Generate a narrative draft with Draft One

Once your body camera footage is uploaded and the Auto-Transcript is available, you can use Draft One to generate a draft narrative. (Draft One can be used on any playable audio/video files supported by Axon Evidence, not just Axon body camera footage.) You can also use Draft One to generate a draft a narrative without using evidence and instead recording a narration describing an incident. After carefully reviewing and revising the draft, you can copy it to your computer's clipboard (Axon Evidence) or submit it for supervisor review (Axon Records and Standards).

Generate drafts from Axon Evidence

There are three ways to access Draft One after you've logged in to Axon Evidence:

  • My dashboard page > Recent recordings: Your recent recordings appear at the top of the My Dashboard page. If a recording has an associated transcript, select Draft One to open Draft One in a new tab with that evidence item pre-selected.
    The image shows My Dashboard in Axon Evidence displaying recent recordings with timestamps, durations, and statuses. A yellow highlight emphasizes the Draft One button next to a recording in the status column. A pop-up window labeled Select Evidence allows the user to choose recordings to generate a draft from transcripts.
  • My dashboard page: To generate a draft based on evidence that doesn't appear on the Dashboard, select Draft One.
    The image shows My dashboard in Axon Evidence with sections for evidence management, upcoming evidence deletions, case management, and account information. A yellow box highlights the Draft One button in the upper right area of the dashboard.
  • Evidence details page: Open the evidence details page for a specific evidence item and selecting Draft One.
    The image shows the evidence details page in Axon Evidence. A yellow highlight emphasizes the Draft One button located above the video player area.

See this video for an overview of generating a draft narrative in Axon Evidence.

Generate drafts from Axon Records and Axon Standards

When Draft One is used in Axon Records and Axon Standards, it includes any data you have already entered into the fields in the rest of the report. To create comprehensive and higher-quality drafts, it is recommended to fill out all report fields BEFORE using Draft One.

When you have filled out the report and are ready to generate a draft, open the narrative section and select Draft One.
The image shows the report writer screen. The left panel includes a menu with different sections. The Narratives section is highlighted and the report is open to this section, which features a narrative editor with formatting tools, font options, and fields for entering information. A highlighted button labeled Draft One is available for generating a draft narrative from audio recordings.

Draft generation steps

When Draft One opens, follow these steps to generate a draft narrative.

1. Select evidence

Choose one or more pieces of evidence to use as the basis of the draft narrative.

  • Only items marked as Available in the Status column can be used.
    • Files with poor audio quality are marked with a File not recommended label.
  • You can switch between the tabs to find the right piece of evidence:
    • Suggested: Contains all evidence you have recorded and uploaded in the past 24 hours.
    • Search: Lets you search for a specific piece of evidence
    • Selected: Selected items appear on this tab for easy review
  • Select the arrow to expand the row and view a media player for that file.

Select Continue after choosing one or more pieces of evidence or Continue without evidence if you do not want to use evidence files and instead want to only provide narration or type out the details of the incident.
The image shows the Select Evidence screen in Draft One, with the Search tab active and multiple evidence files listed. A yellow highlight appears on the left side of one video file row, emphasizing the dropdown arrow and checkbox, and another yellow highlight appears in the bottom right corner around the Narrate Instead and Continue buttons. A video preview is shown below the selected evidence row.

2. Draft Characteristics

Provide information about the type of incident, including incident type, charge severity, and whether or not an arrest was made.

Select a draft length.

  • If the transcripts from the selected evidence items are brief, messages indicate which draft length options are most appropriate.
  • Length options include:
    • Short: Around 200 words
    • Standard: 300-500 words
    • More detail: 600-800 words

Select Continue.
The image shows the Draft Characteristics screen in Draft One, where users select incident details to guide narrative generation. Navigation buttons labeled Back and Continue appear at the bottom.

3. Additional details

After you provide the incident characteristics, Draft One analyzes the transcripts for the evidence items you selected and prompts you to provide additional details.

Transcripts can contain errors (misspellings, misheard words, etc.) and may not contain all information about the incident, so adding details and clarification helps ensure higher quality drafts. If you provide these details before the draft is generated, you'll save time later because the draft won't require as many revisions.

You can provide additional details in two locations on the Additional details screen:

  • Suggestion text boxes: Draft One displays a list of suggestions specific to the evidence transcripts. These suggestions are AI-generated, so ignore any that aren't relevant. Type responses to Draft One's suggestions in each of the text boxes.
  • Draft notes: The larger text box at the bottom of the screen is a combined voice and text space. Use this space to capture any additional context or details. You can switch between narrating and typing when adding information to this field. Don't worry about typos, grammar, or formatting. Just get the facts down, and Draft One will weave them into your final narrative.
    • If you did not select any evidence in step 1, the Additional Details screen does not show transcript-specific suggestions and instead displays a general list of suggested details and the large text box.

Your additional details don't need to be perfectly spoken or typed, as if you were dictating or writing a report. Instead, think of narration and typing as an informal memo for your eyes only. Draft One will polish your details and work them into its generated narrative.

While you are narrating, the microphone icon turns into a red square button. Select this button to pause the recording and view the words you have spoken in the large text box. Add more text by typing or select the microphone icon again to resume recording. You can start and stop recording as many times as needed. Narration and typed text are not stored in the system or audit logs, although the audit trail does show if narration and typed text were provided during the draft generation process.
The image shows the Add Details screen in Draft One, where users are encouraged to improve their draft by narrating additional information. The page includes suggestions to add, a Continue Narration button in the center, and navigation buttons labeled Back and Skip and Generate Draft at the bottom.

Once you have provided all additional details, select Generate draft. If you do not want to provide additional details, instead select Skip and generate draft. While the draft generates, you can optionally provide a star rating for how useful the suggestions for additional details were as you were narrating and typing.

See this video for an overview of using narration.

4. Review draft narrative

Draft One processes the transcripts, narration, and typed details to generate the narrative draft.

When the draft is complete, review it.

  • To adjust the draft length, select Shorter or Longer. To ensure best quality, follow the draft length recommendations from the previous screen.
  • To provide additional details by narrating or typing, select Add details.
  • The rank that appears beside your name is auto-inserted based on the rank assigned to you in User Management.

If you believe the draft is a good starting point for your final narrative, select Insert.

  • Once you have inserted the draft, you can review and revise it.
  • Select Discard if you believe it would take you longer to revise the draft as opposed to writing the narrative yourself.
    • If you choose to discard the draft, you are given the chance to add additional details to improve the draft quality.
    • If you choose to discard the draft, a survey will appear asking you to give information about why you decided not to use the draft. If you have time, please take a moment to complete this quick survey. Your feedback will help Axon continue to improve Draft One.

The image shows the final step in Draft One where a draft narrative is reviewed before insertion into a report. The top section displays a loading message with a Draft Generating status and instructions to proofread and correct the draft. The bottom section shows the generated draft text with a warning to review it carefully, and yellow highlights around buttons for changing length, narrating more details, discarding, or inserting the draft.

Best practices

To assist Draft One in generating better draft narratives, you can follow several best practices while in the field:

Narrate out loud

The more dialog that appears in the evidence Auto-Transcript, the better Draft One will be able to generate a full draft.

To assist this process throughout the CFS, you speak out loud (as able and as appropriate). You can explain what is going on, what your observations are, and what decisions you are making.

This narration can occur throughout the entire CFS:

  • Turning on your body camera while en route
  • While on scene
  • Afterward, when wrapping up the call

You can also provide narration after the incident while generating the draft in Axon Evidence/Records.

Translate

Draft One currently only supports English (although additional languages are planned in future updates). If you are on a CFS where other languages are spoken, and you are able to translate, translate out loud. Your body camera will hear your translation and Draft One will use that translation when generating the draft narrative.

Use active listening

When speaking with community members, echo back what they say to you, especially if you are in a noisy environment and are worried about your body camera's audio quality. Not only will this clear up audio problems (because your body camera always hears your words best), but it is also a general good practice when policing.

Ask questions

When on scene, ask questions of the community members you interact with. This information will increase the amount of information that appears in the Auto-Transcript and help Draft One generate a more complete narrative.

 

Axon's AI-powered features use artificial intelligence to provide insights, recommendations, or analysis based on available data and user inputs. These outputs may include inaccuracies, limitations, or outdated information. These tools are designed to support—not replace—professional judgment, legal interpretation, and human oversight. Users are responsible for carefully reviewing and verifying AI-powered content before acting on it. Axon continually works to enhance AI accuracy, mitigate bias, and uphold ethical standards. Learn more at Axon AI.