Anchorage Police Department builds a smarter retail crime response with Axon and Auror

About the Agency

Anchorage Police Department is responsible for public safety across a uniquely large and diverse municipality in Alaska that houses 40% of the state’s population. At 1,700 square miles, Anchorage is the 4th largest city by land mass in the United States. The agency’s service area includes urban Anchorage, outlying neighborhoods, major roads controlled by the state, port activity, military-adjacent corridors, and areas where weather, distance, and geography shape daily operations.

That footprint creates operational complexity far beyond what many city agencies face, demanding technology that can streamline operations amidst staffing shortages (APD is currently operating at 75.7% operational strength), support high call volumes, and improve response times across a large area.

The Challenge

For the Anchorage Police Department, retail crime was as much a coordination problem as it was a theft problem. By the time officers responded to shoplifting calls, the suspect was often gone and evidence already scattered across different systems. 

Investigations for retail theft were time consuming, often including gathering statements, retrieving video on hard discs, transferring files, checking evidence in and out, and attempting to reconstruct the incident after the fact. For lower-level thefts, that amount of work often outweighed the immediate value of the case.

The agency needed a way to preserve evidence and build cases for theft and trespass calls when officers could not respond in real time. Retailers also needed a practical path to document prolific offenders and move beyond one-off reports that rarely led to action.

The Solution

The Anchorage Police Department established a public-private workflow using the Axon Retail Crime Hub, powered by Auror, to bring data into Axon Evidence.

The core idea was simple: give retailers a way to manage their own reports and evidence in Auror, then let law enforcement access shareable case files through the Retail Crime Hub when the retailer opts in. Connecting retailers to law enforcement allows APD to see larger patterns across multiple stores and incidents rather than rely on singular video clips and incomplete reports.

That change impacted both the speed and solvability of cases. Officers can communicate with retailers on their own timeline, request missing evidence, review reports, and quickly determine whether a case is ready to move forward. When a case is complete, materials in Axon Evidence can easily be shared with prosecutors who leverage Axon Justice.

The agency’s broader Axon ecosystem supports this workflow. Axon Body 4 cameras and Fleet 3 video systems help preserve evidence from officer-involved scenes, TASER 10 supports less-lethal resolutions to incidents, and future investments in drones and real-time operations are expected to extend APD’s capabilities across their large jurisdiction.

Results

Faster case building

Before implementing the Retail Crime Hub, a retail theft report could sit untouched by APD for long periods because no one had time to chase down the evidence, rebuild the incident, and assemble the paperwork. With the Retail Crime Hub, APD can move from report to warrant-ready package far more quickly.

According to Wilson, the timeline for simple cases dropped from hours to about 45 minutes. That reduction saves time on individual incidents and also frees officers to work on more serious theft patterns.

Retailers can upload reports, evidence, photos, and videos into Auror; law enforcement can review what is needed; and both sides can move at the pace of the case without requiring multiple phone calls or return visits to retail locations. In a city with a large geographical area, that can save officers hours of time driving. Instead, they remain available for urgent calls or can focus on investigations.

Better offender identification

Industry data suggests that 10% of suspects account for 70% of retail crime. Wilson knew if they could identify a few top offenders, they could dramatically reduce retail crime in their city.

The Retail Crime Hub enables APD to track behavior across stores, dates, and reports. Rather than pursuing criminals because of a single incident, APD is able to connect multiple. For instance, APD identified an individual who was connected to more than $28,000 in theft across dozens of cases, turning what might have looked like some unconnected minor incidents into a much clearer picture of organized crime.

A safer, more effective enforcement model

Anchorage, rather than policing retail aisles, is trying to build stronger cases and set stricter standards for retail crimes. This approach deters violence inside businesses so that retail workers do not have to absorb the risk of in-store confrontations.

This method has delivered impressive results. In five short months, APD has recorded 336 arrests and warrants for retail crime. Of these arrests, 306 cases have been prosecuted, covering $263,058.52 in losses. 

This has led to an overall reduction in calls for service, retail theft, and the need to actively police certain retail stores. Officers are able to make arrests away from busy retail areas, keeping shoppers and employees safer.

Within about two months of the Retail Crime Hub integration, the department’s top 10 high-call locations fell off the list. That shift suggests the program is helping address the underlying drivers of repeated calls, not just their symptoms.

Improving TASER energy weapon effectiveness through technology and training

APD’s investment in Axon solutions has combined newer TASER energy weapon technology with expanded training capabilities. In November 2025, the agency transitioned from an older TASER energy weapon platform to TASER 10, which gives officers more opportunities to achieve neuromuscular incapacitation (NMI). At the same time, APD invested in VR training, which gave officers a new way to build proficiency, repetition and confidence with the technology.

Early field experience with TASER 10 has shown meaningful improvement over APD’s previous platform. In its first 13 deployments, TASER 10 delivered successful outcomes in nine incidents. APD attributed the four deployments classified as ineffective to operator factors rather than device performance, underscoring the role that training and proper deployment can play in achieving successful outcomes.

APD is continuing to use VR training to reinforce skills and improve officer confidence with TASER 10. The agency is also leveraging Axon Body 4 and Fleet 3 to document interactions, collect evidence and identify additional training opportunities.

Conclusion and Looking Ahead

Anchorage Police Department’s experience shows that retail crime becomes more manageable when the right evidence reaches the right people. Auror and the Retail Crime Hub helped the department move from fragmented reporting to connected intelligence, and Axon Evidence made it more secure and faster to share evidence with the prosecutor's office. 

The agency is still expanding its broader technology stack. Real-time operations with Fusus, Drone as First Responder, and additional workflow tools remain part of its roadmap. But even at this stage, APD has shown that a smaller number of officers paired with the right technology  can make a huge impact across a very large city.

That is the larger lesson from Anchorage: when retailers and police share a common workflow, repeat offenders become easier to see, cases easier to build, and public safety easier to protect.