covan, ending June 30. The Axon contract expense to the County's fiscal year 2026-27 DCSO budget is $483,000. ALPR functionality was explicitly excluded, and not licensed within the agreement. Axon is a significant player in law enforcement-related technology. Craig Rawlins-Wilson published an article in http://www.SlashGear.com, September 2 reporting that, 'Axon has nearly six times Flock's market capitalization (approximately $48.8 billion vs. $8.3 billion as of August 31, 2026), is decades older, and has far deeper and longer-standing relationships with law enforcement. That's because ALPRs are just one of the myriad products Axon offers. Like Flock, it also offers drone services, but unlike Flock, Axon is also a leader in body cams, in-vehicle ALPRs, data storage, tasers, live translation, and other equipment and AI-powered software services for law enforcement.' The body-worn and fleet cameras primarily capture video and audio for law enforcement accountability and evidence collection, while ALPR systems focus on reading and storing data. In numerous cities across the United States the public have raised privacy concerns over what data is collected by ALPRs and to what purpose the data is being used and by whom. ALPRs capture images of vehicles, including license plates, make, model, color, and unique identifiers like bumper stickers or body damage. ALPRs can also capture faces but, so far, does not have facial recognition capabilities. DCSO operates as a primary law enforcement agency to approximately 212,000 residents and is funded by permanent tax districts to cover public services and operations. The DCSO serves a 3,055-square-mile jurisdiction. The City of Sisters contracted with the DCSO for deputies stationed in and serving Sisters since 2020, under a significantly enhanced agreement. DCSO had been providing police services to Sisters since the Sisters Police Department disbanded in 1998-99, but it was not until the new contract was agreed that deputies were consistently assigned to ongoing duty in Sisters. The City of Sisters continues to see significant financial benefits from contracting with DCSO as compared to other small cities, whose budgets often require 50 percent of funds to maintain a police force.