TASER® Blog

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.

We have with us today a very special guest blogger. Andrew Hinz, Director of Technical Programs for TASER International and liasion to the medical community, is here to walk us through a few of the most recent studies conducted involving TASER devices.

Today, TASER brand electronic control devices (ECDs) are used by more than 14,000 law enforcement agencies in more than 45 countries worldwide. During the past decade, more than 1.5 million people have been hit with a TASER brand ECD, including an estimated 760,000 people in actual arrest proceedings by law enforcement. While a completely accurate number is hard to come by, it further is estimated that more than 50,000 people have avoided injury or had their lives saved because a TASER brand ECD was available and used by law enforcement.  

Despite the broad acceptance and amazing success of the TASER ECDs in reducing injuries and violence, there are still a number of critics and skeptics who are willing to ignore the data, ignore the scientific studies and ignore anecdotal evidence while calling for a moratorium on the use of TASER devices by law enforcement. Most commonly, these naysayers inaccurately site a “lack of independent” scientific and medical studies into the safety of TASER technology and TASER ECDs. 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…

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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The sale of TASER electronic control devices (ECDs) to the public is perhaps one of the most often misunderstood aspects of TASER International’s sales. Because of our success and visibility in the law enforcement market, many people believe that we hadn’t started selling TASER devices to the public until the launch of the TASER C2 in 2007. The truth is that our company was founded selling ECDs to the public.  

Back in the beginning (1994), our very first sales were to consumers via direct orders, gun stores, catalogs and the Sharper Image. What you got back then was our first model, called the AIR TASER™ Model 34000. It looked something like this (again, back in 1994).

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TASER International is the market leader in advanced electronic control devices (aka ECDs).  In the United States and Canada alone there are approximately 19,000 state/provincial, local and federal law enforcement agencies. And as of December 31, 2008, TASER International has sold approximately 390,000 TASER brand ECDs to more than 13,900 of those law enforcement agencies.  

Perhaps the most telling statistic: more than 5,200 agencies of the 13,900 deploying TASER devices have made the decision to fully deploy these ECDs.  This full deployment means that 5,200 agencies have provided TASER ECDs to all of their patrol officers.

This sea change in law enforcement is not unique to North America, as TASER devices are sold in more than 40 countries.

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