Downstate
Peoria approves $13.8 million Axon deal for police drones, body cameras and Tasers
The City Council voted unanimously for a five-year contract that starts a drone-as-first-responder program, and at the same meeting put off a decision on drive-through cannabis sales.
Prairie Record, published
The Peoria City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a five-year, $13.8 million contract with Axon that will let the city’s police use drones as first responders.1, 2 The vote came after a discussion of nearly 80 minutes during a four-hour meeting, WCBU reported.1
Arizona-based Axon has supplied Peoria police with Tasers, body-worn cameras and data storage since the early 2000s, according to 25 News Now.2
What the city is buying
The deal includes about two dozen drones and a network of drone docks around the city, so the drones can reach a scene before officers.2 The city is also buying 241 body-worn cameras, 253 Tasers, 91 in-car cameras and 12 interview-room cameras, with unlimited data storage.2
Axon’s premium package adds virtual-reality training for officers and AI for writing police reports, 25 News Now reported.2 Police Chief Brad Dixon said the training includes de-escalation and mental health scenarios.1
Dixon said unlimited storage was one of the biggest selling points.1 “Some of this data that we’re talking about, we have to keep forever,” he said.1 He said the cost is already built into the police department’s annual budget.1
How the drones will be used
Dixon said drones will go out only in response to calls.1, 2 “This is not a surveillance tool,” he said.1 “This is a tool we use to respond to calls for service, so the call has to come in for the drone to go out.”1
He said footage from the drones will be posted to the department’s transparency dashboard and that the cameras cannot do facial recognition.1 Council member Mike Vespa said the drones would not randomly look inside people’s homes, 25 News Now reported.2
Dixon said other city first responders, including firefighters, will also be able to use the drones.1 A drone downtown will carry a life preserver for river rescues, he said.2
Mayor Rita Ali called the package “expensive” but said the council had done its “due diligence” by questioning police at length.2 “I would want to encourage you to ramp up as quickly as possible, with all the necessary training, so that you can hit the ground running,” Ali told Dixon.1
Drive-through cannabis put off
At the same meeting, the council voted 7-4 to delay for two weeks a decision on allowing drive-through service at cannabis dispensaries, WCBU reported.3 Illinois changed its cannabis law this year to allow drive-through and curbside sales.3
Under the city staff’s proposal, each dispensary wanting a drive-through would need a special-use approval from the council.3 Peoria allows up to six dispensary licenses, and four are in use.3
Council members were divided.3 Alex Carmona said dispensaries are tightly regulated and that he did not know “why we would vote this down.”3 Others were hesitant, and Mike Vespa said drive-through service would be going “a step too far.”3 Ali said she was not ready to approve drive-throughs now but might be in the coming months.3
The council also put off a vote on curbside pickup for two weeks and voted 10-1 to set a 10 p.m. closing time for dispensaries.3
Written by AI. This story was researched and written by an AI system from the 3 sources listed below, and published after an automated check that it rests on a government document or two independent news organizations.
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