TASER® Blog

Law enforcement officers often encounter individuals attempting to harm themselves with deadly weapons at all hours of the day. Situations like these require officers to think and react quickly while utilizing their specialized communications skills. Just recently, a woman in Providence, RI, tried to take her life only to be saved by police officers using a TASER X26 electronic control device. Incidents like this illustrate how TASER devices can be used by law enforcement to safely and effectively end potentially deadly situations.

Check out the full story here: Providence Police use TASER to Save Woman

In modern law enforcement, there’s no substitute for knowledge and experience. This Tuesday, April 28 and Wednesday, April 29, more than 130 of the most knowledgeable and experienced law enforcement professionals from some of the largest state and local law enforcement agencies in the country will descend upon Scottsdale, Arizona, to help shape the EVIDENCE.com revolution in secure interactive digital evidence collection and management solutions at the 2009 EVIDENCE.com Technology Summit. 

This two day workshop will bring together key thought-leadership from the law enforcement community to explore how rapidly evolving Web 3.0 technologies can be applied to the challenges of secure digital evidence management, analytics, and inter-agency collaboration.

EVIDENCE.com, along with the previously announced TASER® AXON™ on-officer tactical computer, form a major platform computing initiative utilizing advanced Web 3.0 technology to create an integrated end-to-end solution that seamlessly captures, stores securely, and analyzes digital evidence and information in ways never before possible, preserving a pristine evidentiary chain of custody from the time the evidence was captured all the way through the judicial process. In effect, EVIDENCE.com is bringing Software as a Service (SaaS) for the first time to main street, public safety and law enforcement.

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“Challenging times favor the strong and bold. Our company’s financial condition is, indeed, strong. Our ideas and our people are innovative, and our thinking is bold.”    

Yesterday, TASER International reported earnings for first quarter 2009. While I’m proud of many accomplishments this past quarter, the announcement of EVIDENCE.com stands out as a significant milestone in the evolution of the company. TASER International is now primed to provide a complete solution set to law enforcement’s most challenging problems.   

Out in the streets, when lives are at stake, our family of TASER® ECDs provides the safest, most effective option for officers to respond to resistance. The TASER® AXON™ Tactical Computer, which was announced last summer, will streamline the collection and analysis of evidence, preserving an audio/video record from the officer’s perspective of what really happened during all incidents — from traffic stops to the most contentious and dangerous confrontations.

EVIDENCE.com will provide secure storage and groundbreaking analytic capability for digital information and evidence while preserving a pristine evidentiary chain of custody from time the evidence was captured all the way through the judicial process, until the last gavel drops. We are building this capability, through EVIDENCE.com, in a way that lays the foundation for a global, secure network for the law enforcement community.

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Few would argue against the notion that people have a fundamental right to be safe. Personal safety is one of life’s age old concerns. Individuals, however, have varying ideas as to what they can do to be safe. Some people simply keep a vigilant eye on their surroundings; others may take a self-defense course; and still others may decide a deterrent or weapon is best for them.  

The right to select one’s own means of self-protection is something we affirm at TASER International. We believe it is important that people have choices when it comes to selecting a method with which to feel comfortable and safe —  regardless of whether or not an individual chooses to protect themselves with a TASER® C2™. For instance, I do not feel comfortable carrying a gun (although I would like to be trained in how to use one), but I do feel comfortable carrying my TASER C2. By the way, it’s pink.  

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This morning I headed to Minnesota to participate in our TASER® Use of Force, Risk Management and Legal Strategies Seminar.  Normally, TASER International participates in approximately six of these educational courses around the country annually.   The “Chiefs Course,” as they are commonly known, are designed to give law enforcement command staff, municipal risk managers, and Police Information Officers the opportunity to learn about legal issues, risk management challenges, and media relations strategies pertaining to the implementation of  a TASER device program.  

Generally, each Chiefs Course includes the following components, although the presenters vary depending on region and availability: an update on legal issues pertaining to the use of TASER devices, an update on the latest medical research on TASER technology, a session on media relations and data tracking, a discussion on the potential civil rights issues surrounding the deployment of TASER devices, and an update on suggested training requirement for TASER devices.  

As Vice President of Communications at TASER for 15 years, I know a thing or two about TASER and TASER devices, but each time I present at one of these courses, I am humbled by my co-presenters and honored to be speaking from the same podium.  

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When the use of TASER® electronic control devices (ECDs) comes under scrutiny, I often tell reporters that good science and sound facts will win the day over speculation, urban myths, and inaccurate portrayals of the impact ECDs have on our communities.

Inside the walls of TASER, we have a clear understanding of what ECDs can and can’t do. We are constantly engaged in studies and tests to determine the true impact that TASER ECDs can have. One thing we’ve come to understand over the years is the positive impact TASER devices have on law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Thankfully, you don’t have to take our word for it. There are numerous independent studies (approximately 80 percent of all TASER studies are independent) from third party sources not related to TASER International that back up our claims. 

One such study comes from the Michigan Municipal Risk Management Association (MMRMA) — a public entity self-insurance pool, providing liability and property coverage. The MMRMA represents 149 Michigan law enforcement agencies and the approximately 6,000 officers employed by those agencies. Ultimately, the MMRMA provides risk management, claims administration, legal defense and reinsurance services to its local government members from unexpected liability and property losses.

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Last month, I received an e-mail from Officer Justin Golder from Hellam Township, York County, Pennsylvania, describing the life-saving use of a TASER® device.  Officer Golder was dispatched to a domestic incident where a father and son were involved in a violent altercation and the son was threatening to harm himself.  As Officer Golder descended into the basement of the home, he found the son sitting with a knife pressed to the center of his chest.  The officer engaged the distressed man in conversation, trying to determine how best to help him and dissuade him from harming himself. 

After nearly 20 minutes of talking to the individual, the son became increasingly agitated and tried to push the knife through his clothes and into his chest.  Realizing the threat of the situation, Officer Golder waited for the exact moment that the man looked away and deployed his TASER® X26™, effectively immobilizing the son and preventing him from harming himself.  The son was then safely taken into custody to receive the necessary medical treatment.

Thanks to Officer Golder’s patient communication, quick decision-making, and the TASER X26, the son is alive today. 

After a decade of providing TASER devices to law enforcement, life-saving accounts such as this one still make most everyone at TASER International pause and remember exactly why we do what we do.  Thank you Officer Golder, for sharing your story with us.

In a few weeks, TASER International will host the 2009 EVIDENCE.com Technology Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. The goal is to gather key law enforcement and technology thought leaders to learn about, discuss, and ultimately guide, the final stages of the TASER 3.0 initiative.

TASER 3.0 is the future of secured digital evidence collection, storage and management. Our new integrated digital multi-media evidence storage and management platform — EVIDENCE.com — works in conjunction with the TASER® AXON™ — an on-officer tactical computer and video/audio recorder that captures incidents from the officer’s perspective. Together, the AXON system and EVIDENCE.com will revolutionize the way law enforcement safely and securely collects, stores, analyzes, and manages digital multi-media evidence.

Essentially, TASER 3.0 will provide an end-to-end solution to capture, store securely, and analyze digital evidence and information in ways that enables tactical and strategic decision making by law enforcement, as well as for legal evidentiary use.

The invaluable feedback we receive at the Technology Summit on April 28-29 will help determine the critical technology and infrastructure needs of the public safety community, as well as help us ascertain how our company and products can best provide meaningful solutions. One of my roles at the conference will be to solicit short feedback interviews (on-camera so we can capture the information thoroughly) with attendees during breaks at the event.

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More than 100 bikes line up for the TASER Foundation charity ride

Events like these are important to the TASER Foundation not only by raising money for the families of fallen officers, but also bring awareness to the community.  A few months ago, a close friend of mine from college, Sam Hicks, died in the line of duty while doing a drug raid in Indiana Township, PA, on November 19, 2008.  He was an FBI agent that loved not only his job, but protecting the streets and neighborhoods he served.  Ever since that incident when Sam was killed, the TASER Foundation has been an inspiration to me, to help memebers like the Hicks family during tragedy.

The TASER Foundation is a non-profit organization which provides financial and educational support to the families of law enforcement officers in the Unitd States and Canada who have lost their lives in the line of duty.  It was started in November 2004 by the Smith family and the TASER International staff.  To learn more about the TASER Foundation and upcoming events, visit the TASER Foundation.