Taser International, the stun gun maker emerging as a leading supplier of body cameras, has cultivated financial ties to police chiefs whose departments have bought the recording devices, raising conflict-of-interest questions.
Taser, which recently signed a five-year deal to supply body cameras to the Tampa Police Department, is covering airfare and hotels for police chiefs who speak at promotional conferences and is hiring recently retired chiefs as consultants, sometimes months after their cities signed contracts with the company. Taser is planning to send two to speak in Australia and the United Arab Emirates this month at events during which they will address potential customers.
The relationships raise questions about whether chiefs are acting objectively in their dealings with Taser, whose contracts for cameras and video storage can cost millions.
As the police chief in Fort Worth, Texas, pushed for signing a contract with Taser before a company quarterly sales deadline, he wrote a Taser representative in an email, "Someone should give me a raise."
The market for wearable cameras for police that can record arrests and shootings has been growing fast since the killing last August of 18-year-old Michael Brown by an officer in Ferguson, Mo. Supporters say the cameras reduce tensions between officers and the communities they serve.
City officials and rival companies are raising concerns about police chiefs' ties to Taser as it profits from the boom.
"Department heads need to be very careful to avoid that type of appearance of an endorsement in a for-profit setting," said Salt Lake City Council member Charlie Luke.
He said he was surprised when he learned last year that the city's Police Department had purchased Taser cameras using surplus money, bypassing the standard bidding process and City Council approval.
A Taser spokesman said the company has no control over how cities decide to award contracts and that its products have unique features. Taser says early adopters of technology are the best ones to discuss its benefits and share their experiences with colleagues.
"This is a pretty normal practice for police chiefs and other recently retired individuals to speak on behalf of the industry," Taser spokesman Luke Larson said.
Taser's competitors complain they have been shut out by cities awarding no-bid contracts and sometimes feel disadvantaged when allowed to compete.
"Every time I do a presentation, as I'm standing there looking through the room, I wonder, 'Who is tainted by Taser?' " said Peter Onruang, president of Wolfcom Enterprises, a California body camera maker.
Ronal Serpas, former New Orleans police superintendent, confirmed he signed a Taser consulting agreement after his August retirement and has spoken at company-sponsored events. Serpas said it did not violate a state ethics law because he's not lobbying his former employer, adding he wasn't on the committee that recommended Taser for a $1.4 million contract.
In Fort Worth, then-police Chief Jeffrey Halstead was seeking 400 more body cameras for officers last year. Taser promised a discount if the deal could be approved before the end of the company's sales quarter, emails show.
"Close of the month? I do not wear a cape or have X-ray vision, you know," Halstead wrote a Taser representative.
Over the next three weeks, Halstead pushed the city to approve a no-bid contract worth up to $2.7 million. In the following months, Taser had Halstead speak at events in cities such as Phoenix, Miami and Boston.
Halstead, who retired from Fort Worth in January, said he hopes to become a Taser consultant soon.