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Calif. police announce expansion of DFR system. The program adds two drones to the Oceanside Police Department's fleet after an initial pilot reduced response times for top priority calls by half. September 27, 2026 07:00 AM By Phil Diehl The San Diego Union-Tribune OCEANSIDE, Calif. - Oceanside has a approved a five-year, $682,556 contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc., to provide two first-responder police drones, extending and expanding a 13-month trial program launched in August 2025. A single remotely operated aerial drone responded to emergency calls about 1,300 times from its base atop the downtown City Hall building during the trial, said police Capt. Nick Nuñez. The drone covered only the western half of the city and was on-scene before officers arrived more than 1,000 times, he said, and it eliminated the need for officers to respond in about 400 of the less important calls. "We feel this trial period has been extremely successful for us," Nuñez said, in a Sept. 16 presentation to the Oceanside City Council. "Drone pilots have located missing persons, assisted lifeguards with water rescues, located stolen vehicles, and have been able to provide responding units with the direction of travel when suspects were fleeing the scenes of crimes," Nuñez said. No one from the public addressed the proposal. The City Council voted 4-0, with Councilmember Peter Weiss absent, to approve the contract. The trial program used the services of Flying Lion, Inc., a private contractor, to supplement the Police Department's staffing and provide a dedicated visual observer. The expanded program with Axon adds a second first-responder drone to be launched from a yet-to-be-determined location in the eastern half of the city. Axon also provides the body-worn cameras used by Oceanside and many other law enforcement agencies nationwide. Councilmember Eric Joyce asked the only questions about the program's expansion, focusing on whether the drones would be used for police work other than emergency calls for service. The department has different drones that can be used by officers in the field for most non-emergency needs such as executing search warrants, police said. In some cases the first-responder drones could be used to assist an officer on a call, Nuñez said. For example, the aerial camera could be requested by an officer during a traffic stop to locate a suspect who ran from the vehicle. Police Chief Taurino Valdovinos, in a pre-recorded video, said the city has strict policies for who uses the drones, how and when, and access to the video. "The drone is controlled at all times by a sworn, tenured police officer who is also an FAA certified remote pilot," Valdovinos said. "In many cases the drone arrives before an officer and gives our responding officers real-time information about what's actually happening." Drones are not used for routine patrols and do not loiter over neighborhoods once a call is resolved, the police chief said. Also, they are not intended to replace police officers at crime scenes. "Our drones are not and will never be armed," Valdovinos said. Operators take "reasonable precautions" to protect privacy such as deactivating the drone's camera or turning it away to avoid inadvertently recording some areas, he said. "They do not fly random patrols or watch your everyday activies," he said. "Our drone cameras point to the horizon as they respond to calls for service to avoid capturing normal activity. Every flight is tied to a specific call." Response times for top priority calls has been reduced from about 4 minutes to about 2 minutes where first-responder drones are used, he said, a 50% reduction. Each flight and the reason for it is logged on a public web page, he said. The video is treated like any other evidence, he said. It is encrypted and access is tightly controlled. Footage is never shared with outside agencies and never used for immigration matters. In addition to the five-year contract, first-year costs of $99,224 will be charged to the Police Department's investigations account, according to a staff report. Recurring costs of $145,833 in each of the subsequent four years include fees for training, service, and hardware. (C) 2026 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Visit sandiegouniontribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Company News October 01, 2026 04:04 PM

LAPD to test license plate reading surveillance cameras on some city street lights. PUBLISHED: September 22, 2026 at 4:08 PM PDT UPDATED: September 23, 2026 at 9:15 AM PDT The Los Angeles Police Department may be closing in on a new 10-year, $235 million contract with Axon Enterprise for updated equipment, including new patrol car cameras with license plate reader capabilities and the possibility of using artificial intelligence to create the first draft of officer reports based on audio from their body worn cameras, after the Board of Police Commissioners voted Tuesday, Sept. 22 to approve the contract and send it to the City Council. In a separate vote, the commission also approved a three-month pilot program with Axon Enterprise that will outfit some city-owned street lights with license plate reading surveillance cameras at no cost to the city. The latter vote comes at a time when license plate reader cameras are being heavily scrutinized by members of the public for a number of reasons, including data-sharing with federal authorities and privacy concerns. Both items were approved with 3-0 votes, with Board President Sasha Gerges Shields recusing herself for a possible conflict of interest and Commissioner Fabian Garcia absent. The LAPD in July chose not to renew a contract with Flock cameras over concerns regarding privacy, data ownership and security, officials said, adding that the department wanted stronger contractual protections regarding ownership and control of data collected by the cameras. Dean Gialamas, the department's chief information officer, told the commission on Tuesday that though talks have continued with Flock, no agreement has been reached. The department has not had access to the Flock system since the previous contract ended in mid-July, he said. Gialamas said he understood public concerns regarding automated license plate reader cameras and likened them to concerns felt by the public when DNA technology was first introduced in the 1990s. "My goal today was really to demonstrate that, like the now-trusted DNA testing, we can preserve this incredible investigative and public safety tool while placing deliberate audible limits around access, retention, sharing, advanced capability and protected activity," Gialamas said. Some of those safeguards would include "role-based access controls, multi-factor authentication, continuous audit logging and an annual independent security testing of all systems that store or process LAPD data." The city and LAPD "would retain sole and exclusive ownership of all data, images, video, plate reads, metadata and derived or algorithmic outputs" generated by the cameras. Of the Axon cameras, Gialamas stressed that the test cameras would focus solely on license plate and vehicle type and while they may capture the driver of the vehicle or a person on the sidewalk, the cameras do not have facial recognition technology, or any other technology that would lead to a person's identity. "It does not have the ability to recognize or identify individuals," Gialamas told the commission. While it wasn't known where specifically the cameras would be mounted, Gialamas said they would solely go on city-owned street lights and would face the direction of general traffic. They would not be used on private residences. The camera locations would be decided among several factors "centered around where crime tends to occur," Gialamas said. It wasn't known when the cameras would be installed or exactly when the pilot program would begin. In a separate vote, the commission also agreed to send a contract proposal with Axon Enterprise to the City Council. Among the technologies available under the new contract were upgraded in-car camera systems, upgraded body-worn video cameras, Tasers and more digital storage. New technology would also include a system called Draft One, which would give officers an "AI-assisted report-writing capability," according to the contract. That technology would essentially produce a first-draft narrative for officer review based on the audio content on an officer's body-worn camera. The officer would then review, check and approve the report before it goes to a supervisor, Gialamas said. The department has contracted with Axon Enterprise since 2016 for body-worn cameras and secure digital evidence storage and added in-car video systems through Axon in 2022. If approved, the contract would run through July 2036, according to a staff report. %5B%7B%22id%22%3A%22161%22%2C%22name%22%3A%22%22%2C%22description%22%3A%22%22%7D%5D Something went wrong, try again. Thanks for signing up!

A $1 billion reason why AXON stock is down today. Follow this Author Axon Enterprise (AXON) shares are slipping on Tuesday morning after the public safety tech firm announced plans for a $1 billion debt offering. In its press release, management said it wants to raise fresh capital by offering 0% convertible senior notes due in late 2031. The announcement arrives as Axon stock has already fallen out of favor with investors, currently down about 30% versus its August high. Why does the debt offering matter for Axon stock? Investors are bailing on AXON shares today primarily because of dilution concerns. While the 0% coupon prevents additional cash interest expenses, convertible notes still allow bondholders to exchange their debt for equity down the line, expanding the share count, which reduces the ownership of existing investors. The debt offering is bearish for Axon Enterprise also because it highlights dwindling cash reserves. After peaking at about $1.7 billion in late 2025, the firm's cash position declined below $700 million by mid-2026, prompting it to raise fresh capital to fund growth initiatives and maintain financial flexibility. Should you Buy the dip in AXON shares? Long-term investors may consider buying the dip in Axon shares today as the company maintains a strong competitive moat in body cameras, cloud software, and law enforcement hardware. Last month, it reported market-beating financials for its fiscal Q2, featuring a 41% growth in future contracted bookings to $15.1 billion. That said, caution is warranted in playing AXON given its premium valuation multiple. Even after the recent selloff, it's trading at about 226x forward earnings, which makes it an expensive stock to own by any stretch of the imagination. And it's not like Axon Enterprise pays a healthy dividend to incentivize ownership despite the valuation concerns. Wall Street's view on Axon Enterprise. Crucially, Wall Street analysts recommend looking beyond the valuation risks and owning AXON stock for the longer term. According to Barchart, the consensus rating on the Nasdaq-listed firm sits at "Strong Buy" currently, with the mean price objective of a whopping $715 indicating potential for another 40% rally from here. On the date of publication, Wajeeh Khan did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here. More News from Barchart