Axon Reimagines Report Writing with Draft One, a First-of-its-Kind AI-Powered Force Multiplier for Public Safety

Axon (Nasdaq: AXON), the global public safety technology leader, today introduced Draft One, a revolutionary new software product that drafts high-quality police report narratives in seconds based on auto-transcribed body-worn camera audio. Draft One leverages Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and includes a range of critical safeguards, requiring every report to be reviewed and approved by a human officer, ensuring accuracy and accountability of the information before reports are submitted.

For all law enforcement agencies, Draft One is a valuable tool that will be an immediate force multiplier for their workforce. Reporting is a critical component of good police work; however, it has become a significant part of the job that officers commonly refer to as "burdensome." Axon found that every week officers in the U.S. can spend up to 40% of their time — or 15 hours per week — on what is essentially data entry. Additionally, prosecutors and defense attorneys have shared that they welcome the quality improvement of Draft One reports as they can help support and accelerate the judicial process.

"Every single officer in the U.S. writes police reports, often every day and normally multiple times a day," said Axon CEO and Founder Rick Smith. "As we've done with Draft One, harnessing the power of AI will prove to be one of the most impactful technological advancements of our time to help scale police work and revolutionize the way public safety operates."

Augment and amplify officers to better serve their communities

Police departments across the U.S. are understaffed. While agencies are emphasizing hiring and retention, demand to fill open roles is low. The shortage results in longer response times to calls for service and officers working overtime, which can lead to burnout and be costly for taxpayers. Ultimately, Draft One has the potential to augment and amplify officers, giving them back time to better serve their communities.

Draft One is the latest giant leap toward Axon's moonshot goal to reduce gun-related deaths between police and the public. Axon developed Draft One to positively impact the trajectory of what officers can achieve, allowing them to reclaim time for more meaningful and impactful work, such as investigations, patrol, training, wellness and rest.

Agency trials have resulted in roughly one hour of time saved per day on paperwork. For every eight officers who use Draft One during their day, that translates to an extra eight-hour shift or more. When officers can spend more time connecting with the community and taking care of themselves both physically and mentally, they can make better decisions that lead to more successful de-escalated outcomes. Draft One also increases job satisfaction by helping police officers get a quality head-start on a high-volume, time-consuming task.

Reduce paperwork and generate higher quality reports

Report narratives are written following calls for service and incidents in the community and are used to summarize these incidents within the overall police report. Draft One accelerates the tedious task of reporting like no other solution before, leveraging AI to create a draft narrative quickly. Audio from Axon Body 3 and 4 (BWC) camera footage is uploaded over LTE and transcribed automatically, so report drafts are available within five minutes of an incident ending.

"With over 27 years of experience in law enforcement, I have seen technology come and go, but Draft One is one of the most exciting innovations for law enforcement I have ever seen," said Fort Collins Colorado Police Services Sergeant Robert Younger. "Our agency has been testing Draft One, and we have seen an 82% decrease in time spent writing reports. Testing Officers have also shared that the quality of their reports has improved substantially, with Draft One including statements and actions that could have easily been overlooked or missed if done manually. Draft One has exceeded our expectations and will be a huge asset to our agency."

Axon conducted a double-blind study to compare the quality between report narratives written with Draft One and those without. Results showed that Draft One performed equal to or better than officer-only report narratives across five dimensions, including completeness, neutrality, objectivity, terminology and coherence. With higher quality and more consistent reports, the judicial system will have more clear, factual information to use to help accelerate justice when called for. Learn more about the study, which was conducted with 24 independent experts, including district attorneys, field operations command staff and inclusion scholars.