Kitsap County Sheriff | Body-worn and in-car cameras
A $4.2 million five-year Axon contract approved in December 2023, cameras on every deputy and in every patrol vehicle, and a published policy that bans AI review of the footage.
At a glance
- The vote
- 4 December 2023: Kitsap County commissioners approved a five-year, $4.2 million contract with Axon for body-worn cameras for every deputy and cameras in all patrol vehicles (press report of the approval) [2]
- Deployment
- Training and rollout from early 2024, per the same report [2]
- The policy
- Policy 448, Body-Worn Cameras and In-Car Video, published in the office's public manual; authority RCW 10.109; mandatory activation for enforcement and investigative contacts; in-car systems with forward and back-seat cameras [1]
- The AI clause
- "Artificial Intelligence (AI) may not be used to review or analyze BWC or ICV footage in situations other than those authorized above" [1]
- Retention
- Evidentiary video kept until litigation ends; non-evidentiary video 90 days; video redacted for a public records request kept 24 months after the request, then deleted [1]
How it happened
- Context
The work group
The office establishes a camera work group to identify vendors, costs and staffing, per contemporaneous local press. [3]
- Decision
The contract approved
Commissioners authorize the five-year $4.2 million Axon contract. Sheriff John Gese calls it "a significant step in our goals to provide transparent and accountable public services." [2]
- Context
Deployment begins
Training and phased rollout of body-worn and in-car cameras start. [2]
A contract in the record, a policy in the open
The approval is press-reported: commissioners signed off on 4 December 2023, five years, $4.2 million, Axon, a body camera for every deputy and a camera system in every patrol vehicle with forward and back-seat views. The policy is better than press: Policy 448 sits in the office’s public manual, names the state body camera statute as its frame, lists the mandatory activations, and sets the retention clock, 90 days for non-evidentiary video, until the end of litigation for evidence.
Two clauses deserve attention. The policy bars AI from reviewing or analyzing camera footage outside its authorized cases, a restriction few agencies put in writing. And video redacted for a public records request is kept 24 months and then deleted, which means the version of events a requester received can outlive the office’s own copy of it.
The policy names no vendor. Axon is the press-reported contractor, and the records request asks for the executed contract, including whether the in-car package carries plate reader capability the office would then have to register under the 2026 state law.
What we do not know
- The executed Axon contract's schedules, and whether the package includes ALPR-capable in-car modules or AI products such as Draft One.
- The board record behind the 4 December 2023 approval, which sits in a meeting archive our pipeline cannot yet read.
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 Kitsap County.
What we have documented in Kitsap 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. Kitsap County Sheriff's Office Policy 448, Body-Worn Cameras and In-Car Video (public PowerDMS manual) · Primary document · accessed
- 2.
- 3.
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