Tasers and body-worn cameras are carried by thousands of police around Australia.
But a Four Corners investigation has revealed a security flaw in the Bluetooth-enabled devices can inadvertently reveal their real time location to any criminal with a phone or laptop.
Police agencies know of the safety risk, especially to officers who are undercover, in tactical units or who take their equipment , but none appear to have told officers the risk.
Featured: Dr Emma Ryan, criminologist, Deakin University
This hacker realised tech giant Axon's devices expose officers' locations.
Melissa Clarke: Tasers and body cameras are carried by thousands of police around Australia, but a Four Corners investigation has revealed a security flaw in the Bluetooth-enabled devices that can inadvertently reveal the real-time location to any criminal with a phone or laptop. Police agencies know of the safety risks, especially to officers who are undercover, tactical units or who take their equipment , but none appear to have told officers the risk. Grace Tobin reports.
Grace Tobin: Outside a police station in Melbourne's inner suburbs, a phone buzzes. This man, who's asked that we don't use his name, is a hacker, and he's showing us how an app that's free to download is picking up the presence of police Tasers and body cameras before we even spot them.
Hacker: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Ten tasers picked up in the last couple of minutes.
Grace Tobin: He says it's an open secret in hacker and tech circles that members of the public can detect and track Bluetooth-enabled devices sold to police by a US tech giant called Axon Enterprise. He says that's because the company hasn't got the same built-in privacy settings that many other mobile devices do, like Apple iPhones. Concerned it was leaving frontline officers exposed, he emailed police, state ministers, the AFP, even national security agencies.
Hacker: Basically told them that it was a gaping hole in their operational security and that it was very easy to exploit. It could be used for pretty much ambushing the police, attacking them, escaping them.
Grace Tobin: And what came of those emails?
Hacker: I got nothing but radio silence.
Grace Tobin: So no police agency in Australia has ever written back to you it?
Grace Tobin: A Four Corners investigation has confirmed that Victoria Police did receive his email back in 2024 and assessed the threat internally. It was initially determined that the risk was very real and that immediate action should be taken. But police executives dismissed it as a non-issue. Victoria Police told Four Corners it hasn't had any issues with unauthorised tracking of Tasers or body-worn cameras over Bluetooth, and that it had gone to Axon for security advice. Four Corners informed all police agencies of the vulnerability, but none would say what steps they'd taken to ensure the safety of officers.
Emma Ryan: I wonder how many police who are carrying these pieces of equipment are aware.
Grace Tobin: Dr Emma Ryan, a criminologist at Deakin University, has spent her career researching Tasers. She worries that Axon, which holds a monopoly on conducted energy devices and has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts with the Australian government, has become too embedded with police.
Emma Ryan: They're captured. I cannot see a way in which police can separate their reliance.
Grace Tobin: Axon has acknowledged the vulnerability with its Bluetooth products, warning police customers on its website that operational security considerations should be made where detection may result in unintended outcomes. The company didn't respond to detailed questions sent by Four Corners.
Melissa Clarke: Grace Tobin, and you can see the full report at 8.30 tonight on ABC TV or anytime on Iview.
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