Deschutes County commissioners unanimously granted the Sheriff’s Office a $2.4-million, five-year contract with Axon, a surveillance technology company, on June 3. The inventory will include 100 in-vehicle cameras, 105 body cameras and 90 smart tasers.
But not included in the department’s wish list for surveillance tech is automated license plate reader capabilities, owing to public concern about potential data security breaches by federal immigration authorities, Interim Sheriff Ty Rupert told the board before its vote.
“I’m aware of the controversy that’s gone on locally and nationwide with Flock Safety,” Rupert said, referring to the four stationary ALPR cameras Flock operated for Bend PD along Highway 97 for seven months last year. “When [concerns] came up about the Axon cameras, I made the conscious decision to not [select] the ALPR system à la carte. I’m not going to put our citizens in that position and I’m not going to put our office in that position.”
The concern has precedence. In June 2025 and in apparent violation of Oregon sanctuary laws, federal immigration authorities made 279 queries into Bend PD’s Flock Safety ALPR database, according to the Oregon Law Center and reported by the Source in May. During that same three-week window in June, Flock Safety data of Eugene, Roseburg, Klamath Falls, Albany and Josephine County were also queried hundreds of times by immigration authorities. The Bend City Council moved to shut off its Flock cameras on Jan. 7.
To be clear, the new dash cameras are Fleet 3 cameras, made by Axon, a different company than Flock. While Fleet 3 cameras are ALPR-capable, that function can’t just be turned on, either by DCSO officials or remotely by Axon or a third party. About 70 Bend Police Department cruisers have been rolling with ALPR-activated Fleet 3 cameras since 2023, the Source reported in May.
The DCSO has operated with body cameras and non-ALPR dash cameras since 2021, per a $1 million contract with Coban, according to a December report by the County’s internal auditor. At the June 3 meeting, Rupert said he’d been frustrated by Coban’s technology flaws — one of which turns off the body camera’s footage when deputies only intended to pause the audio while discussing private or privileged information. Axon’s body cameras, by contrast, have a mute button that doesn’t interfere with video recording.
Another incentive to forego the ALPR technology is the $372,000 in savings across the five-year contract, or $74,000 annually, DCSO told the Source. The Office will additionally save money by having internal mechanics install the dash cams instead of Axon technicians, Rupert said.
With these savings, Rupert told the BOCC, he can hire more deputies and correctional officers at the Deschutes County Jail.
“I only have a $72-million budget, so I have to spend that money wisely,” Rupert said. “My choice is to put more people on the road and more people on the floor.”
DCSO currently contracts with Axon for digital evidence storage.
At the meeting, a half-dozen folks made public comments urging the County to draft a surveillance policy informed by public input and the security safeguards outlined by Senate Bill 1516, which Gov. Tina Kotek signed into law on March 31.
DCSO may explore adding ALPR technology down the road, Rupert said, but not before bringing that before the Board and with more opportunity for public comment. Capt. Bryan Husband said the Office “would be happy” to work out a surveillance policy in the meantime. That policy would be put in place before seeking an ALPR add-on with Axon. (Bend PD updated its ALPR policy last month, yet some privacy advocates told the Bend City Council at the June 3 business meeting it doesn’t go far enough.)
In the coming week, DCSO and Axon will update the terms of the contract, readying it for county administration approval, DCSO spokesperson Jason Carr told the Source.
Rupert, who was appointed interim sheriff by the BOCC on July 31, had campaigned, in part, on the fiscal mindedness he learned during a previous career in the private sector. In the nine months of his tenure, Rupert estimates he’s saved the agency hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars by economizing staffing, which included dissolving the undersheriff position, he previously told the Source.
Rupert, currently the interim sheriff, is running against DCSO Lt. James MacLaughlin for sheriff in the general election this November.
“I need to develop trust with our citizens,” Rupert said at the BOCC meeting. “I was elected by the people and I represent all people.”
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