Oversight Project Releases First Report on Police Contracting Investigation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 18, 2026
Washington, D.C. – In January, the Oversight Project announced it launched an investigation into questionable contracting practices at local police departments throughout the country. The Oversight Project’s investigation came after the media reported that an employee with the Atlanta, GA Police Department “duped” multiple cities into signing multimillion dollar contracts with Fusus for police surveillance equipment while the employee sat on Fusus’s board. Axon Enterprises finalized its acquisition of Fusus in 2024. An ethics investigation conducted by the City of Atlanta concluded that the employee’s action constituted at least an “appearance of impropriety” and recommended disciplinary action be taken.
The Oversight Project’s investigation dug deeper into the jurisdictions mentioned in the ethics investigation. Our report highlights contracting irregularities in the Chicago suburb DuPage County and town of Oak Brook, Illinois. We reviewed public government records and email correspondence between law enforcement officials and representatives from the police technology company, Fusus. Specifically, our investigation found:
- A Fusus employee directed financial benefits to government officials in the form of paying for hotel accommodations via donations to a nonprofit organization.
- Fusus received advance insider information on grant funding opportunities.
- Fusus routinely received non-public information, including competitive intelligence against competing vendors and confidential government communications.
- Fusus leveraged its relationship with the Oak Brook Police Department to lobby government officials, including the Illinois Attorney General, to promote products to Police Departments at the Oak Brook-FUSUS symposium; and
- These actions contributed to DuPage County being essentially forced to adopt Fusus technology for county-wide Real Time Crime Center and other vital technological interfaces.
In light of our findings and analysis, the Oversight Project accordingly calls upon public integrity and commercial regulators at the state and federal level to conduct an exhaustive investigation into the conduct of public and private actors mentioned in our report for potential violations of federal antitrust and bribery statutes, as well as state ethics provisions.
Kyle Brosnan, Oversight Project’s General Counsel had the following quote:
“The records and report we are releasing today reveal troubling communications between a major police technology company and law enforcement officials with the ability to steer taxpayer funds for policing equipment. As Congress spends billions of dollars for local police jurisdictions, taxpayers need assurances that their tax dollars are being spent on making them safe, not being “duped” in contracting. We encourage the relevant law enforcement and regulatory authorities to conduct a more fulsome investigation.”
Read more on the Oversight Project’s Report in The Center Square here
Read the source emails cited in the report here and here
Read more about the Oversight Project’s policing work, including our legal victories in Louisville, Kentucky and in Washington, D.C.
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