{"id":209792,"date":"2026-05-06T14:49:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T18:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/baltimore-to-spend-153m-for-police-tasers-ai-body-cameras\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T19:00:10","slug":"baltimore-to-spend-153m-for-police-tasers-ai-body-cameras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/06\/baltimore-to-spend-153m-for-police-tasers-ai-body-cameras\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore to spend $153M for police Tasers, AI body cameras"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/community\/local-news\/ai-artificial-intelligence-baltimore-police-cameras-tasers-law-enforcement-crime-SJTQL2QA5VAPXOAVQWREIEFHGM\/\">Baltimore to spend $153M for police Tasers, AI body cameras<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/community\/local-news\/ai-artificial-intelligence-baltimore-police-cameras-tasers-law-enforcement-crime-SJTQL2QA5VAPXOAVQWREIEFHGM\/\">https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/community\/local-news\/ai-artificial-intelligence-baltimore-police-cameras-tasers-law-enforcement-crime-SJTQL2QA5VAPXOAVQWREIEFHGM\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-05-06 14:49:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.thebanner.com\">www.thebanner.com<\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baltimore will spend $153 million over a 10-year period to replace its Police Department&#8217;s Tasers and introduce advanced body-worn cameras with artificial intelligence features.<\/li>\n<li>The spending board approved a no-bid contract with Axon Enterprises for these technologies and related data management software, despite objections from two members.<\/li>\n<li>The current contract renewal includes expanded AI capabilities for the body cameras to assist in translation, transcription, summarization, and footage search.<\/li>\n<li>There is a two-year trial period to evaluate the AI functionalities and establish guidelines for their use; further purchase decisions will follow.<\/li>\n<li>Critics on the Board, including Council President Zeke Cohen and Comptroller Bill Henry, opposed the deal due to lack of competitive bidding, whereas proponents highlighted Axon&#8217;s established presence and comprehensive service suite.<\/li>\n<li>Axon&#8217;s products dominate the market for officer safety devices, including Tasers and body cameras, making switching difficult and more costly.<\/li>\n<li>Motorola Solutions argued for an alternative approach to potentially save up to $50 million, labeling the no-bid contract as a lack of due diligence. <\/li>\n<li>Police officials defended the Axon contract for offering no-cost upgrades and an existing familiarity reducing the need for time-consuming training adjustments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Baltimore to spend $153M for police Tasers, AI body cameras https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/community\/local-news\/ai-artificial-intelligence-baltimore-police-cameras-tasers-law-enforcement-crime-SJTQL2QA5VAPXOAVQWREIEFHGM\/ Publish Date: 2026-05-06 14:49:00&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.thebanner.com\/resizer\/v2\/ACABOXLDG5BRXK2AG2SGZKC2XY.png?auth=c0f53b2a14bb041368fa7a8454a3eb37f575dfff0caad4815d9943f9afd96516&width=1280&height=720&focal=1020,386&quality=85","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-209792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificial-intelligence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209794,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209792\/revisions\/209794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}