Burnet police to get new, upgraded equipment
Burnet Police Department. File photo
The Burnet Police Department will soon get new and upgraded cameras, tasers, and license plate readers as part of a new equipment contract approved by City Council during a Tuesday, June 9, meeting.
The contract, totaling roughly $75,000 a year for five years, will replace the department’s current equipment contract that totals about $47,000 a year.
Burnet Police Chief Tony Hefferin told council that the current contract with provider LensLock had fallen short due to equipment lacking GPS capabilities and integration for digital evidence uploads.
“The problem with LensLock that I see is there’s no GPS… and you also have no integration that we use for our reporting, dispatches, all of those things,” he said. “So when an officer wants to upload a video or check a video, they have to go through a separate set of steps.”
Chief Hefferin added that the new contract, with provider Axon, would give the department all of those things and more.
The company, which Hefferin touted as the “industry standard,” would provide in-car and body-worn cameras with livestream and GPS capabilities, integration with the department’s Motorola system, upgraded tasers, and automated license plate readers.
“If one of our people’s not answering on the radio, from my desk I can pull up my phone, access it and see what’s going on,” Hefferin said of the enhanced GPS capabilities. “Is he hurt? Is he ok? Those sort of things.”