Orofino Police | Orofino's Axon body cameras and Tasers
A five year Axon contract for seven body cameras, Tasers and a training simulator, settled in a budget workshop and carried at two different prices in the city's own documents.
At a glance
- How many cameras
- Seven, at the start [1]
- Who approved it
- The City Council, in a budget workshop [1]
- Price, as the minutes state it
- $60,000 over five years [1]
- What else is in it
- Tasers and a virtual reality training system [1]
- A published policy
- We could not find a written body camera policy published by the City of Orofino on any host we reached. The city budgets carry a Lexipol line in police contract services [4]
How it happened
- Decision
The contract arrives in a budget workshop
Working through the police budget, the Council hears that the body camera systems have become obsolete and are no longer under warranty along with the Tasers. Axon sells a five year package: seven new top of the line cameras at the start, all replaced after two and a half years and again after five, Tasers with every cartridge supplied for training and use, and a virtual reality training system, all under full warranty. The minutes record the figure as a five year commitment of $60,000, broken down in the budget across five years, saving the city about $20,000. [1]
- Deployment
The cameras are in the field
Three months later the Chief shows the Council the new cameras purchased from Axon. They have been engaged, all the officers have them and they are all being used. He reports positive feedback from the officers and the prosecutor, and says the volume and the video are clear. [5]
- Deployment
The Tasers follow
The Chief reports that the department has acquired its new T-10 Tasers as part of the billing contract with Axon, and that three people including himself went to instructor training. [6]
- Expansion
A body camera for the Building Official
The Council discusses using an available spare Axon body camera for the city's Building Official, with the licensing cost noted and an intent to follow the City Attorney's guidance. A council member moves to approve use of a body camera for the Building Official contingent on the City Attorney's approval, another seconds, and it passes on a roll call vote with all ayes. The Building Official enforces the building code. The minutes state no licensing cost and name no policy. [7]
Orofino’s police officers have worn body cameras since 2023. That is an ordinary thing for a department to buy, and the city’s minutes describe the purchase more fully than they describe anything else this project found in Clearwater County. Two details are worth reading anyway: the price is recorded twice and differently, and in 2026 the Council gave one of the cameras to an employee who is not a police officer.
The decision
The contract was settled in a budget workshop on 25 July 2023, working through the police budget line by line. The minutes record that the body camera systems had become obsolete and were no longer under warranty, and neither were the Tasers. Axon sells a five year package: seven new cameras at the start, replaced entirely after two and a half years and replaced again after five, Tasers with every cartridge supplied for training and for use, and a virtual reality training system, all under full warranty.[1]
The minutes then give a figure. It is a commitment of five years of $60,000, broken down in the budget across the five years, and it saves the city about $20,000.
The other figure
The adopted city budget for that year carries the same purchase as a named line:
Axon-Camera/Tazer/VR System-5 yr @ $16,000 p/y.[2] It
appears twice in the police budget, once under Minor Equipment and once under Contract Services, and
it appears again in the adopted budgets for the two following
years.[3][4]
Five years at $16,000 is $80,000. The minutes say $60,000. Both documents are the city’s own, both are published, and we have not seen the signed agreement that would settle which is the contract. We print both.
The cameras were in the field by October 2023, when the Chief showed them to the Council and said all the officers had them and were using them.[5] The T-10 Tasers followed in February 2024, as part of the same billing contract, with three officers sent for instructor training.[6]
The camera that went to the Building Official
On 24 February 2026 the Council took up item 7C, “Building Official Body Camera Usage”. The minutes record a discussion of using an available spare Axon body camera for the Building Official, with the licensing cost noted and an intent to follow the City Attorney’s guidance. A council member moved to approve use of a body camera for the Building Official contingent on the City Attorney’s approval, another seconded, and it passed on a roll call vote with all ayes.[7]
That is one of the few camera decisions in this county that carried its own motion and its own recorded vote, which is worth noting on its own.
It is also a different kind of decision from the one made in 2023. A body camera on a police officer records encounters where the state may use force. A body camera on a building official records people in their homes and businesses during a code inspection, where the visit may be the condition of a permit rather than a stop. The minutes state no licensing cost, name no policy, and set no rule for when the camera runs or how long the footage is kept. The motion made the camera contingent on the City Attorney’s advice. What that advice said is not in the record.
What we do not know
- Which figure is the contract, $60,000 over five years or $16,000 a year? Both are in the city's own documents.
- What does the signed Axon agreement say about how long footage is kept and who may view it?
- Does the department have a written body camera policy, and did the Council ever see it?
- What does it cost to license a body camera for the Building Official, and what rules govern when he records?
- What happens to footage a code enforcement officer records inside a private home or business?
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Clearwater County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Clearwater County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
- 1. City of Orofino, Council Meeting Minutes, 25 July 2023, budget workshop, police budget · Meeting record · · accessed
- 2. City of Orofino, adopted budget, FY 2023-24 · Primary document · · accessed · our copy (941 KB)
- 3. City of Orofino, adopted budget, FY 2024-25 · Primary document · · accessed · our copy (589 KB)
- 4. City of Orofino, adopted budget, FY 2025-26 · Primary document · · accessed · our copy (639 KB)
- 5. City of Orofino, Council Meeting Minutes, 24 October 2023, police report · Meeting record · · accessed
- 6. City of Orofino, Council Minutes, 12 March 2024, police report · Meeting record · · accessed
- 7. City of Orofino, Regular City Council Meeting Minutes, 24 February 2026, item 7C, Building Official Body Camera Usage · Meeting record · · accessed
Get the digest
A regular digest of what changed in the world of surveillance: the counties we published, the devices that appeared on the map, and the public meetings where these decisions get made. We send it when there is enough to report.
One click to unsubscribe. What we do with your address is on the newsletter page.