The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $1,977,097.17 contract with CML Security LLC for a new door control system, camera system and intercom system for the Yavapai County Detention Center in Camp Verde during its May 7 meeting.
“They are sorely needed updates,” Yavapai County Facilities Director Brandon Shoults said. “Some of those systems have been in place for many, many years. One of the ones that’s changing the fastest is the camera systems trying to keep up with technology, video quality and the ability to store and retrieve that data. Very critical for the facility.”
County staff told the board that the jail’s door controls dated to2003, while the camera system and intercoms were last updated in 2019, and that some of the components required to upgrade the systems were becoming harder to obtain, while others were expected to become unavailable.
Shoults said the contract “will improve efficiency not only with training of staff, maintenance for my staff to come and supplement, and then the long-term goal is to have an umbrella contract with a company, probably with CML, to provide the maintenance and repair services for some of the more technical aspects.”
“These camera systems and that the infrastructure that operates the doors in conjunction with the cameras is extremely important, not only for the safety of the officers, but for the inmates themselves,” Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Jeff Newnum said. “The inmates must have access to functioning intercoms and those intercoms, they work in conjunction with the cameras and the doors as well. That’s kind of like their 911 system, if you will. And so that has to be functioning right now with the aging system that we have in Camp Verde.”
“Right now we have a few cameras that are not corresponding to the intercom system,” Newnum added. “That’s important because when you press an intercom, the cameras will move to the appropriate door that’s being pressed. And so we have to, there’s so many of them, you have to understand who’s needing assistance when and where.”
