Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 6, 1994 TAG: 9410110085
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The family that loved him may be sure he would not have shot the officer, and it may be that West was using the police to commit suicide. But what choice did they have at that point? West raised his gun, and four officers made the split-second decision that the threat was real, and they could not wait to see if he would fire. It was kill or be killed.
That is the dreadful choice police officers know they might face one day in their jobs. It is the choice soldiers have faced in combat for thousands of years. In any armed conflict, police must be prepared to kill if they are not prepared to die.
That may not have to be.
The U.S. departments of Justice and Defense have started working this year on developing nonlethal weapons that would allow police or soldiers to subdue aggressors without hurting them or endangering their own lives. This new generation of nonlethal weapons promises to bring the same leap forward in defensive technologies that has occurred over the years in offensive weaponry - with far more potential to benefit society.
Mace, tear gas and pepper spray may stun an aggressor, but they do not immobilize him, and they might enrage him - precisely what happened with West when the police lieutenant sprayed him with pepper spray, and an angered West raised his shotgun.
Police had tried for two hours to end the standoff peacefully. Consider what might have happened if a product being developed for this new, nonlethal arsenal had been available to the Roanoke Police Department during this episode. Sticky foam, a thick, sticky stream of goop that shoots out of a 20-pound gun fueled by pressurized nitrogen, can literally glue a person to the floor or a wall. It is being adapted now for use in prisons, The Christian Science Monitor reports.
It is one of an array of weapons being developed that could defuse a dangerous situation, rather than crush it with deadly force - which can be as dangerous for police as for perpetrators.
Engineers also are trying to develop a handgun that could be fired only by its owner, a feature that would have saved the life last month of Christiansburg police officer Terry Griffith, who was killed with his own weapon after a struggle with a shoplifting suspect. Another product that would greatly reduce risk is a strip of hollow needles that, when put in the path of fleeing vehicles, slowly deflates tires, safely ending high-speed chases.
The military's interest in nonlethal weapons grows out of recent demands to contain localized conflicts that have flared around the world since Soviet communism crumbled. Use of deadly force is at odds with the purposes of such missions as safeguarding humanitarian aid to Somalians, yet soldiers must protect themselves. The government is considering a list of nonlethal devices for possible development, some as futuristic as holographic machines that can project imaginary images onto streets or battlefields.
No one expects nonlethal weaponry to take the killing out of warfare or eliminate risk from police work. But having effective options would be a boon for soldiers and police officers when their lives are on the line yet the last thing they want to do is shoot to kill.
by CNB