TASER® Blog

We’re all familiar with the media stories about alleged TASER ECD misuses, but what we rarely hear in the news are the positive stories where TASER ECDs were used to preserve life.  Our TASER(r) XREP(tm)and TASER(r) X12(tm) Less Lethal Shotgun was used yesterday by the Waukesha (WI) Police Department  to safely and quickly resolve a tense situation with a knife-wielding suicidal woman.  The great news?  EVERYONE made it out of this situation alive – the woman herself, the other person she threatened, and the officers called to the scene.

This is why TASER International makes less-lethal alternatives.  Had this situation escalated, police could have been forced to use more forceful options.  TASER XREP and X12 allowed them to subdue the agitated woman from a safe distance and take her into protective custody.  We at TASER International applaud the Waukesha Police Department’s successful intervention to protect life with TASER technology.

Here are more details of the situation from Waukesha Police Lt. Dennis J. Angle.

At 3:25 p.m. Waukesha Police Officers responded to a report of a suicidal woman with a knife in the 1900 block of Bonnie Lane.  She was not only threatening her own life, but life of another.  Upon arrival officers received information that the subject of the call was a 47-year-old woman with a history of mental illness.  She had fled just prior to police arrival and it was unknown if she was armed.

Officers searched the area and later located the woman in a highly agitated state.  Her level of agitation increased upon officer contact and she resisted officers’ attempts to take her into protective custody.

In order to safely take her into protective custody officers were forced to deploy an Electronic Control Device known as the X-REP.  The deployment was successful and no higher forms of force were needed.  Neither the woman nor any officers were injured.  She was later transported to a Mental Health Facility.

Sheriff Scott receives one of the departments X3 devices from Tom Smith

Exciting news today out of Ft. Meyers, Florida. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office became the first agency to receive their order for the new multi-shot TASER® X3™, the latest in handheld electronic control device (ECD) technology.

TASER chairman and co-founder, Tom Smith, was on hand today at a press event in Ft. Meyers to personally deliver the first five X3 ECDs sold to Sheriff Mike Scott in front of a packed room of media and curious onlookers.

We’ve told you a lot about the X3 here, beginning with the teaser campaign, through the unveiling at the July TASER Conference, the designated Facebook persona page, and now the first sale. It’s always exciting to see hard work and innovation pay off.

The sale is a result of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office being able to test and evaluate the X3. They quickly considered it an important asset for use in their law enforcement and correctional settings.

We congratulate the Lee County Sheriff’s Office on being a leader in law enforcement technology. We look forward to more law enforcement agencies joining their ranks soon!

Read about today’s press event in the:

WINK News here

News-Press here

Naples News here

Phoenix Business Journal here

Today I came across an article regarding a man in Alice Springs, Australia, who was waving a machete and screaming, “I want to chop people up,” and to the police, “I’ll make you shoot me.”  Sadly, while this story may be horrifying to most citizens, it is all too familiar to law enforcement officers. This is known as “suicide by cop.”

According to Wikipedia, “suicide by cop is a suicide method in which a suicidal deliberately acts in a threatening way, with the goal of provoking a lethal response from a law enforcement officer, such as being shot to death.” Tragically, those officers that are placed in those situations not only face media and public scrutiny, internal investigations, self-doubt, but they have to live the rest of their lives with the fact that they were involved in an incident where a life was taken to no fault of their own.

The main mission that co-founders Rick and Tom Smith had when starting TASER International in 1993 was to find a safer response to resistance. This mission is accomplished each time we read of similar lives saved by the use of a TASER ECD. To shed a little light on “who” we are, our staff at “Team TASER” is highly motivated and driven by these stories. Although we aren’t walking the beat or putting on a badge to protect and serve, it still makes us feel like we are, albeit a small, but important contributing cog in the law enforcement world. It’s a story like this that helps feel like we’re doing our part to make the world a little bit safer and doing our part to protect life.

We are human at TASER International. We read the controversial stories and sometimes you can feel overwhelmed that so many of the life-saving events are simply not covered or reported in any large extent despite thousands of lives that have been positively affected by the use of a TASER ECD. However, we as a company continue to produce products that help deter incidents that end in any death or serious injury, which allows us to continue to fulfill our number one mission: Protect life.

Although our technology is not a replacement for deadly force, we do know our TASER technology has been invaluable in more than 800,000 field use in situations — including the prevention of suicide by cop. It’s a good reminder today to see the positive impacts this technology makes each day at nearly 14,500 law enforcement agencies  in more than 40 countries.

It amazes me how little coverage there is of life saving incidents that involve TASER® devices. However, today I spotted an article from last weekend I wanted to share with you. I think it is important to highlight the ones that do make the media coverage.

In Bay County, Michigan, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched in the early morning hours on Friday, August 7, 2009 to a retail fraud complaint. When the deputies arrived they found a Texas man sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle holding his 5-month old niece. According to reports, the man was obviously distraught as he gave a false name, used the baby as a shield and even stated that he would, “…kill this baby, I will break its neck.” The deputies tried several failed attempts to remove the baby safely from the man. Finally, a TASER device was deployed, allowing the police officers to recover the unharmed infant and return her safely to her family.

Deputies later learned that this man was wanted in Texas for several crimes, including parole violation, and he was also wanted for numerous crimes in counties throughout Michigan. Who’s to say what would have happened if the TASER device wasn’t used, but we can at least state that everyone involved wasn’t hurt and the infant is now at home safe with her family and the bad guy is sitting in a jail cell facing felony charges.

Today I came across an excellent story that illustrates an officer’s quick thinking and the TASER device’s ability to end a situation quickly and effectively.

Early this morning in Surprise, Arizona, an officer investigating a suspicious vehicle was grabbed by the suspect inside the vehicle and dragged by his arm outside the suspect’s vehicle for 40 yards. The suspect, pretending to be asleep, waited until the officer put his hand on his shoulder to determine if he required medical attention, and then abruptly threw the car in drive and grabbed the officer by the arm, dragging him alongside the car. By using his free hand and thinking quickly, the officer was able to pull out his TASER® X26™ to subdue the suspect and put the vehicle in park.

In many jurisdictions, assaulting an officer with a vehicle would be a justifiable use of deadly force. However, the officer chose to use his X26, quickly and safely ending the confrontation in a safer use-of-force manner.

Read the article here.

Last week the world was introduced to the TASER X3, the latest and most innovative handheld electronic control device (ECD) by TASER International. This is the first new handheld ECD since the introduction of the TASER X26 in 2003. No pictures yet of the new X3; but believe me, it’s very cool and chock full of incredibly complex features!

The official unveiling date is July 27 when we will publicly present the X3 at our annual TASER Conference in Fountain Hills, Ariz.

Since the announcement last week, we have been providing daily features and technological advancements of the TASER X3, which will continue until our unveiling on July 27. The TASER X3 has also taken on a persona on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/TASERX3) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/TASERX3) where the device is “sharing” more about its exciting new features. The X3 just may be the first law enforcement weapon to “launch itself” through interactive social media sites. The use of social media is a first for our company and we are giving away some pretty great swag such as TASER® hats, shirts, and tactical bags to those that follow its progress and announcements during July. The TASER X3 is definitely a more hip, media savvy ECD!

For those that need a re-cap of the X3 features revealed in just the first seven days, here they are: Read more…

This morning reports came in about an important TASER® X26 deployment use in Waikato, New Zealand. Police officers in Waikato effectively used the threat of a TASER X26 deployment to end a standoff with a dangerous and unpredictable suspect who had kept them at bay for three hours, brandishing sticks and threatening officers and bystanders.

The suspect, a 36 year-old half-naked male had previously threatened a jogger and was in the midst of being questioned by a plainclothes detective when he abruptly drove off in his car, dragging the officer questioning him nearly 65 feet. The suspect then abandoned the vehicle as police chased him to the Waikato River’s edge. Three hours into the standoff, the commanding officer decided that a TASER device was the best tool to end the situation safely and effectively. Although Waikato officers do not carry TASER devices, the decision was made to fly in a TASER-trained officer from Auckland.

However, just the mere threat of the TASER induced the man to cooperate. This story illustrates just what a powerful and effective tool the TASER device can be for law enforcement — even when it’s not actually deployed. Had the officers not had a TASER at their disposal (New Zealand has only had TASER devices for the past couple of years), then officers may have had to resort to lethal force. Because the officers had access to the TASER device, the situation was resolved without any weapons being deployed, the suspect was taken into custody without injury, and the officers went home safely.

Over the past two weeks, we have seen the American Medical Association (AMA) adopt new, constructive polices regarding the use of TASER® devices with the release of an important abstract on excited delirium from the University of Miami, and the presentation of a groundbreaking medical study regarding risk in arrest procedures associated with suspect behavior, as well as police tools and tactics. Each, in their own way, help advance our understanding of the complexities and dangers of taking a suspect into custody, the tools police use in performing arrests and, more specifically, with regards to TASER devices and TASER use policy.

The American Medical Association at its annual meeting earlier this month adopted new public health policies, including a resolution on TASER electronic control devices (ECDs). All in all, the resolution and accompanying report is generally positive. The AMA report finds that TASER devices, when used appropriately, can save lives during interventions that would have otherwise involved the use of deadly force. On its website, the AMA quotes Board Member Joseph Annis, M.D. as saying, “While TASERs can help law enforcement officers, proper use must be ensured through specific guidelines, rigorous training and an accountability system. There should also be a standardized approach to the medical evaluation of subjects exposed to TASERs.” We couldn’t agree more, and we look forward to working with groups like the AMA in the future.

Earlier this week, the National Institute of Health (NIH) website PubMed.com listed a key abstract on research into excited delirium syndrome which is slated for publication in Forensic Science International. The abstract “Brain biomarkers for identifying excited delirium as a cause of sudden death” describes research headed by Dr. Deborah Mash of the Department of Neurology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami. Read more…

Yesterday, the Mesa Police Association (MPA) on its website expressed its support for TASER International’s two new innovative technologies — TASER® AXON™, an on-officer tactical computer and video-audio recorder that captures incidents from the officer’s perspective, and EVIDENCE.COM™ a world-class, Web 3.0 cloud computing service providing secure storage and groundbreaking analytic capability for digital information and evidence while preserving a pristine evidentiary chain of custody.  

Together, AXON and EVIDENCE.COM will protect truth through an end-to-end integrated 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.  

On its web page, the MPA wrote: Read more…

New Jersey is the ONLY state in the nation where it is illegal for law enforcement to use TASER devices or other electronic control devices (ECDs) in protecting their communities. Prohibiting those who have sworn to protect and to serve from utilizing this life-saving technology is not only outdated thinking, but it puts both the officers and the communities at risk.  

Electronic weapons and stun guns have been prohibited for use by law enforcement and the general public in New Jersey since 1985 — nine years before TASER International was founded. The only other three states to totally prohibit law enforcement from using stun devices have already changed their laws to allow officers to carry electronic control devices — Massachusetts (2004), Michigan (2002), and Hawaii (2001).  

For more than three years, the Attorney General of New Jersey has considered allowing New Jersey law enforcement officers to use ECDs. Under New Jersey law, the Attorney General can grant permission for law enforcement to use these life-saving devices — yet she refuses.   

Two years ago, Attorney General Ann Milgram formed a committee to review and evaluate alternative law enforcement use of force options, including ECDs and stun guns. While the committee has made recommendations regarding certain “less-lethal” ammunition — such as rubber bullets and bean bag rounds — they have yet to make any recommendations on TASER brand devices or any other ECDs, leaving law enforcement agencies across New Jersey, who know the value of ECDs, wanting and waiting to deploy. Read more…