Taser's AXON wearable camera system provides police concrete evidence

Published 3 May 2011

Police officers in several states are testing out wearable cameras to help increase transparency and provide clear evidence in officer conduct cases; Taser Corp. has developed the Axon Personal Camera System for police officers; the Axon system consists of a small camera, capable of recording at thirty frames per second, that is attached to an officer’s ear; initially developed in 2008, police departments are only beginning to adopt the technology to help minimize complaints over officer conduct; departments that have tested the system find it particularly helpful in providing concrete evidence

Police officers in several states are testing out wearable cameras to help increase transparency and provide clear evidence in officer conduct cases.

Taser Corp., the company best known for its stun guns, has developed the Axon Personal Camera System for police officers. The Axon system consists of a small camera, capable of recording at thirty frames per second, that is attached to an officer’s ear.

The camera has 16GB of internal memory allowing it to record as much as twenty-eight hours of video. The unit is also equipped with GPS to tie video footage to physical coordinates.

Developed in conjunction with EVIDENCE.COM, the AXON computer automatically downloads and stores the video in a secure database that is organized by date, time, officer, type of call, and a variety of other tags.

Initially launched in 2008, police departments have only recently begun to adopt the technology to help minimize complaints over officer conduct.

Law enforcement officials from the Whitewater Police Department in Wisconsin just completed its pilot program with the Taser Axon and found the cameras particularly helpful.

Lieutenant Lisa Otterbacher, Whitewater’s interim police chief, said, “It was incredible to be able to conduct some internal investigations and find that our personnel acted very appropriately and within the confines of what they needed to do every time. We found it very helpful. The whole he said/she said was gone. It was really valuable.”

Officers in Whitewater also found that the cameras helped reduce the time it took to conduct interviews and draft reports.

Police departments in Bal Harbour, Florida, Burnsville, Minnesota, as well as in Mesa and Phoenix, Arizona are also testing the Axon Cameras.

The Phoenix Police Department began using the devices in March following a task force’s recommendation after an officer confronted and handcuffed a Phoenix councilman. To avoid messy allegations of officer misconduct that rely on personal accounts, the department is testing the cameras as a way to provide clear objective evidence.

The AXON system costs $1,700 per unit, but for some police departments the recurring $1,200 fee for video storage and cataloguing is prohibitively expensive, especially as many face budget cuts.

The Whitewater Police Department had hoped to purchase the cameras after their initial trial period, however they were not able to afford the costs for video storage. The city council had recently proposed cutting a full-time police officer, and to save money the department chose to allocate funds to keeping the officer rather than purchasing the units.