• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Subscribe
American Police Beat

American Police Beat Magazine

Law Enforcement Publication

  • Home
  • Editor’s Picks
    • Improve your pistol-handling skills
      What you need to know about automatic license plate readers
      Do cops need more training?
      Why every agency needs a polygraph examiner
      Seeking the right kind of help
  • Topics
    • On the Job
      • Heroic K-9 unit honored at National Dog Show for role in capturing...
        NYPD reports surge in hate crimes against New York’s Jewish...
        Law enforcement cracks down on illegal sale of “gas station...
        “He went above and beyond” Port Authority K-9 sergeant honored
        Officer–K-9 duo makes remarkable drug capture
    • Labor
      • Massachusetts State Police intense training academy faces...
        Privacy and public records concerns
        The police officer shortage
        Henderson City Council aims to alleviate police staffing shortages by...
        Florida’s recruitment campaign attracts hundreds of law enforcement...
    • Tech
      • NYPD explores cutting-edge drone detection vehicle to enhance city...
        The use of military assets by U.S. police
        What you need to know about automatic license plate readers
        Why every agency needs a polygraph examiner
        North Carolina schools, businesses to beef up active shooter security...
    • Training
      • Ballistic shields in patrol operations
        Four things you need to know to control escalation
        Series of fires in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s mobile shooting...
        Using learning factors to influence your performance
        Lancaster Police Department introduces agility course in recruitment...
    • Policy
      • All courage is not physical
        Minneapolis City Council approves new location
        Oregon cities and law enforcement push for recriminalization of drug...
        Policing expenses and opioid settlement funds
        Maine governor establishes independent commission to investigate...
    • Health/Wellness
      • Harnessing our strength: Post-traumatic growth
        Scientifically proven ways for cops to thrive
        The depression–anger cycle
        What does it mean to be a sheepdog?
        Depression screening
    • Community
      • The nobility of serving
        “The smile is a universal language”
        THC-infused candy incident raises safety concerns in California city
        Empowering communities
        Murder at Lake Merritt: Body found stuffed inside suitcase in...
    • Offbeat
      • Jewelry store heist ends in high-speed chase and mystifying response...
        Massachusetts community steps in to protect black bear “Pumpkin”...
        Florida moms call cops on school librarians for distributing...
        Authorities seize whopping $8.5 million worth of psychedelic...
        12-year-old car thief takes SUV on wild joyride across NYC
    • We Remember
      • Birmingham community mourns passing of its first Black police...
        “For those who suffered in silence and were lost”
        “You’re my hero”
        Manhattan Beach police officer and Las Vegas shooting survivor...
        Headstone finally marks grave of Pennsylvania officer who gave his...
  • On the Job
    • Heroic K-9 unit honored at National Dog Show for role in capturing...
      NYPD reports surge in hate crimes against New York’s Jewish...
      Law enforcement cracks down on illegal sale of “gas station...
      “He went above and beyond” Port Authority K-9 sergeant honored
      Officer–K-9 duo makes remarkable drug capture
  • Labor
    • Massachusetts State Police intense training academy faces...
      Privacy and public records concerns
      The police officer shortage
      Henderson City Council aims to alleviate police staffing shortages by...
      Florida’s recruitment campaign attracts hundreds of law enforcement...
  • Tech
    • NYPD explores cutting-edge drone detection vehicle to enhance city...
      The use of military assets by U.S. police
      What you need to know about automatic license plate readers
      Why every agency needs a polygraph examiner
      North Carolina schools, businesses to beef up active shooter security...
  • Training
    • Ballistic shields in patrol operations
      Four things you need to know to control escalation
      Series of fires in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s mobile shooting...
      Using learning factors to influence your performance
      Lancaster Police Department introduces agility course in recruitment...
  • Policy
    • All courage is not physical
      Minneapolis City Council approves new location
      Oregon cities and law enforcement push for recriminalization of drug...
      Policing expenses and opioid settlement funds
      Maine governor establishes independent commission to investigate...
  • Health/Wellness
    • Harnessing our strength: Post-traumatic growth
      Scientifically proven ways for cops to thrive
      The depression–anger cycle
      What does it mean to be a sheepdog?
      Depression screening
  • Community
    • The nobility of serving
      “The smile is a universal language”
      THC-infused candy incident raises safety concerns in California city
      Empowering communities
      Murder at Lake Merritt: Body found stuffed inside suitcase in...
  • Offbeat
    • Jewelry store heist ends in high-speed chase and mystifying response...
      Massachusetts community steps in to protect black bear “Pumpkin”...
      Florida moms call cops on school librarians for distributing...
      Authorities seize whopping $8.5 million worth of psychedelic...
      12-year-old car thief takes SUV on wild joyride across NYC
  • We Remember
    • Birmingham community mourns passing of its first Black police...
      “For those who suffered in silence and were lost”
      “You’re my hero”
      Manhattan Beach police officer and Las Vegas shooting survivor...
      Headstone finally marks grave of Pennsylvania officer who gave his...
  • Between the Lines
    • Debunking the perpetual narrative of racial bias in policing
      The unspoken truth behind the recruitment and retention crisis
      The police reform goal: use of force without options
      The imprisonment of law enforcement technology
      Persecution of the LEO is classic schadenfreude
  • About
  • The Magazine
  • Events
  • Partners
  • Products
  • Advertise
  • Contact
Search

Partners in the News

Can’t Afford Body Cams or Storage? Problem Solved!

APB Team Published April 2, 2017 @ 1:22 pm PDT

Rick Smith, co-founder and longtime CEO of TASER International (now called Axon).

In the law enforcement world there is often a big leap from wanting or needing equipment to having the money to buy it. Here’s a deal that makes the problem go away—CLICK HERE and read below for more info.

Rick Smith, the co-founder and longtime CEO of TASER International—now called Axon—nails it when he says the historical moment police find themselves in today is one of the most difficult and challenging times in our history.

“When you take a close look at the risks facing our officers who do one of the most important, complicated and dangerous jobs in our society, and then compound that with all the trouble that’s been going on since August of 2014 following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, it’s been a rough ride,” Smith says.

“Things have been really tough out there with situations like the one in Dallas where five veteran cops were shot and killed. But we’re proud our company is constantly worrying about all the problems and working hard to develop cutting-edge technology to help like the TASER and our body-worn and in-car Axon cameras and Evidence.com.”

“When you talk to officers directly – and I’ve talked to thousands of them – they all say the same thing,” Smith explains. “A lot of the equipment they use is old and it’s causing a serious officer safety situation. Their kids all have iPads but Mom or Dad are out on patrol and using a Microsoft Windows program that doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Officers agree that body-worn cameras are giving them essential protection on the job.

But all that is changing. Body-worn cameras have propelled the profession into the 21st century. Even five years ago, people were not so sure about body cams. Today you can talk to any chief and they all want their officers to have and wear the cameras. If an officer must use force and it’s all captured on video, liability risks for the officer and the agency are drastically reduced.

When the rising number of lawsuits and unfounded claims about cops using excessive force made it clear that wearing some sort of recording device was going to be the solution for this burgeoning problem, TASER International – again, now Axon – rose to the challenge. The result was the Axon camera, which captures the incident on video which is them uploaded to Evidence.com – a cloud-based program that stores the video.

Axon is donating its Body 2 cams to any agency who wants them.

In Baltimore, a recent controversial officer-involved shooting – a white officer shot and killed a black suspect – is a case in point. If the body cam had not captured crucial frame by frame video footage of the incident, the city, still on edge after the Freddie Gray incident in 2016, could have exploded. But the footage was clear – the suspect was pointing a gun at the officer and there was no doubt he feared for his life.

But in the law enforcement world, there is often a big leap from wanting and needing the equipment to having the funds in the budget to purchase it.

“This is where Axon is stepping up to the plate,” Rick notes. “We believe body worn cameras are something officers don’t know they need until they try it. Much like a smart phone – once you get the opportunity to try one out, you realize just how much you need it because they are so transformative. We’re offering a free body camera to every police officer in the U.S. for one year for the same reason we’re changing the name of the company to Axon. We believe connected technology can relieve current tensions and accelerate the future of police work. And not only that. We will also store the video evidence at no cost for the first year. We encourage our customers to competitively test multiple systems and invite all of our competitors to similarly offer one year field trials. If it doesn’t work out, the agency can give us the camera back and we will turn over all their footage. It’s a win-win offer.”

Today only 20 percent of officers working for U.S. law enforcement agencies head out on patrol wearing body cameras. Smith admits that outfitting the other 80 percent of agencies with cameras is going to be expensive. But he’s confident at the end of the first year there won’t be many agencies giving the body cams back. “Everyone will be sold on all the benefits of capturing incidents on video and having evidence that shows exactly what happened.”

A Relief From All the Paperwork

If someone asked you when the last time was that you burned a photo onto a CD, you probably couldn’t remember. We now share photos captured with our cell phones via email or on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.

It’s technology that law enforcement, prosecutors, and others in the criminal justice system should be using to securely store and transmit reports, images and video. But chances are when your agency has to transmit files to a prosecutor for a warrant or trial, someone delivers a box filled with paper reports, DVDs, and photographs. There is no central database to search for the evidence which has been stored in a digital format and can be searched for and retrieved easily and efficiently by the appropriate people.

In some places where the evidence has to be transported across the state, the process looks more like the Pony Express than a smart use of 21st-century technology. One officer will have all the paperwork in a box and drive halfway across the state, where he or she transfers the material to another officer, who then drives it the rest of the way to its destination.

With this antiquated way of collecting and sharing evidence, it’s no wonder that close to two-thirds of an officer’s time is spent on paperwork. Another time-zapper is the process of searching for and sharing evidence and information that is not properly filed and saved in a computerized system.

At the Metropolitan Police Department in London, a recent visitor watched streams of cops coming in with boxes of images and file-folders full of notes. But those days are ending soon. The entire agency is moving their evidence to the Evidence.com system. Soon, officers will be uploading police reports, videos, and photos into the system, which will make the sharing process much easier.

“Police reporting today is like sports reporting in the 1930s,” Smith says.”

That needs to change and it is.

“Just one example is the new Axon technology our company developed that is giving the officer the ability to verbally record his impressions of the incident via the body cam. The voice recognition technology will transcribe the officer’s commentary into the written word and store it with the video.

“The world today is moving at light speed from a tech perspective and law enforcement is catching up.”

What Axon and Evidence.com will do for you:

* Eliminate bureaucracy and paperwork, which can take up to two-thirds of an officer’s on-duty time.
* Free officers up to do more police work.
* Increase guilty pleas with camera footage.
* Reduce stress on victims when the suspect knows the camera got the evidence against them. They plead guilty and victim does not have to live their assault over and over again.
* Streamline storage, retrieval and sharing of evidence between law enforcement, prosecutors and others in the criminal justice system.

For more information on how your agency can take advantage of the AXON offer for FREE cameras and storage for one year, click CLICK HERE or on the image below!

Categories: Partners in the News

Primary Sidebar

Recent Articles

  • Heroic K-9 unit honored at National Dog Show for role in capturing prison escapee
  • Harnessing our strength: Post-traumatic growth
  • Massachusetts State Police intense training academy faces unprecedented attrition rates
  • NYPD reports surge in hate crimes against New York’s Jewish community amid Israel–Hamas war
  • Ballistic shields in patrol operations
  • Law enforcement cracks down on illegal sale of “gas station heroin”
  • “He went above and beyond” Port Authority K-9 sergeant honored
  • Privacy and public records concerns
  • Jewelry store heist ends in high-speed chase and mystifying response from suspect
  • Massachusetts community steps in to protect black bear “Pumpkin” from facing euthanasia after livestock incidents

Footer

Our Mission
To serve as a trusted voice of the nation’s law enforcement community, providing informative, entertaining and inspiring content on interesting and engaging topics affecting peace officers today.

Contact us: info@apbweb.com | (800) 234-0056.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Categories

  • Editor’s Picks
  • On the Job
  • Labor
  • Tech
  • Training
  • Policy
  • Health/Wellness
  • Community
  • Offbeat
  • We Remember
  • Jobs and Careers
  • Events

Editor’s Picks

Improve your pistol-handling skills

Improve your pistol-handling skills

October 21, 2023

What you need to know about automatic license plate readers

What you need to know about automatic license plate readers

October 20, 2023

Do cops need <em>more</em> training?

Do cops need more training?

October 17, 2023

Why every agency needs a polygraph examiner

Why every agency needs a polygraph examiner

October 16, 2023

Privacy Policy | Your Privacy Options | Notice at Collection | Copyright © 2023 APB Media, LLC | Website design, development and maintenance by 911MEDIA

Open

Subscribe

Close

Receive the latest news and updates from American Police Beat directly to your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.