Ferguson, Mo., Police Begin Testing New ‘Less-Lethal’ Attachment for Guns

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: Boadicea

Turning a lethal weapon into a less lethal weapon is not the answer to your question.

For one, less lethal doesn't mean non-lethal. It means "less likely to kill a person than a bullet. Probably."

Two, officers already have multiple options for both less and non lethal devices.

Three, this requires an officer to stop paying attention to the threat that he's confronted with because now he or she is screwing around with their sidearm.

Thank you! That all makes perfect sense; I would think the only way it could be practical is if it were-pre-loaded before the starting the shift. Do rubber bullets and bean bag rounds work in any gun? Or only certain guns? Or are there actual rubber bullet guns and bean bag round guns? (Shows how much I know!) I don't understand why Ferguson would choose these over other less-lethal options they probably already have.

The answer to your question is better training, more training, coupled with better decision making and judgement in the comparatively small number of incidents where lethal force was used without justification.

Do you know of any good examples of this I could read about? I don't need links if you can just give me some good key words to search.

originally posted by: sn0rch
a reply to: Boadicea

My first thought is, in 2015, a person searches on google for a weapons, ammunition and using "less lethal".

Shouldn't he be on a list? Cop or not?

Good question! I suppose "less lethal" is better than searching for "more lethal" though...

[quote[I'm all for way to find less lethal means of controlling or subduing people in the course of dealing with crimes. I'm not stupid enough to say we can just let perps decant without any pursuit or if they are likely to commit further violence or harm other/themselves, then force is needed. I get that.

It's the way this is brought about. I expect things like this, to be done by the book ,officially, based on a team effort of all involved, and not some bloke decideding fancy orange ping pong ball bullets is a good way to hurt people.

I see your point, but I also see that law enforcement agencies sure seem to be getting alot of offensive weapons and gear, maybe he was looking for more defensive weapons. At this point, official efforts seem to be focused on the military type equipment we saw in Ferguson. Maybe he thought they could do better...

eta - I swear the word decant means to escape also. Iused to listen to the old police scanner here before they went digital, and often it was reported that a suspect had decanted.

I cant see any reference to anything but wine. Bah, it means what I say it means.

I'll take your word for it! It sounds like a perfectly cromulent word to me

originally posted by: Halfswede
a reply to: Boadicea

There has to be something small that could fire some kind of tranquilizer darts at close range. In most situations a 3/4 needle would penetrate any clothing. If they are armored, then it may be bullet time.

An officer could unload into a 'perceived' threat with the confidence that he has a 'wake-up' adrenaline (or whatever) shot handy as soon as they are cuffed and subdued, or EMT would be equipped for wake-up. It works on lions etc.

It isn't perfect, but I think it could save a lot of lives while adding minimal risk and equipment.

I've always wondered about tranquilizer darts too, but there would still be risks, such as people with fatal allergies to the drug, and the effectiveness would probably vary depending on where it struck -- vein, artery, muscle, that kind of stuff... and there's always the "that could poke an eye out!" (I'm a mom -- that's where my thoughts go!!!)

originally posted by: introvert
There are plenty of non-lethal options available already. What we need is a dialogue, a discussion in which officers and the people take a different approach.

Dialogue my butt. Dialogue never got anyone anywhere, especially when only one side gets to say anything and the other side gets shouted down with screams of "Racist, Racist"!

What needs to happen is the police, sheriffs and highway patrol types need to butt out of Ferguson. Let what's left of Ferguson PD handle Ferguson problems. This deal of 100 cops from the entire county and city of St. Louis showing up every time there's a hint of a "demonstration" or a "gathering" is ridiculous. From what I've read, Ferguson has a new mayor, (black) and new police chief (black) and hopefully the white Ferguson cops have found jobs somewhere else, so let what's left of Ferguson PD handle Ferguson.