Formerly known as Taser, Axon, a developer of connected law enforcement technologies, announced a new application for Axon Air, the company’s drone program, to make it easier for law enforcement to collect data.

In 2018, Axon partnered with DJI to sell DJI drones directly to global public safety agencies with Axon Air to improve officer safety, support tactical actions, reconstruct traffic collisions, support public safety at large events and perform search-and-rescue missions. The newly introduced drone piloting and livestreaming application livestreams critical data directly into Axon's digital evidence management solution (DEMS), Axon Evidence, in near real-time.

Developed to make it simpler to manage growing stores of data, Axon Evidence is a cloud-based DEMS. For law enforcement, this is a big help as all evidence now goes to one place and everything involved with a case is in that one location. The solution manages all types of data, including body-worn video, in-car video, interview room video, CCTV, photographs, audio, documents, and, since the introduction of Axion Air, drone video.

With a drone program established in 2017 and 162 drone missions logged as of January 2020, including standard patrol activities, overseeing SWAT operations from above, aiding in missing people searches, gaining critical insights into traffic scenes, and helping with city planning efforts, the Escondido Police Department was the first to use the new Axon Air application.

“We are excited to have a flight app that streamlines our workflow. From livestreaming in the moment to capturing the Evidence in a secure system, it makes our jobs easier and keeps everything consistent," said Escondido PD's Drone Program Coordinator and Chief Pilot, Sergeant Craig Miller. "Our pilots love the simple interface and the streaming allows us to get widespread awareness on any critical incident—the Axon Air app has been a game changer.”

The possibilities for drones in Law Enforcement are numerous and powerful, as we have mentioned in the past and also in our UAV report. As the requirements and demands of unmanned aircraft programs grow, Axon wants to continue to partner with departments such as Escondido to deliver advanced situational awareness technology, automated pilot and flight records, advancements in scene reconstruction and more.

So that agencies can take advantage of all the benefits of a drone program, Axon is focusing on creating situational awareness, advanced evidence collection and program management tools to manage drones alongside body cameras and in-car video systems, and make drone use easy and seamless.

For more information about pricing programs and plans, you can contact Axon.