Glenwood Springs City Council approved a 10-year contract Thursday for a package of Axon public safety technology, moving ahead with a bundled system that city officials said will save money, improve emergency response and give the city more control over law enforcement data.

Council unanimously approved the resolution in a 7-0 vote after hearing from Chief of Public Safety Joseph Deras, City Attorney Karl Hanlon and one member of the public who raised concerns about the contract’s AI police report-writing tool.

The sole-source purchase will move the Glenwood Springs Police Department away from its current Motorola dash and body camera system and phase out the city’s existing Flock Safety camera system. The Axon package includes body-worn cameras, dash cameras, Taser 10 devices, holster activation sensors, live translation services, video redaction assistance, a virtual reality training platform, a drone first responder program, Axon’s Draft One AI report-writing tool and Outpost automatic license plate reader cameras.

The issue first came before council during its May 21 meeting, when Deras presented the proposed move to Axon as a cost-saving measure that would bundle several public safety tools under one contract. At that meeting, city officials said the $2.4 million, 10-year contract was expected to save between $100,000 and $150,000 per year.

Council decided May 21 to delay a vote until Thursday’s regular meeting so the proposal could be presented during an evening meeting and members of the public could comment before a final decision was made.

Deras told council Thursday that the technology package would help the department improve response times, reduce staff time spent on reports and video redactions, and provide better tools for emergencies across the city and surrounding area.

“We have gone out of our way to answer any community concerns and been fiscally responsible about how we’re going to proceed with this program over the next 10 years,” Deras said.

Deras said the drone first responder program could help police and fire crews respond more quickly to calls where location and situational awareness are critical. He cited several recent incidents, including a stolen vehicle, fires in Glenwood Canyon, a serious bicycle crash near Hanging Lake, a stabbing on the bike trail and calls involving transient camps, as examples of situations where drones could provide immediate information to first responders.

Deras said the drones would not patrol the city looking for problems, but would be deployed to specific calls for service. Flight records, video, location data and deployment logs would be maintained as internal department records and would be available through public records requests, he said.

The department already has FAA-certified drone pilots in the police and fire departments, Deras said, though more staff would likely be trained as the program expands.

A major part of the discussion centered on privacy, data sharing and the city’s move away from Flock Safety cameras. The Axon Outpost automatic license plate readers will replace the city’s existing Flock cameras, Deras and Hanlon said.

Hanlon told council the Axon contract is stronger than the city’s previous Flock agreement, particularly around data storage, data retention and vendor control.

“It’s a company that started in law enforcement, has been in law enforcement,” Hanlon said. “I will say, from a contract standpoint, significantly more sophisticated, tighter, in particular on the use of the data storage.”

Hanlon said the contract gives the city control over the management, retention and destruction of data. He said the agreement includes specific addendums for each technology and requires the department to maintain policies governing their use.

During the May 21 discussion, Hanlon said the Axon contract would make data sharing “very much our choice and not the vendor’s choice,” a point city officials repeated Thursday while discussing the switch away from Flock.

Council members asked several questions Thursday about the length of the contract, whether the city could opt out of individual pieces later, how the technology would stay current and what guardrails would exist around AI-generated police reports.

Deras said the contract functions more like a subscription than a one-time equipment purchase, with regular hardware and software updates included. He said Axon would replace or upgrade certain equipment, including Tasers, body cameras and other technology, over the life of the agreement.

Councilor David Townsley asked whether the city could remove the automatic license plate reader portion of the contract if council later decided it no longer wanted that technology. Deras said the city has off-ramps if the technology is not funded or if a court order or change in Colorado law affects the agreement.

Councilor Sumner Schachter asked whether the department could test the AI report-writing tool before relying on it. Deras said Axon has provided test units, allowing the department to review and verify draft reports before full deployment.

Councilor Steve Smith asked whether the department could choose not to use the AI report-writing tool if it proves ineffective. Deras said police administrators could restrict or stop its use, even if the tool is available under the contract.

“We as police administrators can control that,” Deras said. “If we choose it’s not working, or the benefit of the efficiency of the organization, then we can pull that back and restrict that use.”

Deras said officers would still be required to review and verify any AI-generated report before submitting it. He said the reports are generated from body-worn camera footage, but officers must attest that the final report is a fair and accurate reflection of the incident.

Deras said the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office already uses the technology and that he is not aware of significant accuracy challenges locally. He also said the department can limit use of the AI tool for more serious or complex cases, such as homicides or sexual assaults, and require officers to write those reports manually.

During public comment, Glenwood Springs resident John Houghton asked council to continue the item so the contract could be modified and more information could be provided about policies for new technology.

Houghton said he was particularly concerned about Axon’s Draft One tool and cited independent research raising questions about the accuracy of AI-generated police reports. He said the city could face financial risk if the tool does not save time or if officers spend as much time editing AI reports as they would have spent writing reports themselves.

“Accuracy is the threshold condition,” Houghton said, quoting from the research he referenced.

Council did not continue the item. Mayor Pro Tem Erin Zalinski moved to approve the resolution, and Councilor Mitchell Weimer seconded the motion after asking whether the contract language needed to specifically state that the city could selectively defund portions of the package.

Hanlon said that language is built into the contract, though he and City Manager Steve Boyd will complete one final review before the contract is signed.

City Council will next meet June 18.