Non-lethal ideasworth a look

Share this story

Tweet

• Town is simply going in for the kill over dog attack
• America is crazy over its guns

In the November issue of Crime Watch magazine there was an extensive article on “The Police use of less-lethal weapons”.

The article hardly touched on the use of the Taser but reviewed other options such as a beanbag shotgun, the Awren projectile gun and deployment of gas for riot control. What stood out most was a paragraph that the U.S. Pentagon is doing research on the use of less-lethal options to the U.S. Armed Forces, of which seven options were listed.

The two that stood out most to me was the Webs and Nets. State of-the-art technology included a three metre wide Kevlar net known as Webshot. The net is packed in a cartridge and fired from a special shotgun, allowing the disabling and capture of an individual. The net can be deployed so as to entangle targets as far away as nine metres.

The second one that caught my eye was Anti-traction gel. A sprayable anti-traction gel allows the deployment of this technology on the surface of an object, causing it to be slippery to human contact.

If sprayed on a flooring surface it becomes virtually impossible for an individual to walk upon, described as slippery as liquid ball bearings. Both of these products seem to me a very viable alternative to the deadly possibility of a Taser.

Tony Romeyn

Prince George