Drone Policing Coming to Rialto as City OKs $14.3 Million Axon AI Deal, Prompting Privacy Concerns

On Nov. 25, the Rialto City Council approved a nine-year, $14.3 million contract with Axon Enterprise Inc., formerly TASER International, expanding the police department’s surveillance, software, and AI-driven technology through the company’s Officer Safety Plan 10 (OSP 10). The agreement was adopted as part of a 2025-26 budget amendment allowing the city to lock in contract pricing, service continuity and reduce administrative cost. 

The Rialto Police Department, the first department in the nation to implement body-worn cameras and participate in a controlled study, adopted the use of body cameras in 2012, initiating the department’s use of Axon’s AI-driven assistance suite.  

Rialto Police Captain Lamont Quarker, a 22-year veteran of the department, said the investment positions officers to work with modern tools designed to improve investigations and response times.

“We’re going to be arming our officers with the best technology that we have available right now that is going to really help officers do the job, which is ultimately going to help serve our community better,” he said. 

The Axon package includes upgraded body-worn and in-car cameras, digital evidence platforms, automated video analysis, license-plate readers and Rialto’s first Drone-as-First-Repsonder (DFR) program through Axon Air. 

The drones can reach scenes in under 90 seconds, Quarker said, providing critical information before ground units arrive. He noted that the Ontario Police Department—one of the first Inland Empire agencies to use the DFR program—now routinely sees drones reach calls ahead of officers. 

“Having a drone in the air provides so much intelligence,” he said, especially when officers lack visibility on the ground as incidents unfold. 

Quarker also highlighted Rialto’s experience with FUSUS, an Axon system that links police to participating businesses’ security cameras with owner permission. The system, he said, reduces delays in obtaining footage and can generate more investigative leads. 

“These investments . . . are all about being able to serve our community better when, unfortunately, crime is a reality of our society,” he said, adding that as a long-time Rialto resident, unsolved crimes have long frustrated him as an investigator. 

Even so, the use of artificial intelligence raises questions about data ownership, surveillance and compliance. 

In a follow-up email, Quarker said that “No outside agency, including Axon may access or use Rialto’s data unless access is authorized by the Rialto Police Department,” in compliance with the “law, policy, and applicable court orders,” adding that “all access to video or intelligence systems is logged and subject to audit.”

He added that “Public privacy, transparency, and civil-liberties protections are central to how the department deploys all technologies,” noting that strict limits in compliance with Surveillance Use Policy will be in place before the DFR program begins. 

While artificial intelligence may provide benefits, such as reducing officers’ workload to write incident reports, for example, civil-liberties advocates argue AI-assisted policing tools pose serious risks. 

According to a 2024 American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) analysis, the use of generative AI to write reports raises bias and transparency concerns.

“Because police reports play such an important role in criminal investigations and prosecutions, introducing novel AI language-generating technology into the criminal justice system raises significant civil liberties and civil rights concerns,” the ACLU analysis said. “These concerns include the unreliability and biased nature of AI, evidentiary and memory issues when officers resort to this technology, and issues around transparency. In the end, we do not think police departments should use this technology.”

Dr. Zachary Powell, a sociologist at Cal State University San Bernardino (CSUSB) who studies police reform, echoed these concerns and elaborated on the mixed-bag of AI-assisted police tools, emphasizing caution, competence and prudence. 

For example, he said that while body-camera tools have value, they have not been shown to consistently reduce statistically rare events, such as excessive force. 

“It’s hard to reduce rare incidents like that because the base rate is so low,” Powell said, adding that as AI becomes more embedded in policing the public is going to have to wrestle with legal issues we’re not yet fully aware of. 

Given the complicated nature of disruptive technologies, he noted that no technology substitutes for “knowing how to use your brain,” to analyze information and evaluate potential errors. 

Inland Empire Community News reached out to the Ontario Police Department and Axon Enterprise Inc. for additional comments and clarification. They have not responded. 

This article will be updated to include their comments if and when they provide them.