NCJ Number
172994
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 65 Issue: 3 Dated: March 1998 Pages: 31-33-37
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Critical incidents can be successfully managed by limiting officer jeopardy and using devices that can incapacitate dangerous or self-destructive persons from a safe distance without causing death or serious injury.
Abstract
A successful less-lethal program combines tactics and technology, specifically, tactics that manage officer-created jeopardy and technology that allows extended-range incapacitation capability. The less-lethal tactic is a training and operational philosophy committed to preventing unnecessary and avoidable suspect confrontations. The police objective is to deploy resources that limit the suspect's options and then use "time, talk, and tactics" to solve the problem. Police must ensure that their actions do not cause confrontations, absent a logical reason to do so. Police managers must decide what they expect their officers to do before the event occurs. Police agencies are frequently reporting the successful deployment of less-lethal projectiles that can incapacitate a subject from a safe distance. Less-lethal projectiles are designed to incapacitate potentially dangerous persons as safely as possible, using blunt impact to stop or reduce deviant behavior. In order to achieve this, the round must deliver sufficient energy to overcome the subject's resistance to verbal commands, which usually precede firing. This will result in some degree of injury by legal definition, but with the vast majority of cases resulting in minor injury. Predicting the possibility of death or serious injury is a key consideration for agencies when they assess less-lethal projectiles. This is primarily controlled by the following factors: shot placement; projectile shape, diameter, and design; energy; and target.