Microsoft Helping to Store Police Video From Taser Body Cameras


taser.axom.microsft.body.cameras.cloud.fbi_occupycorporatismSusanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Co-Founder, Legacy Bio-Naturals
October 26, 2015

 

Microsoft has joined forces with Taser to combine the Azure cloud platform with law enforcement management tools.

Taser’s Axon body camera data management software on Evidence.com will run on Azure and Windows 10 devices to integrate evidence collection, analysis, and archival features as set forth by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Security Policy .

As per the partnership, Taser will utilize Azure’s machine learning and computing technologies to store police data on Microsoft’s government cloud. In addition, redaction capabilities of Taser will be improved which will assist police departments that are subject to bulk data requests.

Currently, Taser is operating on Amazon Web Services; however this deal may entice police departments to upgrade their technology, which in turn would drive up sales of Windows 10.

This partnership comes after Taser was given a lucrative deal with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) last year, who ordered 7,000 body cameras equipped with 800 Axom body cameras for their officers in response to the recent deaths of several African Americans at the hands of police.

Earlier this year, Arizona Police Chief Sean Duggan informed the Chandler City council that it was in their best interest to “purchase 180 Axon cameras … at a cost of $991,000.”

The Chandler police department dedicated monies acquired by civil forfeiture to pay for the body cameras.

This is ironic because civil forfeiture (a.k.a. legal theft) is a practice wherein police officer confiscate cash from suspects and keep the money as part of a supplemental income for the department itself.

In order to ensure Taser maintains a monopoly on police body cameras, the corporation acquired contracts with police departments all across the nation for the purchase of body cameras through dubious ties to certain chiefs of police.

The corporation announced in 2014 that “orders for body cameras [has] soared to $24.6 million from October to December” which represents a 5-fold increase in profits from 2013.

Currently, Taser is in 13 cities with negotiations for new contracts being discussed in 28 more.

Taser, according to records and interviews, allegedly has “financial ties to police chiefs whose departments have bought the recording devices.”

In fact, Taser has been shown to provide airfare and luxury hotels for chiefs of police when traveling for speaking engagements in Australia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE); and hired them as consultants – among other perks and deals.

Since 2013, Taser has been contractually bound with “consulting agreements with two such chiefs’ weeks after they retired” as well as is allegedly “in talks with a third who also backed the purchase of its products.”

Chris Burbank, chief of police in Salt Lake City, admitted he benefits from “company-paid travel to Taser-sponsored conferences” and “recently recorded at the company’s request a promotional video” which can be found on Taser’s website Evidence.com .

Burbank insisted he “he does not receive speaking fees” and that his relationship with Taser “hasn’t violated a city code prohibiting paid product endorsements on public time.”

The police chief “accepts Taser’s speaking invitations to promote the best ways of using body cameras.”

In Fort Worth, Texas, Taser’s relationship with former Chief of Police Jeffery Halstead included jokes such as: “[Taser] should give me a raise.”

In 2014, Taser acquired a $2.7 million contract from Halstead for 400 Axom body cameras and a commitment to a 5 year subscription to Evidence.com.

In Salt Lake City, Utah, local police departments purchased Taser body cameras “using surplus money, bypassing the standard bidding process and city council approval.”

Evidence.com is an online storage cloud service that manages and shares data as “easy as clicking and sending a link”.

The New Orleans Police Department Chief Ronal Serpas signed on to be a consultant for Taser after he left his position. In return, the city paid Taser $1.4 million for 420 Axom cameras and use of Evidence.com.

Privacy concerns would be first and foremost because of the sensitive nature of evidence. Persons arrested or otherwise detained would know their information is on a cloud-based internet system that could potentially be hacked into as some point.





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