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

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.

Tom and Rick Smith demonstrate the TASER X3 at last week's TASER Conference

On Monday, July 27, Rick and Tom Smith, the co-founders of TASER International, unveiled the multi-shot X3, our first new handheld TASER ECD since 2003, during their keynote address at the beginning of the 2009 annual TASER Conference. It was one of the many TASER solutions for law enforcement, corrections and military customers that were highlighted that day.

The keynote address and the launch of the X3 was covered by numerous Arizona print and television media outlets. Incredibly, the story filed by the local Associated Press reporter was picked up by more than one thousand papers around the world. In addition, writers from a couple of trade magazines attended the keynote as well, so we are looking forward to those articles in the upcoming editions. Since the launch, I’m thankful to say that the media request and TV interviews haven’t slow down. The TASER X3 has been featured and demonstrated on FOX Business Network’s “Money for Breakfast” with Alexis Glick, has been written about on WIRED Magazine’s Danger Room, and was  shown in a video post on the Engadget website. Then today, Tom Smith gave a live demonstration of the X3 to Bill Hemmer on FOX News America’s Newsroom, wrapping up an exciting week of interest and coverage.  

The 2009 Annual TASER Conference was more than just a keynote address and product launch. It also included a four-day Master Instructors School providing advanced training for more than 300 Master Instructors from the United States and 29 countries around the world. Some of the countries that were represented were: the United Kingdom, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. These Master Instructors went through rigorous TASER training, Master Instructor certification and standalone product certifications. They had to take tests daily in order to pass the Master Instructor course, but this year they had a huge incentive beyond their certification; everyone who passed the program received a TASER X3. Can you believe it — all the participating instructors passed! Master Instructors School is more than just training. Many of the instructors will tell you that they enjoyed the networking opportunities that were held throughout the week’s training where they had a chance to share training ideas, learn new concepts and become more than just colleagues. Despite having to do homework and study comprehensive lesson plans, the lessons learned from sharing information among some of the world’s top trainers was invaluable.

Finally, as an added bonus — and just as important — thanks to a benefit performance by county music star Mark Wills and the generosity of the instructors, we were able to raise during the week more than $4100 in donations to the TASER Foundation for Fallen Officers. All in all, it was a wonderful week. The Training Department, Master Instructor Board and Senior Master Instructors at TASER International once again provided a best-in-class week of training and everyone at TASER International went above and beyond to launch another product that will protect lives.

The TASER X3

These past few days have been very exciting around TASER International. On Monday, July 27, we unveiled the new multi-shot TASER® X3™ electronic control device and today we just released our Q2 2009 earnings. Tom Smith, the Chairman of the Board and Founder, is in New York City today doing interviews with several key media outlets.

Check out some of the coverage we have gotten in the past few days:

• Article from Andrew Johnson of the Arizona Republic

• Taser International releases the X3 from the examiner.com

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:

• Rotational Pulse Drive:  Rotate NMI pulses across firing bays to engage multiple targets simultaneously.
• Warning ARC:  Display warning arcs and gain compliance — even while the X3 remains loaded.
• Dual Laser System:  Enhance accuracy with dual lasers indicating top and bottom probe trajectories.
• Environmentally hardened:  X3 survives harsh environments such as dust, water, salt, fog and freezing temperatures.
• Color Display:  Central Information Display provides enhanced icons and data.
• Pulse Calibration System:  Monitors, calibrates, records voltage, and charge for every NMI pulse delivered.
• Cam-Lock Safety:  Reengineered safety interlocking design engages positively to armed or safe position.
• Independent fire control system:  Independent fire control circuitry directs firing sequence preventing static discharge.

I hope you’re saying “Wow!” at this point. The TASER X3 has so many great new features… and there are still 19 days to go until the official unveiling.

By the way… last week I had the opportunity to personally try out the X3. It is one innovative, capable and hi-tech law enforcement tool that promises to revolutionize the future of ECDs. I’m really excited about the launch and the way TASER will once again change the way law enforcement does its job. So excited that I almost want to take another voluntary ECD exposure, just to try out the new rotational pulse drive!

I did say “almost”…

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.

In March, during an historic webcast, TASER® International CEO Rick Smith introduced the world to EVIDENCE.com and the idea of using advanced Web 3.0 technology and concepts to solve some of law enforcements most challenging problems. The 2009 EVIDENCE.com Technology Summit will expand that well-received webcast to a true two-way exchange of information and insight — designed not only to showcase the latest technology, but also to improve that technology — based on real-world knowledge and experience. It will be nothing short of law enforcement leadership and technology professionals creating the future for secure interactive digital evidence collection and management solutions.

For those not able to attend the two day EVIDENCE.com Technology Summit, you will be able to follow all the action on Twitter. Peter Holran, Vice President Public Relations and Government Affairs (@TASERPeter), Steve Tuttle, Vice President Communications (@SteveTASER), and I (@TASERHilary) will be live-tweeting the presentations and various speakers as well as instant feedback from the participants. We might even throw in some interesting anecdotal comments just to keep things interesting. Be sure to follow any or all three of us on Twitter. 

Also, be sure to check back here later this week for updates on what occurred at this landmark technology summit.

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.

TASER International knows that collaboration and communication between agencies is essential in developing effective technology. We have used these collaboration methods with success in the development of TASER devices in the past, but this effort is much larger and requires much more extensive input. We take the suggestions, opinions, and even criticisms from our law enforcement customers very seriously. By hosting this Technology Summit we will provide a forum for law enforcement technology and command staff leadership to discuss the future of evidence management solutions. 

A little bit about TASER 3.0: Using a camera and storing secure information may not seem like a revolutionary task at first glance. However, the current practice is to either store evidence on VHS tapes in large warehouses, in unsearchable formats, or save the data digitally, but on separate DVDs. TASER 3.0 instead is a major platform computing initiative, utilizing advanced Web 3.0 technology. For the first time, EVIDENCE.com brings software as a service to main street. It allows public safety and law enforcement quick access to key evidence data without the difficult, and sometimes impossible, inventory searches common to today’s storage methods.

Only a select few will determine the future of secured digital evidence collection, storage and management; will you be one of them?

Click here to register today.