This year marked 30 years of Axon — three decades of innovation, challenging the status quo and protecting life. Join us as we take a look back at some of the major advancements of 2023, including new products, features, partnerships, support systems and goals to make the world a safer place.

• Giant Leap #5: Supporting and Celebrating Public Safety
• Giant Leap #4: Protecting Life Around the Globe
• Giant Leap #3: Building Bridges Between Officers and Their Communities
• Giant Leap #2: Connecting Officers with Real-Time Technology
• Giant Leap #1: Reducing Gun-Related Deaths Between Police and the Public

#5: Supporting and Celebrating Public Safety

We are committed to honoring the heroic work of public safety officers by recognizing the brave men and women who risk themselves to make their communities safer.

One way we’re celebrating their essential role in our communities is simply by sharing their stories. We introduced Safe Journeys, a new series that unveils the humanity behind public safety, with men and women sharing their accounts of protection, empathy, resilience and who they are beyond the badge.

We also published the First Responder Series, which uses body-cam footage of life-saving events, interviews with the officers that were on scene and other sources to create videos of critical incidents faced by law enforcement officers. These stories are powerful testaments to the bravery of first responders.

Public Safety Awards

We again hosted the RISE Awards at our 8th Axon Accelerate conference, celebrating the 2023 winners: Trooper Toni Shuck, Deputy William Puzynski, and Officers Galen Schmidt, Sean Peralta and Devynn Muhlenberg. Each of these individuals exemplified the work of a public safety officer and we honor their exceptional acts of heroism, bravery and quick thinking that enabled them save lives in the field.

We also introduced a new award: the Visionary Leadership Award, inspired by Dr. Richard Carmona and his contributions to public health and safety. This award will honor and celebrate those who are driving impactful changes in public safety, such as leaders who spearhead initiatives promoting officer wellness, community engagement or substantial transformative changes.

Axon Aid

Axon’s philanthropic arm continued to invest in the wellbeing of first responders, their loved ones and their communities.

First responders are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) due to the hardships of their jobs, with more than 80% reporting exposure to traumatic incidents. Corrections officers face the same mental toll of difficult public safety work, but are often overlooked in conversations about the mental health of first responders. Statistics reveal that over 19% of corrections officers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with a 39% higher suicide risk compared to all other professions combined.

Seeing the need for mental health support for first responders, and specifically, corrections officers, Axon Aid launched two new video series this year to provide no-cost wellness resources to these groups.

The first was a post-traumatic growth video series for all first responders, designed in collaboration with the Boulder Crest Foundation and FirstNet®, aiming to guide viewers through the five phases of recovery and development following hardships on the job.

Additionally, a specialized corrections wellness series focused on insights from industry experts and professionals in the field to offer support and guidance to corrections officers. These resources aim to provide vital aid and guidance to both groups who courageously risk their lives daily in service to others.

Following Hurricane Idalia in the southern U.S., Axon Aid's Emergency Response Team collaborated with the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office in Georgia to provide on the ground support. This deployment lasted three days and consisted of 138 drone mission flown, covering 627,629 feet of the county. Using Axon Air drone solutions and Axon Evidence, our volunteers were able to gather situational awareness and aid in search and rescue operations, facilitating the community's eligibility for FEMA assistance.

#4: Protecting Life Around the Globe

Protecting life internationally by connecting with officers and agencies around the globe created some exciting challenges as we worked to integrate our products into the diverse cultures of our customers’ locations. The public safety issues facing each continent, country, state and city are unique, necessitating a tailored approach to maximize the potential to save lives.

Running of the Bulls

At the renowned Running of the Bulls event during Pamplona, Spain’s San Fermin Festival, la Policía Foral effectively managed security using Axon body cameras, resulting in a notable 50% decline in violent incidents and misconduct directed at officers.

Juan Carlos Zapico, Chief of La Policía Foral de Navarra, stated the recordings promoted transparency in officer-civilian interactions, reinforcing the agency’s commitment to meeting the community's expectations. By balancing effective law enforcement with citizens' privacy and peace of mind, Axon's body cameras contributed significantly to bolstering security during the annual Running of the Bulls while maintaining accountability in policing efforts.

Scotland DESC

Countries around the world are looking for solutions to manage the rising tide of digital evidence. The rapid growth of camera quantity and quality has been very positive for preserving the truth, but it has also created some challenges around the vast storage and management requirements.

Axon partnered with the Scottish courts, government and police at a national level to build a nationwide digital evidence management system. The Scotland Digital Evidence Sharing Capability (DESC) is a unified database accessible to police, legal professionals, and courts to streamline evidence sharing and management, leading to quicker case resolution and reduced burdens on victims and officers. Axon CEO, Rick Smith, explained the benefit this way: “We’re now seeing cases move in hours instead of weeks and months.”

Global Events

We had the privilege of hosting a number of Axon Tech Summits and Axon Innovate conferences in 2023. Creating these collaborative and educational spaces allowed us to share our technology and foster important discourse about the future of public safety. This included the inaugural Brazil Axon Tech Summit, where attendees were able to hear from Axon CEO Rick Smith and participate in hands-on product demonstrations.

The Axon Training team has always focused on developing and delivering curriculum that creates opportunities for positive outcomes for law enforcement officers and the communities that they serve. The team plays a critical role by focusing on training centered around our TASER, VR , and Body Worn Camera platforms, directly supporting the company’s long-term strategic goals of Protecting Life.

The Axon Training team invested heavily in our training offerings, seeking to expand our offerings and prepare Axon customers all over the world with training that focuses on de-escalation. Globally, Axon trains over 13,000 customers per year across over 700 courses, in a multitude of different countries. In 2023, customers rated Axon Training a 95% average across our courses, so if you haven’t experienced it for yourself, then now is a great time to discover our training options.

We also attended several key events around the globe, including the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference in San Diego, California and Milipol in Paris, France. At the IACP conference, we hosted a 4,000-square-foot immersive experience with Axon's updated TASER 10, Axon Body 4 and Axon VR Training, and gave away 2,000 plush Dalmatians to attendees.

Over 30,000 visitors from all over the world attended Milipol in November. At the event, CEO Rick Smith gave a live demonstration of our new TASER 10 device, alongside presentations of other Axon technology.

Roadshow: Going Global

This year, the Axon Public Safety Technology Roadshow visited 237 cities across North America and Europe. This allowed us to connect directly with public safety agencies and our customers, providing information on our technology solutions.

The launch of the European leg of the Roadshow marked a historic expansion of the Axon Roadshow, visiting England, Wales, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Axon team utilized the new Voyager trailer, equipped with hands-on experiences like a TASER 10 firing range, Axon Air Flight Center and Virtual Reality Simulator.

#3: Building Bridges Between Officers and Their Communities

Our moonshot goal is to cut gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50% in ten years. One of the foundational steps to solving this complex issue is to help build better bridges between law enforcement agencies and their communities. Fostering trust and transparency in public safety will create an atmosphere conducive to reducing incidents of gun violence.

My90

My90 by Axon continued to build connections between public safety agencies and communities by providing a secure line of feedback that could foster trust and understanding. This engagement tool collects confidential feedback via text message surveys from community members after interactions with the police. This year, agencies around the United States sent over 50,000 surveys per month.

The Aurora Police Department shared their success with My90 earlier this year. The feedback from community members revealed desires for more officers on the streets, leading to successful initiatives for hiring and training more personnel. Internally, My90 provided a safe space for officers to voice concerns and aided command staff in identifying trends and issues within the department. The tool's success in Aurora underscores the importance of feedback, fostered by technology solutions like My90, in enhancing law enforcement-community relationships.

Priority Ranked Video Audit (PRVA)

PRVA received several new features that have improved the body-worn camera review process. Included with Axon Performance, PRVA proactively flags videos for fast, effective review, drastically reducing supervisor workload and consistently surfacing the videos a supervisor will most likely want to review.

Supervisors can now customize which events and which words should be prioritized during random video reviews. They can also set up notifications to receive an email every time a video requires review (based on their custom guidelines). With PRVA allowing supervisors to consistently review more relevant videos, they can help build trust with the community by quickly identifying behaviors that should be celebrated and shared, or behaviors that may require follow-up, coaching and policy change.

Community Request

Many investigations benefit from evidence recorded by community members, such as footage from smartphones, doorbell cameras and CCTV cameras attached to someone’s business. In the past, sharing this evidence was an inconvenient and time-consuming process, necessitating travel and in-person retrieval.

Axon’s Community Request has changed that, allowing officers to send digital evidence requests directly to community members, who can quickly and easily upload the original file directly into Axon Evidence. Not only does this help protect forensic integrity, it also saves officers and community members an incredible amount of time.

In fact, officers at Kent and Essex sent 50,000 requests via Community Request in the first half of the year, saving them an estimated 100,000 hours in 2023.

#2: Connecting Officers With Real-Time Technology

We truly believe that officers who are better connected are better protected. This year, we placed even more emphasis on the necessity of connection and an integrated ecosystem for officer safety and efficacy.

New Connected Camera - Axon Body 4 and Axon Respond

The release of the Axon Body 4 was a major step forward in the world of connected cameras. Key upgrades to the body-worn camera allow officers to never miss a moment, capturing and preserving footage and data as situations unfold. These recordings can help foster trust and transparency between law enforcement and the community when critical incidents occur.

When every moment is critical, however, sometimes you cannot wait to see the recording after-the-fact. The connected nature of the Axon Body 4 enables real-time situational awareness and support. The new “Watch Me“ feature allows officers to request virtual back-up, prompting command staff or real-time crime center operators to “watch their six” via live streaming. Bi-directional communication also provides opportunities for operational efficiency and connectivity in the field.

Additionally, we’ve strengthened our partnership with FUSUS, the most widely used and trusted Real-Time Crime Center platform. Their “single pane of glass” allows officers and command staff to view the location, status, and video feed from Axon cameras and countless other data sources in the area.

More Eyes in the Sky

Keeping officers connected to real-time information doesn’t always require an officer in the field.

Axon Air, powered by DroneSense, provides incredible situational awareness by allowing public safety agencies to remotely operate drones from anywhere. This aerial view provides information fast and enables improved decision making. We expanded our public safety drone program with new partnerships with Flying Lion, Pilot Institute and The Regional Training Center.

We put Axon Air to the test ourselves during the 2023 Waste Management Open, providing a first-of-its-kind aerial security proof of concept at the event. There, we flew over 150 flights within the five-day event for 30 total flight hours, providing consistent day and night coverage for all partners. During the operation, Axon was able to detect a few unauthorized drone operations and inform the police of their presence.

We also invested more in drone technology with the acquisition of Sky-Hero, a leading Brussels-based innovator in tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), which are currently used by elite teams at leading law enforcement and military agencies around the world.

New Federal Video released at AUSA

To truly showcase the connected nature of the Axon ecosystem, we released a first-of-its-kind short film entitled the “Future of Base Security - Today” at the Association of the United States Army Conference (AUSA).

#1: Reducing Gun-Related Deaths Between Police and the Public

We didn’t waste any time in 2023 before taking our first giant leaps towards achieving our moonshot and reducing gun-related deaths between police and the public, emphasizing the pillars of technology, training and trust.

TASER 10

Our most significant product advancement was introducing TASER 10, the most sophisticated, accurate and effective TASER energy weapon to date. With ten opportunities to protect a life and a maximum range of 45 feet, this device is the culmination of 30 years of innovation in conductive electrical weapons. We’re seeing agencies adopt the new TASER all over the world and feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

Protecting life isn’t just about a new piece of technology, but also making sure that law enforcement is equipped to use it on the ground. We introduced the TASER 10 at a new event called TASERCON, one of the premier public safety training events of the year. In 2024, we’re excited to bring Axon Accelerate and TASERCON together (two conferences, one ticket) during Axon Week, reinforcing our commitment to pairing our innovations with proper instruction.

Axon VR Enhancements

We’re redefining training through Axon VR, which removes the need for specific spaces and complex gear, offering on-demand micro-training sessions accessible anytime, anywhere. Our VR training enhances skills beyond use-of-force, focusing on empathy, de-escalation and crisis interactions, compatible with TASER energy weapons for realistic practice.

We launched the next generation of Virtual Reality training this year, introducing true to life TASER 10 and TASER 7 VR controllers that enable officers to build muscle memory and practice to proficiency without the need for extensive training time and live cartridge consumption. We also added six new immersive TASER energy weapon skills exercises within Axon VR Simulator Training that enhance speed, accuracy and confidence under stress.

Axon Public Safety Gun Fatality Database

Finally, we all know that if you’re going to set goals, it is important to measure your results. And so, to demonstrate our commitment to our moonshot goal of cutting gun-related deaths between police and the public by 50%, we launched the Axon Public Safety Gun Fatality Database. We collaborated with the Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR), an independent non-profit research firm, to create this comprehensive collection and analysis of public data about shooting deaths from 2021 through June 2023 that involved officers and civilians across all U.S. jurisdictions. The objective is to compile impartial incident data for use by law enforcement, government, community leaders, the private sector, academia, media and the public, fostering collective learning to develop preventive solutions aimed at protecting lives through technology, training, policy and mutual trust.

We recognize that this moonshot will not be accomplished overnight, and requires long-term investment. Axon is proud to be working in partnership with some of the leading law enforcement agencies, experts, and associations in the United States, as well as community leaders and advocates.

Looking Ahead to 2024

We are proud of the advancements we made in 2023 in service of our mission and our customers, and cannot wait to share the giant leaps we have planned for 2024.

The work is not done, and we are not slowing down. We will continue to relentlessly pursue our mission to Protect Life by developing industry-leading public safety technology that makes our growing customer base across international, federal, state and local law enforcement, fire, corrections and emergency medical services, as well as the justice sector, commercial enterprises and consumers, more effective and efficient.

Got feedback for us? We would love to hear from you. Use the contact form below to share insights, concerns or ideas you have for advancing technology to help us fulfill our mission to protect life.