OAKLAND — Town voters approved the purchase of new police body cameras and artificial intelligence-powered software that its manufacturer touts as a time-saver for report writing. A majority of the approximately 25 Oakland residents who gathered Wednesday at the town’s fire station for a special town meeting endorsed using $24,000 from fund balance for the first payment to Axon, the maker of the cameras and the software. Only a handful voted against the proposed purchase. The total cost over five years for 12 body-worn cameras and the Draft One software is $125,699.58, Town Manager Kelly Pinney-Michaud wrote in an announcement ahead of the meeting. The amount approved to be used from the fund balance will be combined with a $1,250 donation and a $50,000 Congressionally Directed Spending grant the town expects to receive this fall for initial payments this year, Pinney-Michaud said Wednesday. She said she contacted the office of U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, and a staffer told her the grant was included in the spending package that Congress narrowly passed earlier this month and that President Donald Trump has referred to as “one big beautiful bill.” “Then we would budget for the remaining balance over two years or three years,” Pinney-Michaud said. Oakland’s town charter says any expense more than $10,001 not authorized in the current municipal budget must be voted on at a special town meeting. The $24,000 upfront cost that voters approved exceeded that amount. Police Chief Charles “Rick” Stubbert said his department has out-of-date officer body-worn cameras from Watchguard that reached the end of their usable life six or seven years ago and are no longer supported. The department is not currently using them, he said. Stubbert said his department looked at two options for new cameras and Axon appeared to be “by far the best option for us” and would be compatible with the technology prosecutors use. The district attorney’s office has been switching to an Axon product for its file management system in both Kennebec and Somerset counties. District Attorney Maeghan Maloney recommended Oakland go with the Axon cameras, according to Mike Perkins, town council chairman. The cameras are for each officer in the Oakland Police Department, and are generally not shareable, Stubbert said. One would be designated for reserve officers to use. Axon, an Arizona-headquartered company formerly known as TASER International for its namesake nonlethal Taser weapons used commonly by law enforcement agencies, has become a leading supplier of body cameras and other law enforcement technology in recent years. The company announced the launch of its Draft One report writing software in April 2024. The software uses artificial intelligence, or AI, technology to generate drafts of narrative reports based on the audio recording captured using the body camera, according to Axon. “Officers must review the draft, manually fill in missing information and then sign off on the narrative’s accuracy before submission,” the company says in an informational question and answer page on its website. In its marketing materials, Axon describes the AI software as a time-saving tool for law enforcement agencies. On its website, the company calls it a “force multiplier” and states police officers currently spend up to 40% of their time on the job writing reports. Other Maine law enforcement agencies, including the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, have bought the technology in recent months. Others, including the Portland Police Department and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, were reportedly using it on a trial basis last year. Elsewhere in the country, the technology was already being used within months of its launch in police departments across the country, including in Colorado, Indiana and Oklahoma, according to an Associated Press report. The AI aspect of the technology has raised questions from legal experts and criminal defense attorneys nationwide about the accuracy of the reports and how they would hold up in court proceedings. The company has acknowledged some of those concerns, but says it tests the product to reduce bias and emphasizes that, as the name of the software suggests, officers must review the draft before filing a report. Discussion at Oakland’s town meeting, however, focused more on how the town would pay for the cameras and software, rather than any ethical concerns. The only resident to comment on the software said she thought it may actually turn out to be a money-saver because it could contribute to savings in overtime for officers if they spend less time writing reports. As for the cameras themselves, most residents and officials appeared to agree the police department needed them to stay up to date with widely used technology and to keep officers safe. “The crimes we’re seeing now — we can’t talk about them because they’re under investigation — but you’d be floored,” said Pinney-Michaud, the town manager. “And they need cameras.” Dana Wrigley, vice chair of the council, said calls for incidents such as domestic violence can be volatile and Oakland police officers often respond to such calls alone, as the department is small. “Our officers need that kind of evidence to prove that they handled that call correctly,” Wrigley said. Perkins said he understood the Axon cameras are not cheap, but that video evidence may deter future litigation after an incident such as an officer-involved shooting, and thus save the town money in the long run. “With this camera, you’ll see everything that happens and (hear) everything that’s said,” Perkins said.