2023-12-12 PSPHSP CommitteePUBLIC SAFETY, PLANNING, HUMAN SERVICES & PERSONNEL
COMMITTEE MEETING
December 12, 2023
Elected Officials Present Staff Present
Councilmember Vivian Olson (Chair) Michelle Bennett, Police Chief
Councilmember Jenna Nand Aaron Greenmun, Police Corporal
Councilmember Chris Eck Jessica Neill Hoyson, HR Director
Councilmember Susan Paine Jeff Taraday, City Attorney
Scott Passey, City Clerk
1. CALL TO ORDER
The Edmonds City Council PSPHSP Committee meeting was called to order virtually and in the City
Council Conference Room, 121 — 51" Avenue North, Edmonds, at 3:30 pm by Councilmember Olson.
2. COMMITTEE BUSINESS
1. Taser 10 Contract and Quote
Corporal Greenmun, taser master instructor and the Edmonds Police Department's lead less lethal
instructor, explained the police department has an exciting opportunity to update their less lethal
electronic weapons to Taser 10. He presented regarding the safety of taser weapons including lives
saved (293,014), uses in the field (5,426,194) and no serious injury incidents (99.75, voluntary officer
exposures (52% of current agency members), and his own experience being voluntarily tased. He
reviewed:
Taser 7 (T7)
• History
o EPD was the first LE agency in Washington to adopt T7 and one of the first in the nation
o Also the first agency to utilize "tilt -select" feature in the country, allowing officers to select
cartridge being deployed on the contacted subject
• T7 benefits
o Dual laser with day -glow green and alternating red based on activated cartridge
o Close -quarters cartridge (12' probe spread) to address lack of probe spread at most common
deployment distances
o Better probe flight velocity and design
• Decision to adopt T7
0 52% historical success rate with Taser X26 applications in the field
o De-escalation feature of T7 (warning arc)
o Desire to embrace emerging technologies to better de-escalate tense encounters in the field
• Costs
o Subscription -based sales model meant we now paid:
■ Per officer and per year (POPY)
• Considerations
o We didn't know how good of a deal we were getting at the time because we had no "peers"
to compare with when we signed. We find ourselves in a similar situation now
• T7 cost: $465.26 POPY, Y1 (trade-in)
• Then: $794.16 POPY, Y2-Y5 (57 officers)
• Findings
o 52% effective rate of pervious generation taser only improved 2% to 54% effectiveness with
T7
o Master Instructor forum showed similar results across the county. Inherent design flaw with
T7 (and all previous tasers) discussed: the human brain is incapable of focusing on two
12/12/23 PSPHSP Committee Minutes, Page 2
target areas simultaneously. This meant that there was a foundational failure inherent in the
weapon when on considered human performance factors
o The unanimous (but not without controversy) recommendation was to switch to a single -
probe -per deployment weapon since overcoming the human performance issue wasn't
realistic
Taser 10 (T10)
• Improvements
o Single probe deployment. This is the most noteworthy change in this platform from the
perspective of your lead trainer
0 10-probes versus 4. Nine follow-up probes by the weapon to ensure that probes are better
targeted by the operator
0 45-foot effective range: 80% improvement over T7 allows for better use of time and distance
to decrease the likelihood of lethal force outcome of force encounters
o Improve velocity and accuracy results in 90% of trail users reporting greater confidence with
T10 versus T7
• Considerations
o T7 contract is expiring and doesn't cover new officer position additions since 2018
o Dramatic inflation since 2018 means costs are greater now than they were when negotiating
T7
• Costs
o Annual cost with current bid for T10 for 76 officers:
■ $948.36 POPY; a 19.4% increase
o Cost of new T7 contract
■ $951.53 POPY
• Recommendations
o This bid expires on December 15
o I strongly recommend signing this bid
o First payment would be due in January
o This includes a $25k trade-in for our current weapons
• Cost Analysis:
st000 00
$950.00
SWUOD
5650.Do
Smoo
1,/50.00 I I I I I
,,,o o
2021 Y.2G -
Total 5-year savings to agency with Taser 10.- $1,204.55
Inflation versus cost per officer
12/12/23 PSPHSP Committee Minutes, Page 3
• Why now?
Trade-in
2023 Price with
'24 bill
Warranty
Value
Initiative &
Mission
We have been
Axon has agreed
Warranty on
This is a
We remain a
offered an
to not bill us until
current
phenomenal deal.
premier LE
unprecedented
2024, so no new
weapons
They are only
agency, unafraid
$25k trade-in on old
encumbrances in
expires in
honoring it
to embrace
weapons. If we fail
2023
January. T10
because we have
emerging
to sign by
comes with
been a good
technology and
December 15, that
renewed NQA
customer. I am
de-escalate tense
number will likely
5-year warranty
confident that
situations with
decrease to $7k
there is no way
new technology
we will see a deal
and tools.
this good again.
• Summary
o As the agency's lead less lethal instruction, Corporal Greenmun strongly recommended
signing the now -multiple -extensions -granted contract as it represents a good balance of
value for the agency and improvement in the less lethal offerings to the team and mission.
Questions and discussion followed regarding how tasers were paid for in the past, inclusion of the taser
equipment subscription in the 2024 budget at the previous level but not the increase for T10, funding
sources for T10, use of revenue from school zone camera tickets, less lethal force options, training on
less lethal force, use of tasers on medically fragile populations, weapon confusion, public interest in use
of force, introducing a decision package using a portion of the remaining $250,000 ARPA funds, small
businesses that have been effected by increases in crime, invitation for councilmembers to participate
in the Police Department Citizens Academy, funding this on an ongoing basis, funding the contract as
a first quarter budget amendment, and the legislature's ban 2 years ago on most of the less lethal
platforms other than taser.
Questions and discussion continued regarding approving the contract in 2023 and paying for it in 2024,
cost difference between T7 and T10, what is included in the T7 subscription, impact of allowing the T7
contract to expire, advantages of T10, taser failure rates, whether T7 could be retained through 2024,
T10 providing a taser for all commissioned and non-commissioned officers, importance of non-
commissioned officers having a taser, increased cost of waiting until 2025, whether there are funds in
the police department budget for the new T10 contract, potentially using salary savings to fund T10,
whether ARPA funds could be used, budgeting for T10 in the future, issues associated with police
department vacancies and/or halting hiring, difficulty determining the number of police department
vacancies, overtime costs to cover vacancies, and impacts on staff of working overtime.
Committee recommendation: Full council agenda on December 19
2. Introduction of Policy Related to Vacant City Employment Positions
Mr. Taraday explained he drafted this ordinance at the council president's request. Due to limited time
remaining in the meeting, he offered skip an introduction and proceed to Q&A.
Ms. Neill Hoyson advising after reading through the proposed ordinance, she was concerned it would
create long delays and result in HR being unable to effectively fill positions. She recognized there was
an issue with the General Fund budget, but the ordinance affects all positions, not just General Fund
positions. There is currently a hiring freeze in place for General Fund positions; the department's
justification for filling a General Fund position is reviewed by the mayor and the mayor approves/denies
HR proceeding with recruitment. She met with Mayor -Elect Rosen today and he intends to continue the
hiring freeze and the mechanism for review.
Questions and discussion followed regarding separating out General Fund positions, opportunity for
council to make a case to the mayor about their concerns, deleting the requirement for confirmation by
council, importance of making the council aware, logistical and administrative burdens created by this
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ordinance, council's consideration of reducing the mayor and directors' contracting authority, Mayor -
Elect Rosen's intent to be very communitive and collaborative with council regarding hiring, creating a
position schedule (positions and number of FTEs allocated to each classification), and ability for council
to amend the position schedule to reduce FTEs thereby removing the administration's authority to fill
positions.
Questions and discussion continued regarding impact of delays on police recruitment, identifying critical
positions that would be exempt from the proposed process such as commissioned police officers,
impact of hiring delays on permitting and parks, shortening the 10 day notification to 48 hours, adopting
an operating agreement versus an ordinance, and the reason this was drafted as ordinance (council's
confirmation power can only be imposed via ordinance).
Committee recommendation: Mr. Taraday and Ms. Neil Hoyson use input from committee meeting to
rework the ordinance and return to committee for review.
3. ADJOURN
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.
SCOTT PASSEY; ftIf CLERK