The West Richland City Council voted to authorize the mayor to sign a master services and purchase agreement with Axon Enterprises for upgraded body-worn and in-vehicle cameras, Taser 10 devices, AI-assisted report-drafting tools and virtual-reality (VR) training.

Council action came after Commander Kelly of the West Richland Police Department described a multi-part package that included 18 Taser 10 devices, upgraded vehicle cameras with automated license-plate readers (ALPR), expanded evidence and redaction software, an AI-assisted report-writing product called Draft 1, and VR training equipment and scenarios. Alex Aguilar, an Axon representative attending virtually, spoke in support of the package.

The council’s approval follows roughly three months of departmental work on pricing and product trials, Commander Kelly said. Kelly told the council Axon offered a year-end discount that reduced up-front costs and added seven complimentary evidence-management licenses; the department negotiated other one-time reductions as part of the package. Kelly said the city’s current annual Axon-related contract runs about $60,000 and that the proposed package would cost more but include additional services and devices that the department does not now have.

Commander Kelly said the Taser 10 provides up to 45 feet of range and 10 individually targeted cartridges, and that Axon includes annual training cartridges and duty replenishment in the contract. “These Taser 10s have 10 actual individual shots in them,” Kelly said, adding that the department currently fields older Taser 7 devices and that the new devices will eventually replace the older models.

Kelly outlined the Draft 1 feature, an AI-assisted draft report tool that uses body-camera footage to generate report text. He said departments can require officers to contribute a minimum percentage of their own words to any AI-generated draft; the West Richland demos used a 30% officer-input threshold. Kelly said prosecutors and the county prosecutor’s office have reviewed the tool and want a formal policy in place before broad deployment.

The package includes a VR training system with headsets, one Samsung tablet for streaming, and scenario libraries Axon said were developed with mental-health professionals and law-enforcement subject-matter experts. “These scenarios … have been heavily vetted prior to release to ensure that they are good to go,” Alex Aguilar said. Kelly said VR training covers use-of-force decision making, mental-health encounters (including scenarios involving schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer’s), de-escalation and taser recertification that can reduce overtime training costs.

Kelly also described tools intended to speed redaction and evidence handling: automated face and object redaction that a designated staff member (the city clerk) must review before release; integrated translation of recorded speech in more than 50 languages; and a “policy chat” feature that can surface local policy text to officers in the field. Kelly emphasized that Axon’s AI tools are delivered as closed, CJIS‑compliant models and that redactions and final reports require human verification.

Council members asked for comparisons to current practice. John Smart asked how the ALPR capability differs from the city’s stationary “flock” cameras; Kelly said ALPR on patrol vehicles will alert officers to entries already in NCIC or other law-enforcement lists when a patrol vehicle passes a matched plate. Stephanie (city clerk) estimated redaction work currently takes roughly three times the length of a recording to review and redact, and she said complex incidents can require many hours of staff time.

During the public comment period, Alex Aguilar, Axon’s representative, thanked the council and staff for the months of testing and said the vendor and department had arrived at a package “that we feel collectively makes the most sense moving forward.”

A motion to authorize the mayor to sign the master services and purchase agreement was made and seconded; the council approved the contract by voice vote. No council member verbally recorded an opposing vote during the roll call by voice.

What this means going forward: Kelly said the program would include annual replacement or replenishment of training cartridges, five training cartridges per officer per year, and a five-year contract term with warranty and mid‑term replacement of body cameras. Kelly also said Axon is discussing with Benton County integration options that could automatically export use-of-force reports to the Washington state WADEPs system, which would reduce duplicate data entry if implemented.

The council did not adopt a separate, detailed policy during the meeting; council members and Kelly noted that the city attorney and Benton County prosecutors requested review of internal policy language for AI-assisted reports and evidence use before full operational rollout.

City staff and the police department said they will provide the council with documentation from the product demonstrations and the proposed contract pricing schedule upon request. The council concluded the special meeting at 8:29 p.m.