\n<\/p>\n
When the city<\/span> of Seattle contacted Fusus, one of the nation\u2019s leading police surveillance tech companies, in 2023, a company exec did more than just send over a brochure \u2014 he offered to connect Seattle with a \u201cpeer\u201d in Atlanta\u2019s police department who was familiar with the company\u2019s products.<\/p>\n This kicked off months of communication between Claudia Gross-Shader, a director in Seattle\u2019s city auditor\u2019s office, Marshall Freeman, who was introduced as the deputy chief administrative officer of the Atlanta Police Department, and other Seattle officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n Seattle was hoping that Fusus\u2019s Connect system \u2014 which ties together license plate readers, public cameras, and privately owned cameras into a single surveillance platform \u2014 could help them combat retail theft. The next year, after a Seattle Police Department project manager visited Atlanta to see the system in action, Fusus sealed the deal: Seattle signed a contract for \u201cConnect Seattle<\/a>\u201d at an estimated price tag of $1.8 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n But what Gross-Shader and the rest of her colleagues in Seattle didn\u2019t know \u2014 until The Intercept called with questions \u2014 was that Freeman was wearing two hats the whole time they were talking: The APD official was not only a consultant for Fusus, he was also a board member and owner of a small share of the company that could be worth millions.<\/p>\n \u201cHe never disclosed that to me!\u201d Gross-Shader told The Intercept, after hearing about Freeman\u2019s involvement with the company. She said everyone in Seattle who spoke with him was \u201cduped,\u201d and that knowing about his role \u201cwould have affected our procurement decision.\u201d<\/p>\n An Intercept investigation, based on public documents and a City of Atlanta ethics investigation, has found that Freeman didn\u2019t disclose his role with Fusus in conversations with at least 14 other cities during a period spanning at least two years, and at least nine of those cities went on to make or amend millions of dollars worth of contracts with Axon Fusus \u2014 the company\u2019s name since Axon, the company behind the Taser and a major vendor of\u00a0bodyworn cameras and other police surveillance systems, purchased Fusus last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Atlanta\u2019s ethics investigation<\/a>, which began in March 2024 and concluded in May of this year, was prompted by email queries and reporting from the Atlanta Community Press Collective<\/a>, a local digital outlet. Investigators found that Freeman\u2019s conversations with other cities, his undisclosed position on the board, his stake in the company, and his appearances at public events about Fusus software violated the city\u2019s public employee laws regarding disclosure and use of city property and also created \u201can appearance of impropriety.\u201d Freeman is appealing the decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the Atlanta investigation, despite taking 15 months to complete, did not cover the full extent of Freeman\u2019s activities. It did not follow-up to see whether the cities that Freeman spoke with went on to buy Fusus products, did not inform the officials he visited or spoke with about his dual roles, failed to turn up multiple Axon Fusus events around the country where Freeman spoke, and missed the fact that Freeman was a director on Fusus\u2019s main governing board.\u00a0<\/p>\n Neither Freeman, his attorney Joe Siegelman, nor Axon Fusus responded to queries from the Intercept.<\/p>\n Freeman told\u00a0Atlanta ethics investigators that he stopped consulting with the company after Axon\u2019s purchase of Fusus in January 2024. He did this, he told investigators, to avoid conflicts of interest because Axon has contracts with the city of Atlanta. But public documents show that Freeman has served on the company\u2019s board as a director since at least January of 2023 and remained in that position until the most recently available filings, dated June 24 of this year.<\/p>\n That means Freeman was on the company\u2019s board, for example, when he spoke<\/a> at \u201cAxon Week\u201d on April 25 in Phoenix. Introduced by company CEO Rick Smith as an APD official and \u201ca wonderful partner with us over the years,\u201d Freeman\u2019s name flashed across a huge screen. \u201cI\u2019m proud to be here representing the men and women of the Atlanta Police Department,\u201d he told attendees. \u201cAxon has been such a trusted partner in our journey to modern public safety.\u201d After concluding his remarks, the two embrace, and Smith says, \u201cIt\u2019s been a great relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Freeman told investigators that he didn\u2019t think his work with Fusus presented a conflict of interest before Axon acquired the company because the City of Atlanta did not contract directly with Fusus, and instead relied on the city\u2019s private police foundation \u2014 where he worked before joining the city \u2014 to purchase the company\u2019s technology. Atlanta began developing its \u201cConnect\u201d system using Fusus and other technology in 2021, and has since become what a tech publication<\/a> would later call \u201cthe most surveilled city\u201d in the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n The ethics report, in a seeming misunderstanding of public filings, identified Freeman as serving on the board only in its \u201cVirginia and Florida-based subsidiaries.\u201d But filings in those states, and seven more, show that Freeman is a director of Fusus itself, which continues to operate with its own board of directors even after the Axon acquisition.<\/p>\n The Intercept discovered that cities that expanded or created contracts involving Axon Fusus\u2019s signature Connect systems, and who also spoke with Freeman, include Seattle; New York City; Sacramento; Savannah, Georgia; Springfield, Illinois; Omaha, Nebraska; and Birmingham, Alabama.<\/p>\n The exact value of these contracts is difficult to pin down, because some cities do not publish their contracting data and others did not itemize the portion of the contract linked to Fusus\u2019s \u201cReal-Time Crime Center\u201d technology. The financial impact of Freeman\u2019s enthusiastic testimonials about the \u201cConnect\u201d system and Fusus generally at events in which he was billed as an Atlanta police official, with hundreds of police departments and cities in attendance, is also difficult to quantify.<\/p>\n New York City<\/span> Police Department detective Joseph Raffaele emailed Freeman on September 11, 2023, telling him the department was \u201cconsidering purchasing [Fusus\u2019] service.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe would appreciate your opinion on Fusus,\u201d Raffaele continued. \u201cIf you don\u2019t mind, please fill in the attached excel spreadsheet and email it back to me. The NYPD just would like a gauge of how good Fusus is. Their customer service, and any general issues you may have had?\u201d<\/p>\n He then forwarded his response to Fusus CEO Christopher Lindenau.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Less than two hours later, Freeman filled out and returned the spreadsheet, adding in an email to Raffaele, \u201cAs you will note from my responses, we are HUGE fans of Fusus \u2026 [and] our officers and investigators rely on Fusus around the clock every day. It would be impossible for us to be as effective without it.\u201d He then forwarded his response to Fusus CEO Christopher Lindenau, who replied, \u201cThank you sir!!!\u201d<\/p>\n All references to such emails in this story come from the Atlanta ethics office\u2019s report.<\/p>\n The Intercept has obtained a recording of Atlanta ethics investigators interviewing Freeman on June 12 of last year. At one point, Freeman says, \u201cWe share with other cities all the time how we utilize the technology. So it\u2019s not being an advocate for Fusus, saying, \u2018You should buy this.\u2019 I never did that.\u201d<\/p>\n Freeman told investigators that Atlanta\u2019s system using Fusus \u201cis what America is looking to mimic,\u201d adding, \u201cThere\u2019s \u2018Connect\u2019 everywhere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In May of last year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced<\/a> a $1.5 million contract with Fusus. \u201cConnect New York\u201d<\/a> now has nearly 7,000 public and privately owned cameras linked to the city\u2019s surveillance system. The NYPD did not reply to a request for comment from the Intercept.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not everyone in New York sees the new surveillance system as the \u201chome run\u201d Adams called it in his press conference announcing the contract.<\/p>\n \u201cThis silent expansion of surveillance casts a long shadow over our public housing communities, places that should feel like home, not a monitored zone,\u201d\u00a0Council Member Shahana Hanif, who asked about the Fusus system in a city council meeting last year, told the Intercept. \u201cWe must demand full disclosure, democratic oversight, and a halt to unchecked policing embedded within our basic infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n Freeman followed the<\/span> same playbook when the police in Sacramento got in touch.<\/p>\n Sacramento Police Department Lt. Jason Start emailed Freeman on September 15, 2023, letting him know Fusus public safety adviser Jim Macedo had suggested contacting him because the department was \u201cupgrading hardware and software\u201d in their surveillance system, according to the Atlanta ethics investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was the purchaser of Fusus and directed much of this from my end,\u201d Freeman wrote back. \u201cIt would likely make sense for us to have an initial chat.\u201d\u00a0He was referring to his previous role as COO of the Atlanta Police Foundation<\/a>, where Freeman oversaw the private organization\u2019s purchase of Fusus technology on behalf of the city, before starting work at APD in January 2023.<\/p>\n Several months after his first email to Freeman, Start wrote in another email that he planned to visit Atlanta on November 29 with a group of six or seven. Less than a year later, in October 2024, Sacramento signed a $300,000 contract with Fusus, according to the Sacramento Bee<\/a>.<\/p>\n When The Intercept reached Start on the phone, he said he had retired and hung up. The department declined to comment. \u201cConnect Sacramento<\/a>\u201d <\/a>now has about 2,000 cameras linked to the city\u2019s surveillance system.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Georgia, several hours southeast of Atlanta, Savannah IT Project Manager Jacque Fountain emailed Freeman August\u00a029, 2023, referring to a conversation the two had the day before and how the \u201cSavannah PD would like to implement Fusus.\u201d<\/p>\n Within two months, in October, the city announced <\/a>a contract worth $150,000 a year with the company. The contract was renewed<\/a> in February. Reached on the phone, Fountain said she \u201cwas not aware\u201d of\u00a0Freeman\u2019s ties with Fusus. She referred The Intercept to the city\u2019s public information office, who didn\u2019t answer queries about the Atlanta police official\u2019s communication with the city.<\/p>\n Savannah now has more than 10,000 cameras linked to the city\u2019s surveillance system.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n In Springfield, the capital of Illinois, Fusus public safety adviser Jack Howard emailed Assistant Chief Joshua Stuenkel on February 7, 2023, introducing Freeman as a \u201clong-time partner\u201d of the company and explaining his former role at the police foundation.<\/p>\n The Springfield City Council approved a $3.4 million <\/a>contract in November allocating money to the police department that includes Fusus\u2019s services. It is unclear how much of the contract will go to the city\u2019s \u201cReal-Time Crime Center.\u201d Stuenkel told The Intercept, \u201cI don\u2019t recall meeting with [Freeman]. We didn\u2019t use him. I think we\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n On January 25 of last year, retired Omaha Police Department Lt. James Pauly emailed Freeman, telling him he was \u201chonored that you allowed Fusus to share your information with us.\u201d Fusus had been registered with Nebraska\u2019s secretary of state since the year before, with Freeman listed as a director. Reached on his cellphone, Pauly said, \u201cYou would think that would be a conflict\u00a0of interest,\u201d before directing The Intercept to the Omaha Police Department, who didn\u2019t respond to a query.\u00a0<\/p>\n The city entered into a $22 million, 10-year contract in August, <\/a>which included Fusus technology for its \u201cConnect\u201d system.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n