Public safety technology provider uses Azure and HashiCorp Terraform to transform evidence management

Fewer bullets—and a more powerful cloud

At Axon, they invented the Taser less-than-lethal apprehension device, and when they talk about a world without bullets, it’s not just glib marketing. For 25 years, the company has worked to minimize the need for police officers to use deadly force by promoting less-than-lethal weaponry, increased police transparency, more officers out in the community, and enhanced public trust.

Axon provides police agencies around the world with Tasers, Axon body-camera systems, and the cloud-based digital evidence management system, Evidence.com. When police officers record body-cam video data in the field, it may be used as evidence in an investigation or court proceeding. Police agencies use Evidence.com to sort, analyze, classify, and share the video data—and monitor and govern its chain of custody.

With thousands of Axon devices deployed at hundreds of agencies around the world, all recording high volumes of data, Evidence.com needs the storage, processing, and scaling power of the cloud. Axon originally used Amazon Web Services (AWS) to support its software as a service offering, but in 2017, to better store and process the vast amounts of data involved, more effectively serve its global customer base, and meet strict data governance requirements, Axon moved to Microsoft Azure.

“We have to meet specific data sovereignty and other evidence requirements for many different jurisdictions,” says Hank Janssen, Director of Engineering at Axon. “With Azure, we can assure our customers that they can effectively safeguard their data—and that it will be easier for them to stay compliant with their local evidence standards.”  

High data volumes, strict requirements

Evidence.com runs on Azure virtual machines, system discs, and Azure Blob storage, and police and prosecutors use the Axon service to support investigations, monitor interactions between police and the public, and deliver evidence to courts or other investigators. Axon also used the high-capacity Azure global network to successfully accomplish what it believes was the largest public data migration to date—about 20 petabytes.

“Since the migration, we’ve added about 2 petabytes a month and growth is accelerating significantly,” says Janssen. “Not every cloud environment can handle these data volumes, but with Azure we can do it easily.”

Axon uses Azure geolocations around the world to help agencies comply with local data sovereignty regulations, demonstrate end-to-end data control, and guarantee that video evidence is genuine. “We are in the business of reliability,” says Janssen. “We use Azure to help Evidence.com account for every step in the custody chain and ensure that our customers’ data is admissible in court.”

Faster, less complex innovation

To streamline the migration from AWS, Axon used HashiCorp Terraform with Azure to create new Azure resources via infrastructure as code and then shift Evidence.com to the new environment. The migration team used Terraform to add and delete servers or storage and build new network rules. Moving forward, Axon can use Terraform to update Evidence.com and add new customers easily and quickly.

“We used Terraform to make building our Azure infrastructure less complex and time-consuming,” says Janssen. “And we don’t have to build each new environment from scratch. What used to take several weeks, we can do with Terraform in a few hours.” 

New services and new value

With Azure and Terraform, Axon is generating new business value by introducing new services, such as a record management system for case files and the Axon Citizen service that allows civilians to submit videos from their smartphones in the event of a mass incident. Axon Citizen scans the mass uploads for malware, triages videos for time, location, and subject matter, and submits the most relevant evidence.

“Going forward, we can use Azure to build and support new tools that save time and effort for investigators and generate more useful and more objective evidence,” says Lee Catherine Booker, Director of Business Development at Axon.

Less-than-lethal law and order

By moving Evidence.com to Azure, Axon can continue to promote less-than-lethal law enforcement by helping police officers create transparency, deescalate situations, build community trust, and focus on their core mission. “We use Azure to help us automate and simplify cumbersome evidence cataloging and reporting processes,” says Janssen. “That helps police spend more time in their communities, keeping the peace and safeguarding the public.”

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