Police Department News
Industry / Vendor News
Six-month archive
Axon Unveils Body 5 Camera and "Guardian" Real-Time AI Alerts
Axon announced the Axon Body 5 body-worn camera on October 24, 2026. The company says it has 25 times the AI processing power of earlier-generation Axon body cameras, 20% more battery life than the previous generation, better low-light video and improved connectivity. For the first time Axon is offering two versions. The Body 5 Pro adds a near-focus lens that lets officers scan a driver's license to check status and wants or warrants without returning to the patrol car, plus four front-facing speakers to carry Axon Assistant's real-time translations over street noise. Axon also introduced Guardian, a set of AI features for field devices. Escalation Detection flags potential conflicts on a recording Body 4 or Body 5 camera and sends an alert to Axon Fusus, where a person reviews the livestream and decides whether more support is needed. Approach Alert on Fleet 3 in-car systems warns the officer if a stopped vehicle's door opens. Axon says general availability dates will be announced soon.
DOJ Picks Four "Model Cities" to Share Nearly $300 Million in Public Safety Funding
On October 30, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice selected Jacksonville, Florida (Jacksonville Sheriff's Office); East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and the St. Louis (MO) Police Department to share nearly $300 million through its Model Cities Initiative, announced in June. DOJ says the money can fund sworn and non-sworn hiring, new technology, equipment purchases or leases, forensic capacity, and mental health, substance use and recidivism services. DOJ will work with each jurisdiction to finalize its plan. Jackson says it will receive $100 million over three years, including a new forensic lab and a unified network linking its real-time command center, gunshot detection and ballistic imaging. St. Louis police listed recruitment, real-time crime center renovations, replacement cameras and license plate readers, a radio tower, more drones, replacement vehicles and ballistic shields for every patrol unit.
North Liberty, Iowa, Votes to End Its Flock Plate-Reader Contract
On October 27, 2026, the North Liberty (IA) City Council voted 3-1 to terminate the city's contract with Flock Safety and turn off its 12 license plate reader cameras. The contract had auto-renewed in July 2026 and runs to July 2028, at $77,800 for two years. It does not allow immediate termination, but it can end without penalty if the city leaves the funding out of its next budget. The city's first annual payment, $41,800, was already made, and the council chose to absorb that cost and shut the cameras off right away. The cameras will stay in place for several months because Flock owns the hardware and is responsible for removing it. Police Chief Diane Venenga said that once the cameras are dark, no data will be shared.
Reno Approves $21.8M Axon Deal, With Conditions, Replacing Flock Plate Readers
On October 21, 2026, the Reno (NV) City Council voted 5-2 to approve an eight-year, $21.8 million agreement with Axon that consolidates the Reno Police Department's existing Axon contracts and adds new technology. The deal brings more than 200 automated license plate readers, replacing the city's Flock Safety hardware, along with response drones, AI software that drafts police reports from body-camera audio, and translation tools. Council attached conditions: data not tied to an active investigation must be deleted after 15 days, outside-agency sharing needs prior approval, the department must run audits at least quarterly and report to the council every three months, and any expansion needs council approval. The city attorney said the deal depends on Axon accepting those conditions. Mayor Hillary Schieve and Councilmember Meghan Ebert voted no.
Motorola Solutions Launches "Insights" AI Analytics Platform for Public Safety Agencies
Motorola Solutions has introduced Insights, a cloud-native analytics platform that pulls an agency's 911 call, CAD, case and body-camera data into customizable dashboards. It uses Motorola's Assist AI so supervisors can ask questions about their data in plain language. The platform sends real-time alerts on anomalies such as high call-abandonment rates or disabled body cameras. It also tracks month-over-month trends like response times, schedules automated reports, and lets agencies anonymously benchmark their performance against peer departments of similar size or region. Motorola cites industry research that public safety analysts can spend upwards of 40% of their time extracting data from spreadsheets and calculating metrics by hand.
Florida Poly Police Add a Piloted eVTOL Aircraft, Pending FAA Approval
The Florida Polytechnic University Police Department has added a manned electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to its operations, the university announced October 20. The aircraft is a Jetson ONE named Astro, and the university calls it a first for a U.S. law enforcement agency. The department is in the final stages of seeking FAA approval to fly it on patrol. Chief Aaron Murray said Astro will help monitor campus and surrounding acreage, reach areas that are hard to access by ground, support post-storm recovery and deliver emergency supplies. The department also plans to make it available to regional agencies for emergency response. Jetson said it moved Florida Poly's order ahead despite a three-year waiting list.
Michigan State Police Adds Silverado Pickups to Preliminary 2027 Patrol Vehicle Test Results
Michigan State Police has added Chevrolet's Silverado Z71 and Z7X PPV pickups to its preliminary 2027 model-year Police Vehicle Evaluation Program results, which now cover 13 patrol vehicles and four motorcycles. Ford's 3.0L EcoBoost Police Interceptor Utility led the full test in top speed (148 mph) and road-course lap average (1:34.69), while the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT was quickest to 60 mph (4.01 seconds) and posted the shortest projected stop from 60 mph (123.12 feet). Among pickups, the Ford F-150 Police Responder was quickest to 60 (5.94 seconds), while both Silverados stopped shorter. Results are preliminary, lap averages are calculated by Modern Public Fleet, and MSP has not announced a date for the full test book.
Bellingham Police Launch Drone as First Responder Program on $475K State Grant
Bellingham (WA) Police are running a new Drone as First Responder program funded through 2028 by a $475,417 state grant, one line of a $3.7 million Washington Criminal Justice Training Commission award. The drones are based at the police station, the city's Pacific Street Operations Center and Bellis Fair mall. The program's public flight dashboard, which runs on Skydio's cloud, logged 23 flights from Aug. 19 through Oct. 6, most of them training. The city says the drones carry no license plate readers, always fly with a human pilot, and that vendor agreements bar Skydio from accessing video. The council agenda bill does not say who pays after 2028.
Caldwell, Idaho Swaps Flock for $6.7M, 10-Year Axon Package
On October 5, 2026, the Caldwell City Council voted 4-1 to approve a roughly $6.7 million, 10-year Axon contract covering drones, body cameras, Tasers, AI software and 65 fixed license plate readers, replacing the city's Flock cameras.
Lakeland Approves $21.98M, 10-Year Axon Deal for Cameras, AI and Drones
Lakeland (FL) commissioners unanimously approved a 10-year, $21.98 million Axon contract covering body cameras, Tasers, in-car video, AI report tools, and remotely dispatched drones. Outside funding already secured, plus a pending DOJ request, could cover about 56% of the contract.
$2.06M in Federal Funding Awarded for Mobile Command Centers in Onondaga County and Syracuse
Rep. John Mannion (NY-22) announced on October 1, 2026 that $2,062,000 in federal Community Project Funding has been awarded to the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office and the Syracuse Police Department for new Mobile Command Centers. Each agency receives $1,031,000.
Oklahoma Federal Court Rules Warrantless ALPR History Search Violated Fourth Amendment
In United States v. Kyle (N.D. Okla., Oct. 1, 2026), a federal district court suppressed evidence after finding that an officer's warrantless query of two license plate reader databases was an unconstitutional search. It is a trial-court decision and not binding elsewhere.
Newport Beach OKs ~$4.5M Skydio/Axon drone expansion
Newport Beach City Council approved expanding the police drone program through Skydio and Axon after 912 flights in three months. Staff estimated nearly $752,000 in year one and more than $4.5 million over six years.
Flock Safety weighs sale; Axon, Motorola named as possible buyers
Semafor reported that Flock Safety is weighing whether to sell itself after preliminary discussions with outside advisers. Semafor noted rivals Axon and Motorola Solutions as potential strategic buyers. No formal sale process or decision had been announced.
Flock shortens ALPR retention, mandates audit lockouts
On August 13, 2026, Flock Safety CEO Garrett Langley announced product changes: default ALPR retention recommendation cut from 30 days to 7 days with Evidence Mode for case-linked preservation; mandatory Audit Assistance with proactive lockouts by year-end; required case codes; offense-type filtering for outside-agency sharing; and mandatory MFA. Bishop Fox security review findings were slated for September.
BJA Opens FY2026 Body-Worn Camera Grants Up to $2M
BJA posted FY 2026 BWCPIP (O-BJA-2026-172677) on August 13, 2026 for publicly funded LE and correctional agencies. Awards up to $2,000,000 with 50% match and $2,000 federal cap per camera. Grants.gov SF-424 due September 25, 2026; JustGrants October 2, 2026. Total funding up to about $13.2M.
Bernalillo County Sheriff Picks Axon After Ending Flock
Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office announced a new ALPR partnership with Axon after terminating Flock, citing tighter control over data, retention, access logging, and no default national pooling. Target launch before year-end pending testing/training. Axon already supplies BCSO body cameras, evidence, and vehicle ALPRs.
Louisiana awards Motorola $139M 10-year statewide tech deal
Motorola Solutions announced a $139 million, 10-year Louisiana contract for mobile video, digital evidence management, command-center technology, and LWIN land-mobile-radio network maintenance and upgrades.