Decatur City Council accepts $1.97M grant for DPD tech, increases efficiency for officers

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) — In 2025, the Decatur Police Department entered a $2.76 million contract with Axon. Now, nearly a year in, officers said that the state-of-the-art tech allows them to be more efficient.

In summer 2025, DPD added new body-worn cameras, in-car video systems and a digital evidence management platform. Now, the Decatur City Council accepted a $1.97 million ILESTB grant at Monday night's meeting to offset the costs.

In about a year of operating with this new Axon tech, Deputy Chief Erik Ethel said it has improved officers' efficiency.

"It does make our jobs more efficient, improves operations and helps us improve the quality of product that we provide to the citizens," Ethel said.

The Axon system allows officers to capture and upload digital evidence immediately. It also allows officers to send links to citizens so they can upload evidence directly to the database. It has transcription software to help streamline report-writing. Axon also allows supervisors to stream officer body cameras live, allowing them to get real-time updates on incidents as they unfold. During the body cam review process, it allows supervisors to view multiple perspectives at one time.

Ethel said that this level of transparency allows DPD to build trust with the public.

"Having every interaction with a police officer recorded just instills that trust that the police officers are doing the right thing at all times," Ethel said.

The Decatur City Council passed a resolution in May 2025 to approve a five-year $552,000 contract with Axon Enterprise. It offers various body and dash cam tools, as well as software to review evidence and assist in identifying suspects in videos.

The total project costs $2.76 million, and with the ILESTB grant and previous department payments, the city still has a remaining balance of $235,000.