There’s ShotSpotter, which recently went public, offering sensors to detect gunshots. Then there’s Axon, which is swallowing up artificial intelligence firms so it can better process the video from body cameras. There’s predictive policing companies like PredPol and CivicScape, and then there’s Mark43 bringing computer-aided dispatch and records management systems into the cloud.
But just how big a market is this?
As it turns out, pretty big. According to the Center for Digital Government*, there are more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country — nearly as many as there are local governments.
Of those, the majority are local police forces. The graphic above has a breakdown of all the other types and how many of each there are.
*The Center for Digital Government is part of e.Republic, Government Technology's parent company.
