(Photo by Jimmy Jenkins - KJZZ)

Newly assembled Axon Body 2 cameras fresh off the line.

Jimmy Jenkins/KJZZ

The inside workings of a stun gun – which still account for the majority of productions at the Taser International factory in Scottsdale.

Taser International is known for selling stun guns and body cameras to police. That technology is in the news a lot recently as police actions come under scrutiny.

But, Taser is also making a buzz in the technology sector by diversifying into a new field: storage.

It’s no shock that Taser is an industry leader in stun guns, which still accounts for the bulk of the company’s production at its headquarters in Scottsdale.

Taser also makes body cameras. But, once officers are wearing those cameras, what are police departments going to do with all that video?

Taser’s Steve Tuttle said that’s where the company stands to make big money in the future. “That’s the back end cloud,” he said. “That provides the storage, the management, the service and the sharing of all this data.”

Taser’s product is called Evidence.com. It costs police departments anywhere from $15 to $99 per month, per officer.

Steve Dyer is a senior research analyst at Craig-Hallum Capital Group, which follows police technology. He said while formidable tech companies like Motorola and Panasonic are getting into the body camera industry, Taser’s cloud-based service gives the company an edge. “By our count, of the top 60 departments, they’ve lost only two to competitors,” Dyer said.

Noah Johnson is a commander with the Tempe police. His department recently purchased Taser’s Axon cameras and is gradually rolling them out across the force. Tempe went with the cloud storage subscriptions because it helps them modernize and organize all of their evidence storage.

“We were looking for a process not only with the body cameras, but other data that we collect,” Johnson said. “You know, audio, videos from maybe a 7-11 from an armed robbery, things like that.”

Previously, the department’s video and audio lived on tape cassettes and DVDs.

Tuttle, of Taser International, explained what its storage system can do.

“When you do a recording of an incident, you have the ability to play it back and start filling in the report while you’re in the squad car,” Tuttle said. “And those become metatags – defining what kind of crime it was, what violation it was, the person's social security number.”

Dyer, of Craig-Hallum, said the growth potential for the industry is enormous – especially when cities realize the return on investment when it comes to preventing claims against their police departments. He said the New York Police Department, alone, has paid out millions over the past decade over disputed claims.

“You could put a camera in every officer in New York City for a fraction of that,” Dyer said.

More cameras means more data, and tech companies are lining up to profit from the storage.