The Lewisville City Council approved a service and purchasing agreement with Axon Enterprise that will provide the Lewisville Police Department with new Tasers, digital storage for evidence and body camera footage, and an assortment of accountability and transparency tools.

The agreement will cost $3.37 million over five years. The original contract with Axon signed in 2017 provided the LPD with body cameras and TaserX2 for all sworn officers, including eight terabytes of storage.

“There are a lot of good things about this,” police Chief Kevin Deaver said. “I'm really excited about this. It gives us that transparency that that we've long been trying to achieve.”

The Officer Safety Plan 7 Plus approved by council provides the department with technology and software that:

• tracks officers with geomapping;
• activates the body camera when a firearm is removed from its holster;
• makes it quicker and easier to redact videos;
• provides automatic transcription of videos;
• tracks the use of less-lethal force by officers;
• increases third-party storage to 86 terabytes;
• provides a means to submit digital evidence to the department; and
• provides Axon Fleet 3 dashboard cameras for police vehicles.

The plan also includes new and improved Tasers. The new Taser 7 features an improved probe spread and is differentiated from the Taser X2 by its bright yellow exterior, making it easier to distinguish from a handgun.

“Taser 7 is what got me looking into this,” Deaver said. “I’ve never liked the black Tasers. It allowed for misidentification.”

The initial payment of $862,000 is available through the capital improvement plan, but the five remaining payments required additional funding to be added to the operating budget.