Covington Approves Axon Contract with Caveats

September 15, 2026

Over August and early September, a major debate played out at Covington City Hall over police surveillance and technology. What began as a proposed 10-year, $6 million contract with Axon Enterprise – bundling body cameras, Tasers, an autonomous drone, AI-assisted report writing, and four new squad car automated license plate readers (ALPRs) – turned into a packed civic showdown over privacy, oversight, and community trust.

The Proposal and the Pushback

When the package first appeared on the Board of Commissioners’ consent agenda in late August, residents pushed back against passing it without discussion. The city postponed the vote and held an extended public comment session on September 8.

The commission chambers were packed for a meeting that lasted over four hours, with an overflow monitor set up in the City Hall lobby. Most of the dozens of speakers opposed the technology package or voiced deep reservations. Concerns ranged from warrantless surveillance and data privacy to Axon’s corporate ties and AI drafting tools:

  • Pam Mullins, former city commissioner and current Covington Human Rights Commissioner, told the board: “A 10-year, $6 million commitment to a single vendor bundling hardware, artificial intelligence, cloud data storage and an autonomous drone program deserves more than a rubber stamp.”
  • Bill Stone, a MainStrasse resident, pointed to a frayed relationship between law enforcement and the public: “I don’t think that there’s a real level of trust there, and then to be given more tools to further survey us, I think that that sits wrong with a lot of folks.”

Supporters also weighed in. Covington detective Adam Uhl and former detective Brian Powers spoke about using ALPRs (specifically the city’s older Motorola Vigilant system) to solve the 2022 murder of Virgil Stewart. Covington Fraternal Order of Police president Mark Richardson argued for the life-saving potential of modern technology when properly trained and governed.

The Caveats: What Commissioners Approved

After hours of testimony, motions, and amendments, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to approve an amended contract with strict conditions:

  • Squad Car ALPRs Stripped: Complete removal of the proposed cruiser-mounted license plate reader and dash cam units.
  • Pole-Mounted Readers Banned: A formal ban on future automated license plate readers mounted on poles under city jurisdiction.
  • One-Year Term: Scaled back from a 10-year commitment to a single year, with an annual option to renew for the remaining nine years.
  • 30-Day Reporting: Mandatory monthly reports from the police department to the city manager and commission detailing how the technology is used.
  • Drone Transparency Portal: Creation of a public online portal tracking where, when, and how the new police drone is deployed.
  • Guardrails on AI: Requiring the department to preserve report drafts to distinguish AI-assisted drafts from human-written reports in the public record.
  • No AI Training Data Sharing: Opting out of sharing Covington police data with Axon to train AI models.
  • No Automatic Upgrades: Opting out of automatic software updates to prevent tech changes without city review.

Civic Engagement in Action

The four-hour hearing is a textbook reminder of what local democracy looks like when people show up. Rather than rubber-stamping a ten-year contract, city leaders listened to four hours of impassioned debate, addressed Fourth Amendment and privacy concerns, and instituted real guardrails.

For complete local reporting on the hearing, see Nathan Granger’s story, “Covington approves Axon contract with caveats”, published September 9, 2026, in LINK nky.