TASER International and Microsoft Corp. announce partnership to deliver a trusted cloud solution for law enforcement

October 26, 2015, at the International Association of Chiefs of Police annual conference in Chicago, IL, TASER International (NASDAQ: TASR) and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) announced a partnership that will bring together the global scale, technology breadth, and security commitment of both companies through the combined capabilities of the Microsoft Azure cloud platform and Windows 10 devices with TASER’s Axon Platform and Evidence.com solution.

This partnership will provide a security-enhanced digital evidence management experience for law enforcement in an efficient and low-cost environment. As part of their work together, TASER and Microsoft will create an integrated approach to capturing and managing evidence including ingesting, retrieving, sharing, analyzing and archiving video, sensor and other data to support law enforcement and criminal justice officials as they work toward creating safer communities.

Microsoft and TASER’s global commitment to security and privacy compliance will also provide law enforcement agencies with the peace of mind to entrust both companies with the most sensitive of data. In the United States, Microsoft is the only major cloud provider that provides a contractual commitment to the FBI’s CJIS Security Policy with its law enforcement customers.

“We’re incredibly excited to announce our partnership with Microsoft, a recognized public sector leader with valued products across police agencies’ technical needs,” says TASER Founder and CEO Rick Smith. “Microsoft Azure is well known for its industry-leading security and reliability and, with it, we can provide the most secure and compliant cloud capability to our customers. I’m also excited to announce that the new partnership offers future opportunities for Axon customers to leverage even more cutting-edge technologies with Microsoft’s expertise in data analytics, machine learning and computer vision.”

Through the longstanding history and commitment that each company has with law enforcement entities around the globe, the two companies will collaborate on market development and new solutions in the US and around the world.

“TASER is revolutionizing how law enforcement captures, processes and shares digital evidence,” said Curt Kolcun, Vice President of U.S. Public Sector at Microsoft. “By combining this expertise with Microsoft’s intelligent cloud, device and data technologies, we will collectively bring to life not only the ‘mobile precinct’ approach for positive policing, but we’ll do it within the highest of compliance standards of privacy and security around the globe.”

Evidence.com streamlines agencies’ operations throughout the entire evidence management process. With Microsoft’s platform level of automation and connectivity, government entities will be able to function more efficiently all the way from the law enforcement agency to the prosecutor, defense and courts than previously possible.

Axon’s Azure integration is expected to be available for preview in Q4 2015 and publicly available to all agencies in Q1 2016. Current U.S.-based Axon customer data will be maintained at the highest levels of security and compliance in accordance with TASER’s current Service Level Agreements. Customers will continue to experience a high level of service and will not see any change in Axon’s cloud service pricing. All customers will have the option to move their data to Microsoft Azure Government at no additional cost. “We’re proud to offer our customers industry-leading security, reliability, and availability from our Evidence.com solution in the cloud,” Rick Smith further noted.

More about the Microsoft Cloud for Government and Microsoft’s solutions for law enforcement can be found at http://microsoft.com/government.

About Axon & Evidence.com Platform:

Thousands of law enforcement agencies to date are now utilizing the Axon Platform, allowing them to seamlessly integrate software and hardware to enable powerful capabilities. The Axon platform connects technology and people in order to create safer communities.

• Capture to courtroom: From body cameras to digital evidence management tools we arm law enforcement with great capabilities to help them focus on policing.
• Powerful Simplicity: Our hardware and software products work together seamlessly and are easy to use, with software upgrades every 30 days that continually expand law enforcement capabilities.
• Security Beyond CJIS. Our security practices go above and beyond CJIS requirements to keep law enforcement’s most sensitive data safe.
• Connected Mobile App Suite. The Axon suite of mobile applications augments the body camera experience and allows officers to Capture, View, and stream Live video from their smartphone.

There have been several studies conducted recently on the positive effects body-worn cameras can have on a police force and community. These studies include a year-long Cambridge University study conducted at the Rialto, CA Police Department that showed an 88% reduction in citizen complaints and a 60% reduction in uses of force after implementation of TASER’s Axon Flex cameras. The San Diego Police Department also released a report showing the use of Axon body-worn cameras resulted in a 41% drop in complaints, 60% drop in total allegations and a 47% decline in “personal body” force by officers. The use of pepper spray was also reduced by 31%. In a study by Arizona State University, the Mesa Police Department’s use of Axon cameras revealed a 48% reduction in citizen complaints against camera officers for misconduct during the study period, and a 75% decline in use of force complaints.

Source: Microsoft

Photo/video source: Taser