Why Baltimore And 2 Other Cities Sued America’s Largest Body Camera Maker
A Los Angeles police officer wear an AXON body camera during the Immigrants Make America Great March to protest actions being taken by the Trump administration on February 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.
Nearly a decade ago, in August 2014, America was rocked by the police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old Black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Local police, as was common nationwide at the time, lacked body-worn cameras. The incident galvanized an effort to expand police use of such cameras nationwide in hopes of bringing clarity to dynamic and dangerous law enforcement situations.
Since that time, one company, far more than any other, has capitalized on this demand for police accountability – eight states now require them – to become the nation’s largest manufacturer of body-worn cameras: Axon.
But now an alliance of cities is claiming that growth was ill-gotten. Baltimore, Maryland; Augusta, Maine; and Howell, New Jersey have sued Axon, alleging that the company has committed antitrust violations, abused its market power, and forced cities to pay exorbitant fees for a basic, but crucial piece of law enforcement tech.
