Abel Police

What do they actually do

Abel Police builds Abel Writer, an AI service that takes body‑worn camera video plus dispatch/incident metadata and turns it into filled‑out report fields and a narrative draft that officers or records staff can review and submit. It connects to an agency’s digital evidence system, outputs into existing records workflows, and is sold per seat. The company says setup takes about 15 minutes and deployments run in GovCloud with CJIS controls Abel Writer page.

The product is in active use in real workflows at the Richmond, CA Police Department, where officers reported editing Abel’s drafts instead of writing reports from scratch, changing how they schedule report work and saving time during pilots TechCrunch. Abel integrates with agencies’ DEMS and has announced an RMS integration with Mark43; it is also available through public‑sector reseller channels like Carahsoft to fit government procurement processes Forbes, Carahsoft.

Who are their target customer(s)

• Patrol officers: Spend a large share of shifts on incident reports and want to return to patrol faster; Abel provides editable first‑draft narratives so officers can edit instead of writing from scratch, which saved time in pilots Y Combinator, TechCrunch.
• Records clerks / report writers: Re‑key structured data and correct narratives from officers, creating back‑and‑forth; Abel returns filled face‑sheets and draft narratives to cut manual entry and edits Abel Writer, TechCrunch.
• Records managers / RMS administrators: Must maintain data quality and RMS compatibility without adding new steps; Abel formats output to match existing forms and is pursuing RMS integrations (e.g., Mark43) to avoid workflow disruption Abel Writer, Carahsoft.
• Digital evidence / DEMS administrators: Need to securely process large body‑cam video sets and metadata under CJIS rules; Abel interprets video via DEMS integrations and operates in GovCloud with CJIS controls Abel Writer.
• Agency leadership (chiefs, operations, procurement): Face staffing shortages, overtime costs, and long procurement cycles; want solutions that clearly save officer time and are procurement‑ready. Abel offers short pilots, per‑seat pricing, and reseller/government channels to move from trial to contract Forbes, Carahsoft.

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Run 2–4 week free pilots with mid‑sized patrol agencies already on Mark43 or common DEMS; use Richmond PD as a live reference and the 15‑minute setup to let supervisors and records teams quickly validate time savings and draft quality Abel Writer, TechCrunch.
• First 50: Co‑sell with government resellers and RMS/DEMS partners; standardize onboarding, publish a simple time‑saved ROI case from early deployments, and run regional partner webinars to drive packaged pilot→procurement conversions Carahsoft, Abel Writer.
• First 100: List on state/cooperative contracts and offer enterprise bundles with RMS integrations and reseller‑backed implementation, using documented outcomes to shorten buying cycles and convert multi‑agency deals Carahsoft, Forbes.

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

There are 17,541 state and local law‑enforcement agencies in the U.S. and roughly 750,000 sworn officers; about 4 in 5 departments use body‑worn cameras BJS, NLEOMF, PERF.

Bottom-up calculation:

~600,000 BWC‑wearing officers (750k × 80%) are practical end‑users. Using Abel’s per‑seat model, TAM ranges from ~$30M/year at $50/user to ~$300M/year at $500/user; a mid case of $200/user is ~$120M/year Abel Writer.

Assumptions:

• ~80% BWC penetration across agencies PERF.
• Licensing is per active user/seat with most patrol officers as users Abel Writer.
• A majority of BWC‑wearing officers routinely file reports and are addressable.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Axon (Draft One): Axon’s Draft One uses body‑worn camera audio to generate draft report narratives and ties into the Axon ecosystem (Evidence/Records). It directly targets report‑writing time for officers Axon, Axon explainer.
• Mark43 (ReportAI): RMS vendor offering ReportAI, which uses CAD data and body‑cam transcription to inject information into report fields and narratives. As a widely used RMS, it’s both a platform partner and a competitor on AI‑assisted report writing Mark43.
• Motorola Solutions (Assisted Narrative): Motorola’s “Assisted Narrative” adds AI‑assisted report writing within CommandCentral DEMS/Records, cross‑checking multiple data sources to help officers draft accurate reports Motorola Solutions.
• CLIPr: Vendor marketing automated drafting of police reports from body‑worn camera audio, including partnerships with body‑cam makers CLIPr.
• Code Four: Early entrant positioning AI that ingests body‑cam video/audio/metadata to auto‑generate incident summaries and report drafts for law enforcement Code Four.