Title
An Ordinance Amending Section 201 (General Penalty) of Part 2 (General Penalty) of Article 1 (Administration) of Chapter 1 (Administration, Personnel And Finance) of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended, pertaining to a Police Department Technology Surcharge
Presenter:
Charae McDaniel, Chief Financial Officer
Deputy Chief John Koch, Colorado Springs Police Department
Frederick Stein, Senior Attorney, City Attorney’s Office
Body
Summary:
Amendments to the City’s Code sections to update the General Penalty to add a surcharge for certain criminal and traffic code violations, for the purpose of funding increasing technology expenses annually incurred by the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Background:
The Colorado Springs Police Department (“CSPD”) seeks to improve funding for police technology through the implementation of a police technology surcharge for all convictions of non-AVIS and non-parking municipal traffic and criminal ordinance violations in Colorado Springs Municipal Court. This is due to the significant increase in police technology & electrical weapons system costs, many of which are either mandated by law or critical for law enforcement operations.
Over the previous five years, the Colorado legislature passed multiple ‘police reform’ statutes that mandated body worn camera technology for all police officers in Colorado. Additionally, CSPD continues facing staffing challenges due to national police recruiting and retention issues that have necessitated the implementation of additional technology to improve efficiency and effectiveness of police service.
In 2024, to provide increased public transparency, better address and defend lawsuits against the City regarding police conduct, and to comply with Colorado law mandating issuance/use of body worn cameras to all sworn police officers, CSPD signed a $25 million ten-year contract with Axon Enterprise, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona.
Axon provided CSPD with market-leading advanced body camera, digital evidence, dispatch interface, interview transcription, and artificial intelligence technology that has greatly improved the documentation of police activity and the efficiency of sworn and civilian personnel investigating crimes.
In 2025, Axon provided the City with options to unify police records management, body camera, digital evidence, livestream camera, drone as first responder, drone detection, artificial intelligence, and other police technology in the Axon ecosystem. Addditionally, CSPD’s current Taser contract expires in December 2025 and a new Taser contract is $1.2 million per year, nearly double the cost five (5) years ago. Unification of systems currently provided by multiple separate vendors will substantially improve police response, data quality, officer efficiency, and investigative capability in the coming years.
This technology and new Tasers are approximately an additional $20 million over ten years and will require a consistent funding stream to ensure continued operations of critical and required police technology infrastructure.
The revisions to the City Code contained in the attached ordinance will provide CSPD with continual funding dedicated to police technology systems. Because the surcharge is a penalty on convictions for unlawful activity, citizens who do not violate municipal traffic and criminal ordinances are not subject to paying it.
Additional new components to the City’s General Penalty code include:
1. The establishment of a Police Technology Surcharge for convictions of non-AVIS and non-parking municipal traffic and criminal ordinances. The surcharge will be applied to technology systems utilized by the Police Department for the response to or investigation, enforcement and documentation of criminal and traffic laws or ordinance violations.
2. Authorization for the Mayor to determine the amount of the surcharge, which is consistent with surcharges mandated by the General Penalty like the Pedestrian Safety Program funding fee established in Section 1.1.201 - General Penalty and Section 10.24.101 - Authority of Police and Fire Department Officials.
3. Prohibiting the Municipal Court from waving the Police Technology Surcharge, unless the Court finds first that the defendant is financially unable to pay any portion of the surcharge.
Amended components to the City’s related Section 11.3.106 requires a Municipal Court judge to comply with state law whenever fines, costs, or surcharges are imposed for a municipal violation and the defendant fails to pay or is unable to pay them. This cleanup language adds costs and surcharges, and changes state law compliance from an option to a requirement.
Previous Council Action:
N/A
Financial Implications:
There is no cost to implement the Police Technology Surcharge. Existing penalty assessment infrastructure will be utilized to add and enforce the surcharge.
City Council Appointed Board/Commission/Committee Recommendation:
N/A
Stakeholder Process:
CSPD, the City Attorney’s Office, and City Finance have reviewed the ordinance language, fee structure, and estimated revenue stream and believe implementation of the Police Technology Surcharge is necessary to fund current and future police technology needs.
Alternatives:
1) Adopt the Ordinance with no modifications
2) Modify the Ordinance
3) Decline to adopt the Ordinance
Recommended Action
Proposed Motion:
Move to approve amending Section 201 (General Penalty) of Part 2 (General Penalty) of Article 1 (Administration) of Chapter 1 (Administration, Personnel And Finance) of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended.
Summary of Ordinance Language
An Ordinance Amending Section 201 (General Penalty) of Part 2 (General Penalty) of Article 1 (Administration) of Chapter 1 (Administration, Personnel And Finance) of the Code of the City of Colorado Springs 2001, as amended, pertaining to a Police Department Technology Surcharge.