Taser Effectiveness

Axon CEO Rick Smith claimed in 2015 that Tasers were “80 to 95% effective in the field.” Data from some of the biggest departments in the country show a much lower range than that. It’s important to note that every police department has its own way of tracking and defining effectiveness, and for this reason, their data are not directly comparable. Also, the time period of the data varies among departments.

Police department
Effectiveness rate
Atlanta 67.8%
Charlotte-Mecklenburg 69.7%
Columbus 77.3%
Dallas 68.0%
Denver 73.6%
El Paso 79.5%
Fort Worth 62.4%
Houston 73.7%
Indianapolis 54.7%
Los Angeles 57.1%
New York 77.4%
Seattle 60.6%