Canton OKs $1M Contract for New Police Camera System

The Canton Police Department will soon be upgrading its body camera and in-car camera system.

The Canton City Council voted 5-0 May 2 to approve a $1 million contract with Axon to implement body-worn cameras, in-car cameras and interview room equipment for the Canton Police Department.

Councilmember Dwayne Waterman was absent from the meeting.

The new equipment will address “critical shortcomings in the current body-worn camera system and enhance law enforcement capabilities” through the adoption of the Axon equipment with cloud-based storage, according to city documents.

“The existing system faces challenges with frequent outages, hardware issues, and inefficient evidence sharing methods with other agencies such as the district attorney’s office, solicitor’s office and courts,” said Canton Police Chief Marty Ferrell.

Axon equipment will provide reliable hardware, streamlined evidence management, and innovative features such as signal sidearm and taser integration, Ferrell said.

City documents show that the cloud-based storage system enables “seamless data sharing with law enforcement partners and citizens” to “reduce the burden on the property and evidence room.”

Ferell added that the Axon platform “allows for future enhancements to meet evolving needs.”

“Cameras are necessary in this day and age to protect not only our police department, but also our citizens,” Canton Mayor Bill Grant said. “We know there have been some shortcomings with our current cameras. We want to have the best cameras possible.”

The cost to implement the project over a five-year period is $1,032,448, which will be distributed as a capital lease at about $200,000 per year, according to city documents.

Ferrell said the Cobb County Police Department uses Axon, adding that “this is a state-of-the-art and top of the line system.”

Councilmember Sandy McGrew asked about what Canton PD will do with the existing cameras. Ferrell said he doesn’t know, saying the current ones are “obsolete.”

“I don’t think they are going to have any value to any other police department,” he said.