Blab Tech
Cedar Rapids Police Secure $14.6 Million Axon Contract for Body Cameras, AI and Drone Upgrades
The Cedar Rapids City Council gave the green light on Tuesday to a ten‑year, $14.6 million partnership with Axon Enterprise, a move that will overhaul the city’s police technology stack.
Under the deal, officers will soon wear new body‑worn cameras and benefit from AI‑driven analytics, while the department will deploy six Axon drones. Each drone boasts a three‑mile response radius and can arrive on scene in two minutes. Two will hover over the 1st Street headquarters, two will patrol the Noelridge Greenhouse on the northeast side, one will cover the west‑side branch of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, and the last will sit at Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control near Kirkwood Community College.
"We’re going to look at things that a police officer is already going to look at," Sgt. Jacob Briley told the council. "We’re just trying to get there that much faster to provide that much better information for the officer that’s going to be on the ground getting there." The drones aim to give officers real‑time aerial footage, enabling dispatchers and commanders to assess scenes before ground units arrive.
Chief David Dostal framed the upgrade as a broader safety initiative. "It’s a huge step in the prevention of crime, the reduction of crime, and it is going to increase the overall citywide public safety – as well as officer safety," he said. Dostal also noted that the new gear is only the first phase toward a future real‑time operations center, a goal that will require additional grant funding and resources.
The contract also incorporates Axon’s Evidence.com cloud platform. Footage from body cameras and drones will be stripped from the devices and stored on secure evidence servers, the department emphasized, underscoring that the primary purpose is safety, not surveillance.
"The last thing we want to do is utilize it in a way that’s gonna make it get removed or that we’re gonna set case law to not allow us to have it or get legislators involved in saying, ‘No, this is no go,’" Capt. Doug Doyle said. "We don’t want to be those people. We see the value in the technology and we don’t want to ruin it."
To address privacy concerns, the drone program will feature an online portal that will let the public see where drones are stationed and what types of calls they’ve responded to—similar to existing transparency portals for license‑plate readers. The council did not yet set a launch date for the portal, but the department’s social‑media channels are expected to post a link when it becomes available.
The upgrade follows a December incident in which a configuration error briefly exposed five of the city’s Flock cameras to public access. The company said the error would have only revealed images and videos that could already be seen from a public road.
The new Axon contract marks a significant investment in modern policing tools for Cedar Rapids, the state’s second‑most populous city. Officials see the technology as a means to improve response times, enhance evidence collection and increase transparency, while maintaining safeguards against misuse.
The contract is now in effect, drones are being positioned at their designated sites, and the department is preparing to roll out the body‑camera and AI components in the coming months. The public‑access portal will follow once the system is fully operational.
Under the deal, officers will soon wear new body‑worn cameras and benefit from AI‑driven analytics, while the department will deploy six Axon drones. Each drone boasts a three‑mile response radius and can arrive on scene in two minutes. Two will hover over the 1st Street headquarters, two will patrol the Noelridge Greenhouse on the northeast side, one will cover the west‑side branch of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, and the last will sit at Cedar Rapids Animal Care & Control near Kirkwood Community College.
"We’re going to look at things that a police officer is already going to look at," Sgt. Jacob Briley told the council. "We’re just trying to get there that much faster to provide that much better information for the officer that’s going to be on the ground getting there." The drones aim to give officers real‑time aerial footage, enabling dispatchers and commanders to assess scenes before ground units arrive.
Chief David Dostal framed the upgrade as a broader safety initiative. "It’s a huge step in the prevention of crime, the reduction of crime, and it is going to increase the overall citywide public safety – as well as officer safety," he said. Dostal also noted that the new gear is only the first phase toward a future real‑time operations center, a goal that will require additional grant funding and resources.
The contract also incorporates Axon’s Evidence.com cloud platform. Footage from body cameras and drones will be stripped from the devices and stored on secure evidence servers, the department emphasized, underscoring that the primary purpose is safety, not surveillance.
"The last thing we want to do is utilize it in a way that’s gonna make it get removed or that we’re gonna set case law to not allow us to have it or get legislators involved in saying, ‘No, this is no go,’" Capt. Doug Doyle said. "We don’t want to be those people. We see the value in the technology and we don’t want to ruin it."
To address privacy concerns, the drone program will feature an online portal that will let the public see where drones are stationed and what types of calls they’ve responded to—similar to existing transparency portals for license‑plate readers. The council did not yet set a launch date for the portal, but the department’s social‑media channels are expected to post a link when it becomes available.
The upgrade follows a December incident in which a configuration error briefly exposed five of the city’s Flock cameras to public access. The company said the error would have only revealed images and videos that could already be seen from a public road.
The new Axon contract marks a significant investment in modern policing tools for Cedar Rapids, the state’s second‑most populous city. Officials see the technology as a means to improve response times, enhance evidence collection and increase transparency, while maintaining safeguards against misuse.
The contract is now in effect, drones are being positioned at their designated sites, and the department is preparing to roll out the body‑camera and AI components in the coming months. The public‑access portal will follow once the system is fully operational.
