The AI upgrade public safety desperately needed

Every year in the U.S., over 240 million 911 calls come in. Many now include video, photos, and real-time data. On top of that, police body cams and street cameras are recording millions of hours of footage.

All that information should make things safer.

But in reality, it creates noise. Important moments get buried. Response times slow down. And decisions get harder right when they matter most.

That’s the problem Axon Enterprise (AXON) is trying to fix.

At its latest event, the company rolled out three new AI tools designed to cut through the chaos.

First, Axon Vision. It scans live camera feeds and flags suspicious or important activity as it happens. Think of it as a second set of eyes that never gets tired.

Then there’s Axon Assistant. This is like a smart helper for officers. It pulls up case info, helps write reports, and connects data across systems. All securely and in real time.

And finally, Axon 911. A new cloud-based system that brings together emergency call data, video, and context before responders even arrive on scene.

In simple terms, Axon is turning scattered data into something useful.

This is just another step toward Axon becoming the central operating system for public safety.

Axon invented the TASER, a handheld device that zaps someone with electricity to stop them without killing them.

TASER quickly became a game-changer for police departments across America. Axon took the cash from that business and used it to build a product lineup that’s like a superhero utility belt for cops.

Imagine a tiny camera clipped to a cop’s chest, recording everything they see. That’s the Axon body camera. They record every second of an officer’s shift. No more “he said, she said.” If you’ve ever seen a viral police video on YouTube, odds are it was captured on an Axon body cam.

All those videos are stored in Axon’s cloud platform. Cops upload footage, and it’s organized, searchable, and secure. It’s like Google Drive for police evidence, with extras like artificial intelligence to transcribe audio or redact faces.

Cop cloud? Sounds kind of boring, but it’s Axon’s cash cow. An $800 million business with 80% margins, whoa!

Axon has a classic razor-and-blades model. It sells hardware like stun guns and body cams, then keeps customers spending by charging them monthly fees to access Axon’s growing software suite.

These tools are bundled into long-term contracts called Officer Safety Plans. It’s how Axon locks in customers for years at a time. This creates sticky, recurring revenue. And since Axon mainly deals with governments, its business is recession-proof.

This business model allowed Axon to grow revenues from less than $50 million in 2005 to roughly $2.1–$2.2 billion in 2025. That incredible growth has turned Axon into one of America’s top-performing stocks over the past 15 years.

So, are Axon’s best days behind it? The stock likely won’t 120X again. But their recent products and AI tools show its greatest opportunity lies ahead.

The future of public safety is in the sky

Mark my words. Drones are going to transform our world. Our kids will wonder, “Grandpa, you mean to tell me humans driving 3,000 lb. cars used to deliver lunch?”

Sure, they’ll deliver your burrito in five minutes flat. They’ll also reimagine public safety. That’s where Axon comes in.

In 2024, Axon bought Dedrone, a leading airspace security company that helps police departments and venues detect drones and run “drone as first responder” programs.

At the time of the deal, Dedrone’s systems covered about half the U.S. population across 40 cities, plus 30 airports, 50 stadiums, and 50 correctional facilities.

Today, the platform has expanded globally, with deployments across 30+ countries and hundreds of sites, tracking hundreds of millions of drone events and turning airspace into a real-time intelligence layer for public safety.

The future of public safety isn’t more boots on the ground. It’s eyes in the sky.

Imagine every Taylor Swift concert, NFL game, airport terminal, or political rally protected by autonomous drones.

This fixes safety. No hour-long security lines, metal detectors, and creepy pat-downs. Just drones monitoring from above, focusing on actual threats.

This is clearly “where the puck is going” in public safety. Within the next five years, every major public event from New Year’s Eve in Times Square to the Super Bowl will be protected by drones.

When you call 911 in Las Vegas today…

A drone often arrives before a cop.

This “drones as first responders” model is no longer experimental. It’s already running at scale in cities like Las Vegas, where a 24/7 drone network now supports police, fire, and EMS with thousands of missions per year.

And it’s spreading fast. Police departments across the U.S. are rolling it out, with drones now arriving first on scene in a large share of calls and sometimes clearing incidents without sending officers at all.

Instead of sending a cruiser to a 911 call, departments can launch drones. They can chase suspects. Patrol crime hotspots. Or monitor a burglary in progress from above. And they do it faster, cheaper, and safer than any officer ever could.

Drones also shine in emergencies. They’ll deliver defibrillators to heart attack victims. Drop flotation devices for drowning swimmers. And find lost hikers before hypothermia sets in.

So, should you buy Axon stock?

Axon is one of the biggest disruptors in public safety today. It’s certainly the best way to profit from the rise of drones in America.

But the stock isn’t cheap. It’s trading at roughly 50X forward earnings today, still well above the industry average and pricing in strong growth ahead.

For now, it's best to add it to the watchlist and buy on dips.

Axon Enterprises (AXON) has a Disruption Score 2. Click here to learn how we calculate the Disruption Score.