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news
Less-lethal weapons
could be more lethal
By Christine Shin
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
Long Beach resident
Glenda Reymer was shot dead by Long Beach Police in the city's
first fatal incident resulting from the use of less-lethal
weapons last June. The 48-year-old woman was reported to have
been threatening police and bystanders with a knife when they
shot her in the arm and torso, before she fell to the ground
and died.
Reymer was acting
irrationally because she was upset that her husband was not
being transported to a hospital, Nancy Tabing, Long Beach
police officer said. The grandmother had been struggling with
mental and physical illnesses for years. The autopsy cited
Reymer's cause of death as a laceration of the heart, due
to severe focal blunt force trauma.
What fired out
of the 12-gauge shotgun was nothing more than a bag of pellets,
or beanbag rounds. These beanbags are a part of the craze
of newly popularized less-lethal weapons that are designed
to give police an alternative to lethal force.
In rare occasions
like Reymer's case, these less-lethal options can indeed get
lethal. And while these less-lethal weapons may almost sound
non-threatening, there is some peril to be aware of.
"Some refer
to these weapons as "less than lethal," which implies
that they will always be less than lethal," Tabing said.
"But there is always that possibility that they can get
deadly."
Police departments
nationwide are looking at these weapons to offer a less-lethal
alternative.
University Police
have been using the more traditional less-lethal weapons that
have been around for some time, such as pepper spray and the
baton. Creative minds have invented an array of ammunition
of the less-lethal sort including rubber bullets, spiderman-like
net guns and taser darts that shock suspects with voltage.
Each are designed to immobilize a suspect without harming
them permanently.
California Penal
Code Section 12600-12601 lists less-lethal weapons as any
device that expels or propels less lethal ammunition "for
the purpose of incapacitating, immobilizing or stunning a
human being through the infliction of any less than lethal
impairment of physical condition, function or senses, including
physical pain or discomfort."
The Penal Code
further states that "any lasting or permanent incapacitation,
discomfort, pain or other injury or disability" is not
necessary for the weapon to qualify as less lethal.
Before the weapons
can be used, LBPD officers must have permission from a supervising
officer, of at least a sergeant or higher rank. However, all
officers are fully trained with knowledge of using the weapons.
In Reymer's case,
the supervising officer gave authorization to use the beanbag
shotgun to stop Reymer from injuring herself or others, Tabing
said. LBPD did not think they would harm Reymer.
Beanbags travel
at 280 feet per second, Tabing said. The bullet from a 9 millimeter
handgun travels at 1000 feet per second.
"The optimum
range is 20-50 feet," Tabing added. "We were within
that range at 30-35 feet."
Although the police
have implemented a precise series of procedures, the outcome
can be unpredictable.
University Police
Capt. Stan Skipworth said there are factors outside the officer's
control and knowledge of training that can alter the outcome.
"When you
fire a less-lethal round, you are intending to strike an area
that will temporarily disarm the individual," Skipworth
said. "The problem is when you fire a weapon of any kind,
you're not always going to hit what you're aiming at. When
you fire, the person you're aiming at may move and alter the
location of where the round will hit."
Although officers
must go through rigorous training, Skipworth said that "even
with the best intention and following the book to the letter,
it's not an exact science."
The training is
to is so every officer may develop a strong working proficiency
of the weapons and understand the appropriate uses of them,
Skipworth added.
A spokesperson
for the Department of Justice said there may be problems with
training at the academy.
"The training
is there and they have the resources, they're just rushing
them through," the departments spokesperson said. "We're
getting too many officers out on the streets too early. Officers
assume supervisory roles when they only have two years [of
experience] on the street."
Training instructors
use a tool known as the "force continuum" to teach
new officers what a reasonable amount of force is. It is not
a concrete directive that dictates a level of force that an
officer must use during certain circumstances, according to
the Force Options Research Group in Seattle.
This force continuum
envisions a range of options available to police officers
anywhere from verbalization techniques to deadly force. Less-lethal
lies in the middle of this range.
University Police's
training program will be tailored to those intended uses where
the officers feel they would need it in the field.
LBPD's policy may
foreshadow what the campus policy will be.
"We go through
standard training for all law enforcement," said Sgt.
Fernando Solorzano, University Police training manager. "University
Police is challenged with a more culturally diverse environment
[than LBPD]."
Skipworth said
that LBPD is dealing with a larger area with more people and
more officers.
"Their fluency
in determining the use of less-lethal is probably more prevalent
in their mind," Skipworth said. "They're going to
decide that according with the factors involved."
"Acquring
the same policy on less lethal as LBPD would be prudent,"
Skipworth said. "The desired uses and circumstances would
not be appropriate here. There are proscribed appropriate
uses of any tool that we are allowed to use.
"The purpose
is so every officer develops a strong working proficiency
and understands the appropriate use of those tools in scenarios
we expect to encounter here on campus," he added.
"Humans are
all different," the DOJ spokesperson said. "One
thing will work on one thing and not on another. There hasn't
really been a good tool developed to restrain someone yet."
Here in a university
setting, scenarios will include large numbers of people.
"We will take
as many steps as possible to do everything we can to avoid
any opportunity that a third party will be hurt or involved,"
Skipworth said.
The policy on campus
is still in development.
"At this point,
we haven't sat down and thought the whole thing through yet,"
University Police Chief Jack Pearson said. "However,
we will be focusing on the beanbag shotguns."
"We should
progress," Skipworth said. "I wish we didn't make
mistakes, but when you hire humans you're dealing with perishable
skills - skills in which if the officer would not practice
regularly, the skills would deteriorate."
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