Search

Select the magnifying glass icon in the main navigation menu to open Search.

Before you run a search, any profiles you have followed are listed below the search box. Use the tabs to switch between profile categories (people, vehicles, etc.).

To run a search, enter names, keywords, or IDs (partial or full) in the top search box. If you enter multiple words, the search results will include all of the words you entered. (i.e., Entering more words decreases the number of search results and entering fewer words increases the number of results.) To run a saved search, open the Saved dropdown that appears beside the search box and choose on of your saved searches. If you enter a date in the search box, the system will only search for that date in text-based fields, such as narratives. To search by date, instead use a date filter field.

Search results are sorted by category (person, vehicle, etc.), and each category displays three search results. Use the Sorted by menu to change the order in which search results are listed. Select a search result to open the full report or profile. Select View all to see all results for that category.

To narrow your search to a specific category (person, vehicle, etc.), select one of the search tabs below the search box. These search tab pages include additional filter fields specific to that category.

Saved searches

To speed up your searches, you can save a search you run regularly and later re-run it with a single click. To run a saved search, open the Saved dropdown that appears beside the search box and choose one of your saved searches. When you select a saved search, the Saved dropdown changes to show the name of the saved search, and the search results are displayed. Saved searches are associated with your user account and will not appear in the Saved menu for other users.
The image shows the Search module with the Vehicles category selected. A yellow highlights outlines the expanded Saved menu, which contains several saved search options.

To create a saved search:

  1. Enter a search term or terms in the top search box and press Save.
    • If you are on one of the search tabs, you can also use the filters to refine your search.
  2. Enter a name for the search. This name will appear in the Saved menu.
    • The details of the saved search are listed, including:
      • Tab: The search tab you are using (All, Vehicles, etc.)
      • Search input: The terms entered in the top search box
      • Filters: Which filters are used in the search
      • Additionally, the sort options and number of results displayed on the page are included in your save.
  3. After entering a name, select Save.

To change a saved search:

  1. Run the current saved search by selecting its name from the Saved menu.
  2. Adjust the search as desired (change filters, change sort order, etc.).
  3. Select the Save button to save the updated search (as a new saved search).
  4. Follow the steps below to remove the older version of the search.

To remove a saved search:

  1. Open the Saved dropdown menu.
  2. Select manage saved searches.
  3. Select the saved search.
  4. Select Remove.

Search results

The top portion of each search result shows basic information about the item. The fields displayed on search results vary depending on the category (person, vehicle, etc.). Contact your Axon representative to customize the information displayed in search results.

If the top search box or a free text filter field was used to perform the search, search results also include a Matched on section that indicates why that item appears in the search result list. The terms entered in the search box or text filter appear in purple highlighting on the search results beside the fields in which they were found. If a search term appears multiple times in the search result, select See more matches to view all the fields containing the term.

Note

You may see some highlighted words in the Matched on section that do not currently appear on the profile but were included in older versions of the profile. (Reminder: Whenever a profile is updated, either by being edited directly or by being added to a report, a new version of the profile is created.)

Select the white area on a search result to open the profile for that item. Return to your search results by selecting Go back to search.

If you instead select blue hyperlink text in the bottom gray area on a search result, that profile opens, as opposed to the profile for the search result. Select the X to close the report and return to your search results. On all search results, these hyperlinks will open a report. When viewing Report search results, you can also select hyperlinks that open person and vehicle profiles if those items are associated with that report.

Search results you have already opened have a gray background. Results you have not yet opened have a white background. This visual quickly tells you which results you have already viewed.

Search tabs

To narrow your search to a specific category, select one of the search tabs below the search box or select View all below each category's search results. A new page loads and displays the full results list for that category along with a set of filter fields you can use to further refine the results. Select All to return to your initial search and the search results for all categories.

Each search tab contains filter fields specific to that category that allow you to further narrow down your search results. Search categories include:

When viewing a search tab, select Actions to export your search results. The Actions menus in the People, Property, and Permits search tabs contain additional options.

Use the Sorted by menu that appears at the top of the list of search results to change the order in which the search results are displayed. The default sort order for all search tabs is Relevance. Additional sort options vary based on which search tab you are using.
The image shows the Search module with the Vehicles category selected. Yellow highlights outlines the category filter buttons, the Sorted by dropdown menu, and the Actions menu in the top corner.

Filters

Each search tab contains a different set of filter fields you can use to narrow down your search results. Select the filter icon to expand or collapse the list of filter fields.
The image shows the Search module with the Vehicles category selected. A yellow highlight outlines the Filters list and filter icon that appears beside the search result.

When viewing All search results, the list of search filter fields does NOT appear. You must select one of the search tabs that appears below the search bar to open a search tab and reveal the list of filter fields associated with that search category.

Filter fields can be removed, added, or changed based on your organization's needs. To see the full list of filter fields available on each search category page, see Search customizations. Contact your Axon representative to customize these filter fields for your organization.

Note

Custom search filter fields only appear in the desktop application and not in the mobile Axon app.

Several different types of filter fields appear on the search category pages:

  • Checkbox: Select one or more of the available checkbox options.
  • Dropdown: Select one or more of the available options from the list. Contact your Axon representative if additional options need to be added to this list.
  • Free text: Any characters can be entered in this filter field. Use wildcard operators in addition to search terms to broaden or narrow the search. If you enter multiple terms in the same filter field, you will see search results that match either phrase.
  • Range: Use the preset options to quickly enter a date range (today, yesterday, last 7 days, etc.). To enter a custom date range, enter the start of the numeric / date range in the Exact/From filter field and the end of the numeric / date range in the To filter field. To search for a specific date, enter a single number in the Exact/From filter field.
  • Search: As you enter text, matching results appear that you can select and apply.

Remove all applied filter fields by selecting Reset all. Remove a single filter from a filter field by selecting:

  • Reset: Remove all of that filter type
  • X: Remove just that filtered term

Reports

The Reports search tab contains two additional subtabs:

  • Incidents: This tab contains incident reports and non-incident reports that have been added to an incident. Reports that have been added to an incident appear in the Reports section on incident profiles.
  • Other reports: This tab contains non-incident reports. If a report is linked to an incident, it still appears on this tab. Reports that have been linked to an incident appear in the Related documents section on incident profiles.

Clicking anywhere in the white area of a Reports search result opens the incident/case profile, and selecting a blue hyperlink in the Matching reports section instead opens that report in Report Writer.

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Incident Date (Newest to Oldest)
  • Incident Date (Oldest to Newest)
  • Incident Number (A to Z)
  • Incident Number (Z to A)

When the Relevance sort order is selected and search terms are entered in the top search box, matches with certain fields are prioritized over others to ensure the most relevant results appear at the top of the list. In Reports search, priority order is set as follows:

  • Incident/Report Ids
  • People names, and aliases
  • People IDs
  • Vehicle license plates and VINs
  • Words in a narrative

For example, when "12345" is entered in the search box, Incident/Report IDs containing those numbers appear above any incidents/reports that contain People IDs, license plates, or VINs that contain these numbers.

People

Clicking anywhere in the white area of a People search result opens the person profile, and selecting a blue hyperlink in bottom portion of the result opens that report in Report Writer or the incident/case profile the person is associated with.

For users who have case management privileges, the search results also include people who have been added to case documentation.

Use the options in the Result settings section at the top of the Filters list to refine which kinds of results are displayed:

  • Include similar results: When this setting is turned on, search results include:
    • Phonetic (“sounds like”) results: Search for John includes results for Jon
    • Stemmed results: Searching for walking includes results for walk and walked
    • Results with one letter difference: Searching for Tim includes results for Jim
    • Fields other than name, alias, ID and Date of Birth
  • Include old profile versions: When this setting is turned on, Search also looks at older versions of people profiles.
    • If a person’s name has been updated 5 times, results include all old versions of the profile that contain old names, including the latest version with the person’s current name.
    • Additionally, when this checkbox is selected, Search looks at any duplicate profiles that have been merged into a primary profile. In these cases, the search result preview displays "Matched on: Duplicate Profile" to indicate that the result was included in the list because the search term was found on a duplicate version of that profile.

Open the Actions menu to:

  • Add to MNI Merge Tool: Select the checkboxes beside two or more results to open them in the MNI Merge tool.
  • Export person details: Export your search results to a CSV file.
    • Includes ALL search results. In other words, if you selected any checkboxes beside any search results, the export will include all search results and not just those that have been selected.
  • Merge MNI: Select the checkboxes beside two or more results to merge them into a single profile.
Note

Although People search in Axon Records and Citizens search in Axon Standards look similar, the databases are separate. Searching for a person in Axon Standards only returns results for people who have been added to Axon Standards reports, and searching for people in Axon Records only returns results for people who have been added to Axon Records reports.

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Last Updated (Newest to Oldest)
  • Last Updated (Oldest to Newest)
  • Last Name, First Name (A to Z)
  • Last Name, First Name (Z to A)

Vehicles

Clicking anywhere in the white area of a Vehicles search result opens the vehicle profile, and selecting a blue hyperlink in the Matching reports section opens that report in Report Writer or the incident/case profile the vehicle is associated with.

For users who have case management privileges, the search results also include vehicles that have been added to case documentation.

Note

Although Vehicles search looks the same in Axon Records and Axon Standards, the databases are separate. Searching for a vehicle in Axon Standards only returns results for vehicles that have been added to Axon Standards reports, and searching for vehicles in Axon Records only returns results for vehicles that have been added to Axon Records reports.

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Last Updated (Newest to Oldest)
  • Last Updated (Oldest to Newest)

Organizations

Clicking anywhere in the white area of an Organizations search result opens the organization profile, and selecting a blue hyperlink in the Matching reports section opens that report in Report Writer or the incident/case profile the organization is associated with.

For users who have case management privileges, the search results also include organizations that have been added to case documentation.

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Last Updated (Newest to Oldest)
  • Last Updated (Oldest to Newest)

Locations

Clicking anywhere in the white area of a Locations search result opens the location profile, and selecting a blue hyperlink in the Matching reports section opens that report in Report Writer or the incident/case profile the location is associated with.

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Last Updated (Newest to Oldest)
  • Last Updated (Oldest to Newest)
  • Street > Street Number > Unit Number (A to Z)
  • Street > Street Number > Unit Number (Z to A)

Files

The Files tab shows documents that have been uploaded to Axon Evidence. When you enter a search term or terms in the top search box, the text of all uploaded documents is searched, and results containing that word are displayed. This includes documents that were created from Axon Records reports, documents attached to Axon Records reports, as well as any other documents that have been uploaded to Axon Evidence.

Instead of opening each document to look for names, addresses, or keywords, you can use the top search box to search across all documents and select a search result to open that file's Evidence details page in Axon Evidence. The search bar on the Document tab is auto-filled with the search term(s) you entered in Axon Records and the list of matching results where that term(s) was found in the document is displayed.

Document text search is available with a Pro license. It only applies to documents uploaded after this feature is enabled for your organization. For most organizations, this will be enabled the last week of March 2026. Customers may request a one-time backfill priced based on document volume by contacting an Axon representative.

Your search results in Axon Records are restricted to the documents you have permission to view. For example, if you have the Axon Evidence permission to view Confidential Evidence, documents categorized as Confidential Evidence will appear in your search results. See User access to evidence and user permissions for more information.

How it works

Axon Evidence extracts readable text from supported documents when they are uploaded. That text becomes searchable across evidence you have permission to access.

You can search text in:

  • PDF (.pdf) files
  • Word (.docx) files

Document text search works on:

  • Digitally created documents
  • Scanned documents with readable typed text

For best results, documents should contain:

  • Clear, legible typed text
  • Text that is at least 8-point font size
  • Pages that are not blurry, distorted, or affected by heavy bleed-through
Note

Handwritten text might appear in results, but accuracy can vary.

See Search text in documents for more information about using document text search in Axon Evidence.

Bookings

Selecting a Bookings search result opens the booking profile for that arrestee.

Calls for Service

Selecting a CFS search result opens the CFS profile for that call.

Property

Selecting a Property search result opens the property item or property container profile for that item.

Select the checkbox beside one or more items then open the Actions menu to:

Use the Sorted by drop-down menu to set the order in which search results are shown:

  • Incident ID (A to Z)
  • Incident ID (Z to A)
  • Property ID (A to Z)
  • Property ID (Z to A)
  • Relevance: This is the default sort order.
  • Last Updated (Newest to Oldest)
  • Last Updated (Oldest to Newest)

Permits

Selecting a Permits search result opens the permit application where you can view the permit information, edit, and print it as needed.

Select Actions to update the status of multiple permits or export the list of permits to CSV.

Export search results

You can export search details from all search tabs, except the All tab. The details included in the export are the same as the filters that appear on the search tab you are using. For example, when exporting from Vehicles search, details can include VIN, license plate, etc.

In addition to exporting search details, you can also export form data from Reports search. This export includes data from all form fields.

Export details

To export the details of a search:

  1. Perform a search on any search tab except the All tab.
    • In People and Property search, use the checkboxes to indicate which results to include in the export.
  2. Select Actions > Export details.
  3. Update the date fields to indicate which reports should be included in the export.
    • When exporting search results for people, vehicles, etc. these filters indicate that items (people, vehicles, etc.) added to reports that occurred during the specified date range will be included in the export.
  4. Use the checkboxes to indicate which columns should appear in the CSV file.
    • These columns are the same as the filters available on that search page.
    • To customize which columns and data are included in your search result exports, contact your Axon representative.
    • Contact Axon Support or your Axon representative to have your organization's search results configured such that the time zone information does NOT appear in the column headings for date fields.
  5. Select Export to generate the CSV file and download it to your machine.

Export Form Data

In Reports search, instead of exporting the details of your search, you can instead choose the Export form data option. This option allows you to export all data entered in reports, rather than just the report details.

When the Export Settings window opens, select a Report type. You can only export form data for a single report type at a time. Adjust the Date Range filters as desired, and select Export.