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December 2008 The State of American Law Enforcement: Less-Lethal

1/29/2009 2:32 PM
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 85

December 2008 The State of American Law Enforcement: Less-Lethal

Are you happy with the less-lethal options you carry on duty? Does your agency back you up on their use?

Read Article: http://www.policemag.com/Articles/2008/12/The-State-of-American-Law-Enforcement.aspx

Each of the 12 chapters in the 2008 "State of American Law Enforcement" series by POLICE is available by clicking on the links below.

Chapter 1: The Thinning Blue Line. Law enforcement agencies nationwide are competing for a dwindling population of recruits.

Chapter 2: The Blue Mosaic. Policies meant to diversify law enforcement agencies have changed police demographics and will continue to do so in the future.

Chapter 3: Teaching to the Test. Does law enforcement training focus too much on qualifying and not enough on skills that can help you win fights?

Chapter 4: A Love-Hate Relationship. Most people only meet an officer when they are arrested, questioned, or cited. That makes it hard for them to like cops.

Chapter 5: Can the Average Cop Thrive in the Age of Specialization? The generalist cop is art of a dying breed, which means many of today's officers will need to excel at a specialty.

Chapter 6: Women Warriors. Female police officers must walk a fine line between fitting in and making their own way in law enforcement.

Chapter 7: Working on the Front Lines. The patrol officer is the backbone of American policing, but a lot of agencies don’t want to admit it.

Chapter 8: SWAT: Breaking the Mold. Agencies nationwide model their tactical teams on LAPD SWAT. So what does it mean if that unit changes its policies to be more politically correct?

Chapter 9: Stopping the Next 9/11. Improvements in intelligence gathering, training, and equipment give you a good chance of preventing the next attack and saving lives if it happens.

Chapter 10: Rules of Engagement. Today’s law enforcement officer is the best trained and best equipped cop in history, so why do policy makers think you have the judgment and intellect of children?

Chapter 11: Gangster Nation. Big city street gangs have taken root in small town America, bringing mayhem to Main Street.

Chapter 12: Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't. When a cop uses - or doesn't use - a less-lethal weapon in contemporary America, there can be hell to pay.
REPLY 1  -  4  of  4
1/29/2009 9:37 PM #1
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 213

RE: December 2008 The State of American Law Enforcement: Less-Lethal

The only problem with less lethal is it's possible to have to many options when you go into a fight. "Should I use my baton? Howabout the capstun? I know, I could use my ESD! Wait, where's the suspect? Crap, now I gotta use my running shoes...." What's worst, though, is reaching for, and using, a less lethal tool only to realize, to your horror, that you instinctively grabbed your firearm instead....
1/30/2009 5:21 PM #2
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 33

Are you happy with the less-lethal options you carry on duty? Does your agency back you up on their

Yes. I am indeed happy with what I carry on duty (gun, knife, baton, OC spray, tazer, handcuffs, first aid pouch, flashlight).

Is it too much? No.

We are all trained in each one of them, and it is insisted that officers practice with there weapons on a regular basis. It is insisted that we always arrange our duty belts to know exactly where our tools are. Out of muscle memory, we will reach for the exact tool we want at the right time.

Majority of the time, LEO's use the less-lethal weapons. We are required to follow a Use of Force Continuum that when a situations escalates, the use of force also escalates to maintain control of a situation. The gun, or deadly force, being the last resort.

So it is understandable why police agencies support less-lethal weapons. We like our guns, but taking a life isn't the best job in law enforcement. We prefer to send dummy to jail in due process of law. However, there are dummies that put us to the test, and require the assasination of a person out of control, with our most lethal weapon.

1/30/2009 8:01 PM #3
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 379

RE: December 2008 The State of American Law Enforcement: Less-Lethal

I have always been happy with what I carry on duty as optional weapons. Some of it is agency provided, but I have always bought my own supplies if the agency did not give me what I needed.

I would like to be able to carry a Taser also, but my agency does not allow that right now. I think it is always better to have more options available.

But, I do agree with Wolfva that there is a potential problem. There have been cases of officers pausing to decide what to use, to their detriment. There have also been cases of officers grabbing a pistol when they thought they got a Taser. I understand why Taser is designed that way, but I almost wish it had a different configuration to avoid this problem.
2/1/2009 10:01 PM #4
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 213

RE: December 2008 The State of American Law Enforcement: Less-Lethal

Heh, well, my example came from an actual incident I was involved in. Something we all have to bear in mind is that training and muscle memory are fine, but may not matter in a critical stress incident where cognitive ability is drastically reduced due to the effects of ephedrine, adrenaline, etc. Weapons that are not shaped similarly would definately help though.
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