Top US body-camera maker reports record revenue amid Trump immigration crackdown

The largest body-camera maker in the US celebrated its latest financial results on Tuesday – reporting record revenue and forecasting major growth – as it prepares to cash in on the Department of Homeland Security’s planned rapid acquisition and deployment of these devices nationwide.

In Tuesday’s earnings presentation, body-camera maker Axon, which also makes the well-known Taser device, announced that it blew past Wall Street expectations with $797m in revenue, up 39% year-over-year.

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The company attributed its growth to the offerings of its “AI era plan”, which includes a voice-activated companion for its body cameras. Executives also outlined a “major opportunity” for working with federal law enforcement in the year to come, in particular: body cameras and software licenses for the DHS.

Asked by investors about his biggest worries, CEO Rick Smith said: “A misstep around privacy and data handling.”

Without elaborating on specific examples, he said: “We are seeing that those are concerns right now out in the public. I think that would be one where we could make a mistake that would have outsized negative consequences.”

Data privacy experts fear that body-camera footage in the hands of the DHS will only be used to further surveil immigrants and protesters rather than ensure accountability for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and other federal agents.

The expanded use of body cameras “will make every agent who wears a body camera a surveillance tool”, says Spencer Reynolds, a national security attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. What’s more, law enforcement agencies are often selective about what video they release, “and with DHS, in particular, we’ve been seeing that they aggressively release propaganda videos”, he says.

Axon dominates the body-camera market – so much so that it was sued, in 2023, by three cities alleging the company unlawfully gained monopoly powers; the case was largely dismissed last year. The homeland security department already has a $5.1m contract with Axon for body cameras and cloud storage licenses that began last March.

Congress has proposed setting aside $20m for body cameras after aggressive lobbying by Axon. The company spent more than $1.4m in the second half of last year advocating for greater use of its body cameras, counter-drone wares and digital evidence management technology.

Ruben Gallego and Mark Kelly, US Democratic senators for Arizona, introduced a bill last month that would mandate body cameras for all DHS officers. Gallego has received more than $20,000 in campaign donations from Axon’s CEO and executives since 2017, according to FEC data. He declined to comment. Axon is based in Arizona.