Security question holds up vote on body cameras for Barrington police

Barrington is close to signing a contract to upgrade body-worn cameras for its police department. But first officials need to resolve one outstanding issue.

Trustees on Monday discussed a 10-year deal with Arizona-based Axon Enterprise Inc. at a cost of $899,000.

However, the village board stopped short of approving the contract when Trustee Brian Prigge raised concerns about how it would address potential data breaches.

Prigge said Axon’s online terms and conditions allow the company to use village audio and video to train its AI systems without informing the village if there is a data breach.

“I’m not concerned that there will be a data breach. It’s all strictly, if one were to occur, what happens?” he said.

Officials said the village will address that question with Axon before a potential vote at the board’s next meeting, set for Aug. 24.

“I think it’s a great product, and I’m confident that we will come to a contractual language resolution with the vendor,” Prigge said.

The village’s current five-year bodycam contract with Motorola Solutions ends in May 2027.

In a staff memo, Police Chief Dave Daigle said both Motorola and Axon comply with the state mandate for body-worn cameras, but the latter’s platform offers additional benefits. They include simplifying evidence management and seamlessly connecting body cameras, vehicle cameras, interview room cameras and digital evidence within a single platform.

It also offers automatic camera activation, license-plate recognition and automatic transcription of body camera recordings, officials say.