Phillips W. Smith, Ph.D., was known as Phil to everyone -- including his sons Rick and Tom, the founders of our company. Phil was also instrumental in leading us from a young startup manufacturer of TASER energy weapons, to a publicly traded company, to what we are today: the leading provider of public safety technology solutions.

 Phil was our first Chairman of the Board in 1993, and later Chairman Emeritus in 2006. He advised us with crucial insight, inspired us to make bold tech advances, and pushed us to continually strive for success. There is a painting of him in the lobby of our corporate headquarters.

 Some people have a penchant for success or a bias for action. Phil was the epitome of act now, strike hard, fail fast, learn quick, and strike again. He believed you had to get fired once in your life to learn how to overcome challenges.

 Axon was a company that lost money for the first eight years of its existence. He kept us going with his passion for our mission. His unstoppable drive. His believe-in-yourself intuition and all-hands-on-deck mentality. His trust in the people he worked with. He could be a driving, demanding boss, but he also knew when to say “You guys are smart. You’ll figure it out,” and then walk away. And he knew the importance of taking time to celebrate achievements and victories won. 

 In 2014, Phil had the chance to talk about the challenges and joys of startup life at Broad College. Watch the video and you can feel his spirit. 

 Phil was a West Point graduate and a military man – first as a submariner in the U.S. Navy, then as a pilot and research analyst in the U.S. Air Force. He was a serial entrepreneur in high-tech companies who held corporate officer positions at three Fortune 500 companies. He was a loving husband and father. He is deeply missed today.

 Axon has grown so much, especially in the last five years. Not many of our current employees got to know Phil Smith personally, but the company still exudes his spirit in its culture and through our CEO, Phil’s son, Rick. With Phil’s passing we will take some time to remember our roots, our history and how our culture came to be – and in so doing, we will honor Phil’s memory.

Phil Smith Legacy

Article: Phil Smith Legacy

Phil Smith

ROME, Italy - 9 April 2021 - Axon and Axon Enterprise Italia S.R.L. today announced that the Municipal Police Departments of the cities of Venice and Udine will equip their officers with TASER Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) and Axon Evidence licenses, the digital evidence management platform. Departments will deploy TASER 7 devices, a critical safety and critical situation escalation mitigation tool that can safely address all critical incidents and reduce injuries to both officers and the community. All officers involved will undergo special training before being authorized to use these devices in the field.

"The adoption of the electric pulse weapons with TASER technology was strongly desired by the Administration of the City of Venice, with the dual intent of providing Local Police officers with a protective tool for the management of critical situations and to increase the impact on public safety, thanks to the high deterrent power of these weapons. In a few days will begin the training period, also with staff of AUSSL 3, of the operators who will then test the TASER devices on the field. The experimentation will last 6 months and will involve 2 operators for each shift, who will use the guidelines prepared by the Local Police Command. These guidelines set out in detail all the operational procedures and steps for the use of electric pulse weapons. The use of TASER devices is foreseen in combination with Axon wearable video cameras that are automatically activated when the weapon is taken out of the holster and that, in addition to the evidential value, allow a feedback on the situations of use and the analysis of the adopted behaviors, in order to improve them," said Marco Agostini, General Commander of the Local Police Force of Venice.

"This is a less than lethal weapon that will allow our officers to intervene in critical situations without being forced to use a firearm and that will be added to the equipment of ordinance, recently integrated and that provides, in addition to the gun, the extendable stick and capsicum spray. With this decision, ratified by the City Council, we wanted to provide an additional tool to our staff, going to protect in this way not only their safety put at risk daily in the activity of territorial protection, but also the safety of citizens," says Eros Del Longo, Commander of the Local Police of Udine.

Axon, committed to expanding its presence in Italy and to providing cutting-edge technologies for public safety, is excited to collaborate with the Municipal Police of Venice and Udine for the use of TASER technology.

TASER 7 is the most effective electrically conductive TASER device ever made, with services seamlessly integrated into Axon Evidence. All TASER 7 units come with battery docks, which allow them to be charged and upload TASER device usage data within Axon Evidence, similar to the "dock and walk" system that agencies implement in conjunction with Axon's wearable cameras.

"It is with pleasure that we announce that the local police forces of Venice and Udine are the first in the country to use TASER electrically conductive devices," says Loris Angeloni, Managing Director of Axon in Italy. "This is a key partnership that will pave the way for other Italian Local Police Commands to widely use TASER devices in Italy and help ensure public safety and officer protection. Axon is pleased to provide TASER technology in Italy and to help the Municipal Police pursue their goals of providing better services to citizens and communities, which will undoubtedly be greatly appreciated by society and officers."

For more information, visit TASER 7 and Axon Evidence.

Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc. and Twitter is a trademark of Twitter, Inc. Axon, Axon Evidence, TASER, and TASER 7 are trademarks of Axon Enterprise, Inc., some of which are registered in the US and other countries. For more information, visit https://www.axon.com/legal. All rights reserved.



ARTICLE: Local Police Forces of Venice and Udine are the First to Adopt TASER Devices in Italy

TASER less-than-lethal weapons enhance officer and citizen safety

Local Police Forces of Venice and Udine are the First to Adopt TASER Devices in Italy

In a world of software and services, Axon products and solutions address critical agency needs. Delivering a comprehensive end-to-end experience often relies upon the integration of Axon products with other systems and applications. Up until now, access to Axon Evidence APIs required customers to upgrade to a Premium license, complete an NDA, and request that their Evidence instance be enabled for API access. In listening to our customers and our partners, we have been working on a new approach.

On March 23, Axon will be changing our policies to help customers unlock increased value from their Axon investments by enabling platform integration capabilities for all of our customers.

First, Axon will be updating the default setting to enable all agencies to utilize Axon Evidence APIs, irrespective of their license tier. Evidence.com admins will now see a setting on the Security Settings section of their Admin page which they can use to create and manage their application client keys (as indicated by the arrow in the image below).


Second, additional formal agreements are no longer required to access this functionality and create or manage API client keys. This scenario applies to any agency integrating client applications and services from a third party, that does not need any coding or integration scripting of their own.

Third, for agencies that require the ability to actively code against Axon APIs, Axon has deployed a new formal Terms of Service (ToS) agreement that may be accessed and executed from within the MyAxon.com portal, as part of the Axon Developer Community forum. You can learn more about the Axon Developer Community and how to enroll at our blog.

We believe that these three changes will help expand Axon customer capabilities while reducing overhead, and lead to a richer ecosystem of solutions that can benefit a greater number of Axon customers.


Q: Does this weaken my site security?
A: Enabling admin navigation to a page for the creation and management of Client API access keys does not create a security liability for your Evidence.com instance. If no keys are created then the site essentially remains unchanged. As is always the case, when creating keys Axon strongly advises following a few best practices:


Only integrate secure and trusted software with your Axon Evidence instance.

When creating keys, restrict permissions to the minimal set of permissions required by the integrating software to achieve your purpose and avoid adding extra permissions that might be “nice-to-have” or “just in case”.

Store the Client API access key in a secure location and do not share any of the details.

Generate unique Client API access keys for every software integration.

Delete Client API access keys as soon as the underlying integration is no longer required.

Q: Will these changes affect my Basic license?
A: No. If you were previously a Premium license customer you will be unaffected. If you were previously a Basic license customer, you will remain a Basic license customer.

Q: I previously signed the NDA. Do I need to sign the new ToS agreement?
A: Yes. The new ToS agreement provides superior protections to any agency that employs contractors or third parties to perform integrations or make use of Axon APIs.

Q: Do I need to join the Axon Developer Community forum and sign the ToS if my agency is only deploying applications and services from others but not developing any of our own?
A: No, you do not need to as long as your agency actions are limited to creating Client API access keys to integrate the offering with your instance of Evidence.com.

Q: What if I want to see the ToS and am willing to sign it but don’t want to join the Axon Developer Community forum on MyAxon.com?
A: For special requests, you can always engage your Customer Success Manager and request their assistance.


ARTICLE: Access to APIs

Changing Access to Axon's Partner APIs

Axon, the global leader in connected public safety technologies, is bringing its suite of advanced technology solutions to commercial and private security markets. These industries are now able to benefit from the same transparency and efficiency capabilities that the Axon Network is driving in public safety. Solutions include body-worn cameras for complete transparency and certainty, and Axon’s cloud platform to drive efficiency and quality through smarter digital asset management. The real-time operations platform makes it easy to capture, store, manage and share data.

With a proven history protecting people and assets across the globe, you can count on Axon technologies to provide certainty and clarity for your organization. Axon has deep experience creating some of the most advanced connected devices in the world, and managing huge amounts of data being produced by those devices. Our history managing connected devices and enormous amounts of data can help you stay more connected with and aware of worker, asset and facility status. The Axon data management platform enables you to aggregate video, image, audio and document data to streamline processes and view and manage all your important information in a single place.

Designed to be adaptable from close consultation with our strategic partners, Axon’s leading technology suite is helping commercial and security companies streamline and improve operations and customer interactions. The advantages offered include:


Quality- Axon cameras drive quality and compliance through insight and transparency into employee behavior, operations, site or facility status and incidents. The Axon data management platform makes it easy to share best practices and quality information across multiple organizations and sites. 

Insight- Whether it’s tracking loss prevention, reviewing safety incidents, or providing proof to customers and partners, video documentation with an iron-clad audit trail dispels any uncertainty. Providing indisputable insight is also key to meeting regulatory and compliance standards. 

Security- Protect people, facilities and assets with body cameras and the leading non-lethal de-escalation tool, the TASER 7 device. Studies have shown that body-worn cameras have a positive effect in de-escalating situations, reducing use of force and enhancing trust and transparency.

Efficiency- Axon’s data management platform streamlines management and sharing of data. The real-time operations platform provides highly secure and compliant data management capabilities ensuring even the most sensitive or highly regulated industries can confidently store and manage data. 

Here’s what a few of our customers have to say about how the Axon Network is benefiting them:

Transport for Wales’ Continuous Improvement Manager Chris Watkins said: “While the railway is already a very safe environment to travel in, we want to give our customers and colleagues that added piece of mind that their safety comes first. Axon cameras will add transparency to ensure any incident claims can be quickly and accurately verified.”

Josh Wise, the CEO of GrassRoots, is using Axon video technology to provide proof of work to customers. “In response to a customer complaint, we sent the Axon video to provide proof of proper completion. The customer was extremely happy and wrote a 5-star review about how awesome we were as a company. That’s just a whole new thing that comes with the cameras, being able to provide a great experience for the customer so they go and refer new customers to us.”

“Axon’s innovative technology makes it easier for organizations to be safer and more efficient,” says John Wolter, Chief of Police at Texas Medical Center. “The ability to transparently and quickly provide feedback has improved communication - not only with officers but with the wider community. Axon’s one-stop-shop makes sense for our organization, and we have benefited from implementing this technology.”

Axon is working with security and commercial customers to implement Axon technologies to improve data management and drive more value for their customers. If interested in implementing Axon products at your security company, or in participating in a commercial trial please contact: enterprisesolutions@axon.com. 


ARTICLE: Axon Expands into Comercial and Private Security

Axon Expands into Commercial and Private Security Sectors

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Phil Smith

Local Police Forces of Venice and Udine are the First to Adopt TASER Devices in Italy

Changing Access to Axon's Partner APIs

Axon Expands into Commercial and Private Security Sectors