Solutions · Repository connectors

Body-worn camera public records requests, from Axon Evidence to release

AccessPoint's Axon Evidence connector lets records staff browse cases, categories, recording dates and owners, search evidence, and capture body-worn, in-car and interview-room recordings into an FOI or public records request — streamed with a verified SHA-256 hash and the Axon evidence ID — then redact them in AccessPoint's media viewer with the exemption cited on every span.

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The footage is in Axon Evidence; the request is somewhere else. A body-worn camera request means someone downloads each clip from Evidence.com to a shared drive, uploads it into the request system, and redacts it in whatever tool is at hand — and the file that reaches the request has lost its evidence ID, its case, and any way to prove it matches what Axon holds. For in-car and interview-room video, that is gigabytes per file moved by hand.

AccessPoint's Axon Evidence connector reaches an agency's evidence through the Axon Partner API, for Axon Evidence in the cloud or Axon Evidence Local 5.4 and later. Axon has no folders, so the connector builds them from what Axon records: Cases, Categories, Recorded on by year and month, and Owners, each listing evidence newest first. An evidence item with one file lists as that file; one with several — the original, converted renditions, a transcript — opens as a container of its files. Each record carries the evidence ID, title, status, recorded-on date, duration, owner, categories, cases, tags, source and device. Search by category, case or owner (by name or id), by recorded-on window, by evidence ID or by title; run Axon's free-text search over titles and tags; or pass allow-listed Evidence Search parameters. Collect this folder… takes every file under a case, category, month or owner in the background — never the whole agency at once.

A captured recording joins the request through the same pipeline as an upload, so it is prepared for playback and opens in AccessPoint's media viewer like any other recording: face and on-screen text detection propose marks for a reviewer to accept, regions are tracked and blurred, voices muted or distorted, the exemption is cited on every span, and the release is a burned MP4 with a hash manifest and a time-based redaction log. Axon's own Redaction Studio and Redaction Assistant redact inside Axon Evidence, where the footage lives; the connector brings the footage to where the access request lives, so the redaction record sits in the same file as the rest of the response.

The connector authenticates as one Axon API client, with the agency's partner ID, a client ID and a secret. Axon offers API clients no way to act on behalf of a person, so the connector does not pretend to check per-user access: what the client may list, view and download is what every permitted coordinator can browse, and AccessPoint's rule on who may add records to the case is the per-user gate. Grant the minimum — evidence list, view and download; case list; category view; user read only if the Owners view is on — create one client per access office, and restrict it to the connector's outbound IP addresses. For Axon Evidence in the cloud, the connector runs as an App Service or Container App in your own Azure subscription and calls your agency's Evidence.com host directly; for Evidence Local, it reaches the server through an Azure Relay Hybrid Connection or runs as a Windows service beside it. The costs are in your own subscription: a small host (two vCPUs and 2 GB of memory are ample), about USD $10 a month per Hybrid Connection listener at list price for Evidence Local, and any optional media services you add, such as Azure AI Speech for transcripts. Axon and Axon Evidence are trademarks of Axon Enterprise, Inc.; AccessPoint is not affiliated with or endorsed by Axon.

Sound familiar?

Three moments every police records unit that answers footage requests recognizes.

Eleven gigabytes on a shared drive

To get a clip into the request system, someone downloads it from Evidence.com to a network share first. Now a copy of the footage lives where no retention schedule or access log reaches it.

Which file is this?

The recording that reaches the request is called video_0412.mp4. Its evidence ID, case and recording date stayed in Axon, and there is no hash to show it is the same file.

The copy nobody can tie back

Months into an appeal, the commissioner asks for the original. The office has a download on a share — and no record of which evidence item, which file, or who took it.

What happens after the footage lands

The connector brings the recording into the request. This two-minute demo shows the next step in the media viewer: faces detected and blurred, an area marked by hand, and the exemption cited on every mark.

The Redacted preview of a committee room recording in AccessPoint: two faces blurred and captioned s.14, a boxed area captioned s.10, and the marks panel listing each redaction with its exemption

What to look for when bringing Axon Evidence footage into a records request

Whatever you buy — including if it isn't AccessPoint — these are the questions to ask of any tool that moves footage from Axon Evidence into an access request.

Browse by case, category, date and owner Axon has no folders. A connector should offer the views records staff think in, newest recording first.
Streaming capture for multi-gigabyte files An hour of 1080p body-worn video can be 5.4 GB, and in-car HD video more. Capture should stream, never buffer, and move large selections to a background job.
Evidence ID, file ID and hash on every file The captured file should name its Axon evidence item and file, and carry a SHA-256 hash computed as it streams — compared with Axon's own digest when the API provides one.
A least-privilege API client List, view and download only, one client per access office, restricted to the connector's IP addresses — so Axon's audit trail reads sensibly.
Collection that respects Axon's limits Axon now applies per-agency limits to evidence search. Collect a case, a category or a month at a time, and honour Axon's back-off.
Redaction with the exemption on every span Once the footage is on the request, each mark should carry its exemption and land in a time-based redaction log in the same file.

How the Axon Evidence connector works

Built on the Axon Partner API — these are the pieces that matter to a records unit.

Cases, categories, dates and owners

Four views built from Axon's own data: your cases, your evidence categories, recordings by year and month, and owners. Each lists evidence newest recorded first; turn off any view the API client may not list.

Every file of an evidence item

Single-file evidence lists as the file itself. Evidence with several files — the original, converted renditions, a transcript — opens as a container, so you choose which to capture.

Search the way Axon indexes

Filter by category, case or owner by name or id, a recorded-on window or an evidence ID; free text matches titles and tags. Once a recording is captured, AccessPoint's own transcript and content search covers what was said.

Large recordings, streamed

Files stream in small blocks and are never buffered on the connector. A selection above ten records or 100 MB becomes a background job with its progress in the Upload queue, so nobody waits in the picker.

Straight into the media viewer

A captured clip is prepared for playback like an upload and opens in the media viewer: detect faces and on-screen text, track and blur, mute or distort, and cite the exemption on every span.

Rate-limit aware

A connector-side ceiling on Axon calls, Axon's retry-after honoured, cursor paging, and collections scoped to a case, category or month keep the agency inside Axon's per-agency limits.

Chain of custody

From Axon's ledger to the release, with the person who acted in between

Each file is hashed with SHA-256 as it streams into the case's own storage in your Azure subscription; when Axon's API exposes its own digest for the file, the connector compares the two after the full stream and logs any difference. What the request keeps is a frozen snapshot that outlives the evidence's retention period in Axon. Source details name the Axon evidence ID and file ID, the hash with its Verified pill, and who captured it and when; AccessPoint's hash-chained audit ledger records the capture; and when the redacted release goes out, its manifest carries the hash of every file. Axon's own audit trail will show the API client rather than the coordinator, so the connector logs every call with the AccessPoint user, the case and the purpose — together, the two records connect Axon's ledger to the person who acted.

Verified at capture SHA-256 on every file, compared with Axon's digest when it is available.
Attributed on every call User, case and purpose in the connector log and the request's ledger.
Released with a manifest A burned MP4, a hash manifest and a per-span redaction log.

From Axon Evidence to release

The path for an agency connecting Axon Evidence:

  1. In Axon Evidence, confirm API access is on for the agency (Evidence Local needs version 5.4 or later), then create an API client for AccessPoint under API Settings with only evidence list, view and download, case list and category view, restricted to the connector's outbound IP addresses. Record the partner ID, client ID and secret — the secret is shown once.
  2. Deploy the connector as an App Service or Container App in your Azure subscription, set your agency's Evidence.com host, the views to show and the allowed download hosts, and hold the secret as a Key Vault reference. For Evidence Local, add a Hybrid Connection or run the connector on premises.
  3. Run the connector's self-test, then register it under Settings → Connectors as a Remote connector, run Test connection and enable it.
  4. On the request, choose Add from… and the Axon Evidence tile, open a case or search by recording date, and add the recordings — or collect a whole case in the background.
  5. Open each recording in the media viewer, review the detection proposals, mark and cite the exemptions, and export the response package with the burned release, the hash manifest and the redaction log.

Go deeper

All repository connectors Every system AccessPoint can capture records from, and how to choose between a built-in and a hosted connector. Connector set-up in the docs Registering, testing and monitoring a connector, identity modes, and Hybrid Connections. Video & audio redaction What happens to the footage once it is on the request — tracked marks, the exemption on every span, a burned release. Police services & public safety Body-worn camera, CCTV and 911 audio requests, and what regulators now expect a release to look like. Body-worn camera redaction guide A practical guide to redacting body-worn camera footage for access requests. AccessPoint vs. Axon Redaction Axon's Redaction Studio and Redaction Assistant redact inside Axon Evidence — an even-handed look at where each fits.

Axon Evidence Connector Questions

Does body-worn camera footage leave our tenant when AccessPoint captures it from Axon Evidence?
Captured recordings travel from Axon Evidence, through the connector you host in your own Azure subscription, into the case's own storage there; the publisher has no access to the data and never sees connector traffic. In the US, treat body-worn video as potentially criminal justice information: because AccessPoint runs in your own Azure subscription, the CJIS Security Addendum question falls on your Azure tenancy and any managed service provider, so confirm it with counsel for your state. In Canada CJIS does not apply, but provincial policing-records rules do.

Do we need a VPN or an inbound firewall rule to connect Axon Evidence?
Not for Axon Evidence in the cloud: the connector in your Azure subscription calls your agency's Evidence.com host over HTTPS, and you restrict the API client to the connector's outbound IP addresses in Axon's API Settings. For Axon Evidence Local, an Azure Relay Hybrid Connection carries the traffic, and the Hybrid Connection Manager inside your network makes only an outbound connection on port 443.

Which Axon Evidence versions does the connector support, and has it been validated against our agency?
Axon Evidence in the cloud with API access enabled — Axon now enables its Partner API for every licence tier, though an older agency may need to turn it on in its security settings — and Axon Evidence Local 5.4 or later, the release that introduced the Partner API. The connector is built on Axon's Partner API. Because every agency is configured differently — region and host, API client permissions, download redirects, rate-limit thresholds — those points are connector settings rather than code, and Realizer validates the connector against your agency during onboarding. One point to raise early: if your agency requires a reason for every download, ask your Axon representative how an API client is handled, because the connector cannot supply one today.

Does AccessPoint copy the footage or link to it?
It copies each file into the request once, as a frozen snapshot with a verified hash that outlives the evidence's retention in Axon, and records the evidence ID and file ID so the copy can always be traced back; Open in source can link to the evidence in Axon once you confirm your agency's address format. Axon evidence is immutable, so there are no versions to track — a redaction made in Axon is a new evidence item — and a file already on the case is skipped rather than captured twice. The connector never changes anything in Axon.

Who can see which evidence through the Axon Evidence connector?
The connector reads Axon as one API client, so every person who can see the Axon tile sees what that client may list, view and download — Axon offers no per-person check for API clients, and the connector does not pretend to perform one. By default only coordinators see the tile, and AccessPoint's own rule on who may add records to the case still applies to every capture. Whether the client can see Restricted or Confidential evidence depends on the permissions you grant it in Axon.

Is there a per-connector or per-seat fee for Axon Evidence and video redaction?
No. Repository connectors and video and audio redaction are licensed modules that every AccessPoint plan includes: flat annual pricing by organization size ($2,990, $7,990, $14,990 or $29,990), no per-user fees, billed through the Microsoft commercial marketplace, with a 30-day free trial. The separate costs are Azure services in your own subscription — the connector's host, a Hybrid Connection for Evidence Local, and optional media services such as Azure AI Speech for transcripts.

Flat annual pricing, published in full. Every feature in every size — access requests, privacy impact assessments, breach response, complaints, video & audio redaction, the public portal, repository connectors, and AI Assist. No per-user or per-module fees.

  • Under 500 employees$2,990/yr
  • 500–1,999 employees$7,990/yr
  • 2,000–9,999 employees$14,990/yr
  • 10,000+ employees$29,990/yr

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