TASER® Blog

The 2009 ASIS conference held in southern California for the professional security industry kicked off this week with a press conference held by Rick Smith, CEO and Founder of TASER International, announcing the debut partner of our “TASER Certified” program.  The president of the world’s largest security firm, Wackenhut/G4S, joined Rick in explaining the value of the designation to the corporate community.  Uniformed security officers of Wackenhut displayed their TASER® X26™ devices proudly on their belts after having volunteered to experience its effect the night before. 

Key issues such as executive protection, plant security, and responses to workplace violence are better served by security companies with the TASER Certified status because they subscribe to a time-tested training curriculum, expert deployment support, and the assurance that the supplier – TASER International – will extend its legal dominance to the civilian community if needed.

When walking the massive 800,000 square feet of exhibit area, I couldn’t help but be impressed by the extensive and elaborate booth displays from vendors offering video technologies, security services, and a variety of high-end detection equipment.  The TASER booth was one of the largest in recent years and was packed with new technologies now available to professional security firms and corporate security teams.  We’ve met with representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, fertilizer plant operators, hospital staff, military branches, and security firms from dozens of foreign countries; the furthest hailed from Nigeria.  TASER International has clearly been embraced by the security industry and we stand ready to serve…again.

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

C2 Colors

Hey TASER® Blog fans- we have a very special opportunity for you! It’s our way of saying thank-you for your continuing interest in our product, company, and the people behind it all.

Starting a blog has been a new and exciting project for TASER International, a foray into the world of social media- and it’s been the dedicated blog fans like you that have made it so rewarding. So, we would like to give you a little something extra for your support.

By using this link , you will receive an extra two-pack of cartridges and a free target with your purchase of a TASER C2.

Happy Shopping!

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.

The world finally got to see the TASER® X3™ in action as it made its video debut this week with a short segment showing three TASER International employees hit by the device in rapid succession with no reloading required.

I am continually amazed at the support and confidence TASER employees show in their willingness to take a hit; in this case for the purpose of producing a video that highlights one of the key features of the new X3 – multiple shots.  (All three women were volunteers – and no, this isn’t some part of the TASER new employee orientation!)

The TASER X3 video is making the rounds on the Internet including on Popular Science and PoliceOne’s BluTube.

An extended version of the video that contains interviews with the TASER employees can be found on YouTube.

Take a look for yourself; it is impressive.  One device; three subjects; and no reloading.

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…

Wow — it has been a busy week! In the past two days, TASER International has made two major announcements.

The inner workings of a TASER XREP shell

Yesterday, TASER announced the new handheld multi-shot electronic control device (ECD) called TASER X3™, which will be officially released at the annual TASER Conference on July 27 in Fountain Hills, Ariz. This is the first new handheld ECD since the introduction of the TASER X26 in 2003.

We will be providing 27 features/technological advancements of the TASER X3 over the next 27 days. To follow the X3’s daily technology releases, go to:  www.TASERX3.com or follow on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TASERX3 and on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TASERX3.

Tuesday, TASER International announced that the TASER® eXtended Range Electronic Projectile (XREP™) shotgun rounds and TASER® X12™ less-lethal shotgun by Mossberg® are now available.

The TASER X12 less-lethal shotgun by Mossberg

The X3 is the culmination of over four years of intense research and development and offers exponentially increased capabilities, including vastly enhanced data, networking, and communication functionality as well as enhanced safety features. TASER has made major investments over the past 24 months to bring a host of new products to market — including the AXON™ Tactical Computer, EVIDENCE.COM™, and the long awaited wireless TASER® XREP™. Our R&D Team has secretly worked on a parallel path to bring the X3 to reality. These innovative developments create an ecosystem of technologies that interface together to provide law enforcement never-before-possible, breakthrough capabilities.

The TASER® product family will provide our customers smarter, safer capabilities to better protect our officers and our communities.

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…

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.

Read more…

“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.

Read more…