Oversight Project Releases Second Report on Police Contracting Investigation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 13, 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 levied a $5,000 administrative sanction. The official has appealed the findings.
In light of the Atlanta Ethics investigation and public reporting, the Oversight Project sent a series of open records requests to multiple jurisdictions to further uncover communications about potential irregularities in police contracting. In May, we published its first report in its investigation, which highlighted contracting irregularities in the Chicago suburb DuPage County and town of Oak Brook, Illinois.
In this report, we uncovered additional, previously unreported records from Atlanta about the official in question. They showed that the official maintained communications with Axon-Fusus personnel while he knew he was under ethics investigation, brokering introductions, promoting Fusus to other vendors and government procurement officers, and hosting Fusus company visits at Atlanta PD Headquarters. We also found that he maintained communications with Axon-Fusus personnel after the investigation concluded. Finally, more than a year-and-a half after publishing initial findings, ethics officials in Atlanta will hear the official’s appeal in November 2026.
Kyle Brosnan, General Counsel of the Oversight Project gave the following quote:
“Eighteen months is way too long to resolve an ethics investigation into contracting for police equipment. When public safety is at issue, it is vital that investigations are thorough, fair, and conducted in a timely manner. Our investigation has uncovered additional, previously unreported records that are relevant to the City of Atlanta’s resolution of this matter.”
Read our report here and source documents here.
Read more about the Oversight Project’s First Police Contracting 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.