Press Release
Ontario is the first Province in Canada to connect all justice sector partners and stakeholders via Canadian cloud-based software-as-a-service, Axon Evidence, and other innovative applications including Axon Citizen
TORONTO, March 3, 2021 — Axon (Nasdaq: AXON), the global leader in connected public safety technologies, and its subsidiary, Axon Public Safety Canada, Inc., today announced that the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Ontario is deploying Axon’s digital evidence management solution, Axon Evidence, to the Ontario Provincial Police and multiple municipal police services across Ontario. This groundbreaking modernization initiative will connect all Ontario justice sector partners and stakeholders, including the police, courts, crown attorneys, defence counsel and corrections. Axon Evidence is a Canadian cloud-based digital evidence platform that allows agencies and investigators to store, manage, transfer and share digital evidence across all public safety agencies. Axon was selected through the province’s open and competitive procurement process for a provincial digital evidence management solution (DEMS).
As a part of this announcement, the Ministry will also be supporting public submission of digital evidence via Axon Citizen. Axon Citizen allows critical evidence to be securely submitted by citizens into Axon Evidence where the software’s powerful features can be used to easily create a chain of custody and assess, catalogue and search all forms of digital evidence anywhere in the province. In today’s connected world, crimes are becoming more complex and influenced by technology. Collecting digital evidence has become critical to public safety in criminal investigations, while agencies are dealing with an ever-growing backlog of data. The current practices of physically sharing digital evidence using CDs, DVDs and USB-transfers are expensive, impractical and an inefficient use of resources, especially in a province the size of Ontario. Axon Citizen allows community members to submit evidence directly to police services, from their mobile devices, for specific crimes under investigation.
“This investment will help drive forward our ongoing efforts to modernize Ontario’s criminal justice system by transforming the way digital evidence is managed by police and justice partners,” said Sylvia Jones, Solicitor General. “By eliminating the need for sharing and transporting evidence in person, police officers will spend less time carrying out administrative work and more time on what matters most – protecting our communities.”
“Collaboration, integration, and technology have served as the cornerstones of the recent progress that Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney has made in moving the justice system forward,” said Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey. “By continuing to leverage technology and critical partnerships, we are doing away with antiquated systems that have hindered and slowed down the delivery of justice in Ontario. Digital evidence management will eliminate unnecessary repetitive processes, ensure the timely delivery of information, and reduce the impacts of case delays.”
“The number of resources and administrative time spent on managing evidentiary data through the justice sector is a major challenge that continues to grow. We’re excited to be partnering with the Ministry on such a critical project for the police services in Ontario with a proven solution that can help first responders and public safety officials streamline evidence management and support timely submissions to the courts, ultimately reducing costs and helping reallocate resources to better serve the community,” says Vishal Dhir, Managing Director for Axon Canada and Latin America.
This announcement ensures that Axon Evidence will be made available to provincial public safety agencies including the Ontario Provincial Police, First Nations police, and the Correctional Services Oversight and Investigations unit along with municipal police services, will be at the leading edge of innovation in digital evidence management for years to come while continuing to hold criminals accountable and better protecting victims of crime.
The Ministry has been implementing this initiative in multiple phases around the province since the end of last year, and is launching new deployments throughout the first half of 2021.
About Axon Public Safety Canada
Axon is a network of devices, apps, and people that help law enforcement and public safety personnel become smarter and safer. With a mission of protecting life, our technologies give customers the confidence, focus and time they need to keep their communities safe. Our products impact every aspect of a public safety officer’s day-to-day experience.
We work hard for those who put themselves in harm’s way for all of us. To date, more than 246,000 lives and countless dollars have been saved with the Axon network of devices, apps and people. Learn more at https://ca.axon.com or by calling (800) 978-2737. Axon is a global company with headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz. and global software engineering hub in Seattle, Wash., as well as additional offices in Toronto, Canada, Australia, Finland, Vietnam, the UK and the Netherlands.
Facebook is a trademark of Facebook, Inc. Twitter is a trademark of Twitter, Inc. Axon, Axon Citizen, Axon Evidence and the Delta Logo are trademarks of Axon Enterprise, Inc., some of which are registered in Canada and other countries. For more information, visit https://www.axon.com/legal. All rights reserved.
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Corinne Clark
Public Relations Manager
Press@Axon.com
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