Adams County Sheriff | The Axon contract, and the quote the minutes do not name
Adams County's sheriff brought his commissioners two Axon quotes in September 2025. One added drones. The next day the board signed a quote number for $711,304.13, and the minutes never say which of the two it was.
At a glance
- What was signed
- Quote #Q-733225-45904AA with Axon Enterprise, Inc., "in the amount of $711,304.13", about $142,000 a year for five years, July 2026 to July 2030, from Fund #105 [3]
- What the board was shown the day before
- Two quotes. One "is the basic plan of what we currently have with a language translation component and an upgrade of the tasers". The other "is an addition of drones to allow for several uses and is interfaced with the Axon program" [2]
- Which of the two was signed
- not stated. The motion names the quote number and the price and nothing about its contents, and no other document in the county's record resolves it. Whether this county now flies drones is not answerable from its published minutes [3] [6]
- What the relationship covers
- Body worn camera equipment, taser energy weapons and in-car camera equipment, on a contract first entered into in June 2021 [1]
- What held the price
- A $1,000 payment authorised by board consensus on 3 September 2025 to lock in 2025 pricing, applied to the next contract [1]
- Retention, access or a written camera policy
- none found in the county's meeting record. Washington requires a body camera policy under RCW 10.109 and sets a 60-day retention floor under RCW 42.56.240(14); neither appears in these documents [6]
- What footage costs a resident
- Under discussion. On 11 March 2026 the county's E-911 coordinator briefed the board on what other entities charge for public records requests for body worn camera footage [4]
How it happened
- Procurement
The 2021 contract is expiring, and $1,000 holds the price
The Sheriff reports that the contract with Axon Enterprise entered into in June 2021, for body worn camera equipment, taser energy weapons and in-car camera equipment, is expiring, and that a $1,000 payment will lock in 2025 pricing and be applied to the future contract. The board gives consensus authorisation for the payment. [1]
- Debate
Two quotes, and the second one has drones in it
The Sheriff and Undersheriff review two Axon quotes for in-car cameras, body worn cameras and tasers. One is the existing plan with a language translation component and upgraded tasers. The second adds drones, interfaced with the Axon program. The board asks for a clean copy of the contract with corrected sales tax before deciding. [2]
- Decision
A quote number is signed, and the record stops there
The board authorises the Chairman to sign Quote #Q-733225-45904AA in the amount of $711,304.13, about $142,000 a year across five years from July 2026 to July 2030, paid from Fund #105. The motion carries. It does not identify which of the previous day's two quotes this is, and no later document in the county's record does either. [3]
- Context
What the footage should cost is put to the board
The county's E-911 coordinator briefs the commissioners on what other entities charge for public records requests relating to body worn camera footage. The same question was settled in Cowlitz County with a fee schedule effective 1 January 2026. [4]
- Context
Ten obsolete tasers go to a county nobody can read
By resolution, ten Taser 7 devices Axon no longer supports are surplused and their title transferred to Garfield County, with serial numbers listed. Garfield's website answers this project with HTTP 403, so the Adams record is the only public trace of the transfer. [5]
A day between the question and the answer
On 9 September 2025 the Adams County Sheriff and Undersheriff put two Axon quotes in front of the Board of Commissioners. The minutes describe both:
“One quote is the basic plan of what we currently have with a language translation component and an upgrade of the tasers. The second proposal is an addition of drones to allow for several uses and is interfaced with the Axon program.”
The board asked for a clean copy of the contract, with the sales tax corrected, before deciding.
The next day it decided:
“Commissioner Weise moved, Blankenship seconded, to authorize the Chairman sign Quote #Q-733225-45904AA, between Axon Enterprise, Inc. and Adams County, in the amount of $711,304.13.”
Five years, about $142,000 a year, starting July 2026.
What the record can and cannot tell you
It can tell you the price, the term, the fund it comes out of and the vendor. It cannot tell you whether the county bought drones, because the motion names a quote number rather than its contents, and nothing else in the county’s published record names what is inside Q-733225-45904AA.
Across all 316 documents the board has published, the word “drone” appears three times. Twice it is a line in a zoning table listing “Drone Facilities” as a permitted use in a commercial district. The third is the sentence above.
Nothing here was done improperly. A motion that identifies a contract by its quote number is ordinary drafting, and a board that sends a contract back for a clean copy is being careful rather than careless. The point is narrower and it applies well beyond Adams County: a decision can be entirely public and still leave the public unable to say what was decided. The meeting was open, the minutes were published, the price is on the record, and the question a resident would actually ask has no answer in any of it.
One records request naming that quote number closes the gap. It is the first item in this county’s queue.
The rest of what this office runs
The Axon relationship goes back to June 2021 and covers body worn cameras, tasers and in-car cameras. In September 2025 the county paid $1,000 to hold 2025 pricing into the new contract.
In March 2026 the county’s E-911 coordinator asked the board a question that is live across Washington: what should it cost a resident to get body camera footage. Cowlitz County answered its version with a redaction fee schedule effective 1 January 2026.
In June 2026 ten Taser 7 units Axon no longer supports were surplused and sent to Garfield County, serial numbers listed in the resolution. Garfield’s own website refuses this project, so this is the only public record of that equipment moving anywhere.
What we do not know
- What is in Quote #Q-733225-45904AA. One records request naming that number settles whether this county bought drones.
- Whether the Sheriff's Office has the body camera policy RCW 10.109 requires, and what it says about retention beyond the 60-day floor.
- What the county decided to charge for body camera footage after the March 2026 briefing.
- Whether the 2016 DJI Inspire in the Atlas of Surveillance is still in service.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have not yet confirmed where each of them meets in Adams County.
What we have documented in Adams 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. Adams County Commissioners proceedings, 3 September 2025 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 2. Adams County Commissioners proceedings, 9 September 2025 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 3. Adams County Commissioners proceedings, 10 September 2025 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 4. Adams County Commissioners proceedings, 11 March 2026 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 5. Adams County Commissioners proceedings, 27 May and 3 and 10 June 2026 · Meeting record · · accessed
- 6.
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