Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I thank you for the invitation to be with you today. My name is Tom Smith, and I'm the founder and chairman of the board of Taser International.
One of my chief duties is to travel to meetings such as this one, where we offer information of a scientific and technical nature to stakeholders, the law enforcement community, and legislators. I take these duties very seriously. Every session I attend is an opportunity not only to share information but for me and my company to learn. Sadly, sometimes these meetings are called due to tragic circumstances.
I intend to give you a brief overview of our company's history, but more importantly, I want to help you understand the scientific and technical research and the operation of our device.
Let me start with the taser electronic control device. What is it? It is a hand-held device that emits an electrical charge, through conducted wires, a distance of up to 35 feet to temporarily incapacitate a subject who poses a threat so that he or she can be taken into custody safety.
My brother and I started our company with the mission of protecting life. That remains our mission today. We have produced two products that are used extensively in law enforcement: the Taser M26 and the Taser X26.
Let me give you a brief history of taser technology. It's been around since the 1970s. It was introduced to the law enforcement market in 1974. However, the technology at the time didn't truly incapacitate; it was more based on pain compliance. Through the 1980s and 1990s it had some use here and there, but it had very limited application.
The reason my brother and I started our company was that we had two friends who were shot and killed in a crazy road rage incident. We looked at that and wondered why there wasn't a better way to stop somebody without having to resort to lethal force. We grew up watching Star Wars and Star Trek and asked why we couldn't make a non-lethal phaser. That's what led us to start the company. At the same time, our mom was looking for a way to protect herself. She didn't like the options and wasn't comfortable with a firearm.
So we decided to start Taser International and expand upon the history that had been out there for, at that time, 20 years. We introduced the first products in 1994 in the commercial market in the United States. We really got into the law enforcement market in 1999 with the introduction of the M26. After that product was introduced and had seen success and we had started some initial studies, we introduced the X26 in 2003, because it was 60% smaller and 60% lighter and it met the demands of the law enforcement community.
One of the things we also wanted to do was contribute to accountability for the command staff with respect to how use of force is applied. Every taser that has been produced for the law enforcement community has an on-board clock and a computer system that records every time the trigger is pulled. So if there are any accusations or allegations concerning the use of the device, you can actually take the device from the officer and download the date, time, duration, battery temperature, and other information about how, when, and where it was used.
We then went to the cartridge and serialized every single cartridge. In a case where you issue it to a particular officer, you can validate not only where it was used, because it leaves little ID tags all over the scene, but whether it was assigned to an appropriate officer, if it was his cartridge that was used. Again, it was another step in accountability.
Then several years ago we introduced the taser cam. Now, whatever you are pointing the taser at, when it is activated it records audio and video of the event. That again contributes to accountability so the command staff can make sure there's appropriate, responsible use within the training and policies that have been established. There's no other device today that gives that kind of use accountability when it's used in a use of force situation.
Let's talk a little bit about the electrical system of the taser. When I sit here and pump my fist open and closed, there's an electrical signal that's being transmitted from my brain to my muscle to make that occur. In its most basic form, that's what the taser has copied. We plug it into you remotely with two wires and send that same signal that caused the muscles to contract and release. That is where the success was. When we do that 19 times per second, we can actually make those muscles contract and release to the point where you cannot override it. And that's where we get the true incapacitation.
Now, a lot has been made of the 50,000 volts number, and while that sounds very, very scary in relation to 110 volts coming out of a wall outlet, you can actually get a static shock on a doorknob that's as high as 35,000 or 40,000 volts. So that just tells us the distance the energy will jump through an air gap.
The actual application into the body is at a very, very low power. It's actually less than four milliamps. On the X26 it's about 2.1 milliamps. I think some people are surprised to learn that the energy source for the taser, the batteries that power it, are the same batteries as are in most digital cameras. So we are able to take only that fixed energy supply and make it go high voltage to arc through clothing, but it's at a very, very low amperage. In fact, in terms of joules, which is another measurement of energy, 0.07 joules per pulse come out of the X26. To give you a context, a defibrillator that's used to stimulate the heart usually outputs between 150 and 400 joules per pulse, again compared to 0.07 joules coming out of the X26.
Now let me reference the medical studies. I have these binders before me today. They represents over 1,300 pages and over 120 scientific and medical studies that have been done surrounding the use of the device. The majority of them have been peer-reviewed, meaning they've been looked at by other scientists. I also have studies that have been done in the United Kingdom and by the Canadian Police Research Centre, the Alfred Hospital in Australia, and the United States Air Force, among a few.
We've also gathered together some incredibly scientific and medically minded individuals to create our medical advisory board, like Dr. Hugh Calkins, the director of electrocardiophysiology at one of the leading heart institutes in the United States. We have world-class experts helping us conduct the studies and research so we can answer those questions and know and take corporate responsibility for knowing what we're going to introduce before it hits the marketplace.
We've done the theoretical research surrounding the electricity of the device and the medical research surrounding it, and it continues to go on. We've done animal testing, which was a good base beginning. Over the last several years there have been over 15 published peer-reviewed human studies looking at the analysis of how a taser actually works on a human subject.
While all of that needs to be done and is appropriately being done, we've also had over one million people exposed to the taser--over 600,000 law enforcement officers, and nearly 500,000 field uses in the world. So we've had over one million people exposed to the energy, which again is an incredible number in terms of the use of force and how this device can work.
We have over 12,000 agencies deploying taser technology, and 300,000 officers in the world are carrying tasers on their hips today in 45 countries. The biggest reason this has had a tremendous impact on law enforcement is the ability to reduce injuries, not only to officers but to suspects. That is documented in nearly every agency that has used it. We've seen injuries go down in Winnipeg, Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal, and Quebec. Everywhere they have implemented the taser, we've seen injury rates to officers and suspects decrease with overall use of force.
Again, I appreciate the opportunity to be here today. We would welcome the opportunity, should it be needed, to come back at any time to help the committee.
Thank you.
