Police Aim at Nonlethal Weaponry

It’s a frightening call for any officer. A man waves a knife, daring police to come and get him. Too many steps forward, and the officer’s life is in jeopardy. Not close enough, and officers are left in a standoff with no end in sight.

But police may soon reach for a small gun on their belt that, instead of bullets, fires a Taser blast so strong the suspect crumples into a fetal position.

Earlier forms of the Tasers were snickered at by most police agencies for being ineffective. But this one packs a powerful punch, can be fired from more than 20 feet away and the effects completely disappear in a few seconds, authorities say.

And this 21st century weapon is already on the belts of several officers in Ventura County.

Authorities say advances in technology have finally created nonlethal weapons that are better, faster and more effective. And local law enforcers are already putting the new arsenal to the test, hoping to make it a permanent part of their efforts to fight crime.

“The days of shooting at a suspect as he runs away are over,” said Ed Ludaescher, a retired Oxnard officer who created the Options Gun, a weapon that gives officers a choice of firing bullets or pepper spray.

The police departments in Oxnard and Ventura and the county Sheriff’s Department have assigned officers to research the latest less-than-lethal tools on the market. The goal: find a weapon that will disable a threatening suspect without causing permanent injury or death.

Easier said than done, the experts say.

It’s not good enough for something to be partially effective, said Sid Heal, a lieutenant with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and considered a leader in the state on researching less-than-lethal technology. In a life or death situation, a weapon has to work, he said. Every time.

“Street cops are pragmatists,” Heal said. “If it doesn’t work, he doesn’t want it. So he’s left reaching for his firearm.”

Interest in less-than-lethal weaponry began about 30 years ago, spurred in part by the rampant increase in drug use, authorities said. Suspects high on drugs were combative, aggressive, unpredictable and had a high tolerance for pain.

Heal mentioned how suspects high on PCP would seem almost impervious to pain. “How do you apprehend someone like that? Is shooting them your only option?” he asked.

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Early experiments went poorly, with many of the devices resembling rejects from a bad “Batman” episode.

There were the guns that shot giant nets over suspects. Those were sloppy and rarely stopped a flailing bad guy.

And then came “the chain”--literally an 8-foot chain with two long poles on each end. With an officer gripping each pole, they charged after a suspect, hoping to knock him down. It was crude and mostly ineffective.

“Yeah, it wasn’t used much,” said Heal, chuckling. “Because if he got away, then you’re standing there armed with a pole.”

Then the late 1970s brought a seeming breakthrough for law enforcement--the Taser, a small gun that shot electrical pulses from as far as 10 feet. The jolt was supposed to be strong enough to stop a suspect cold by temporarily overtaking his muscular system. And it worked. Sometimes.

Other times, a charging suspect just kept coming.

The failures came at a time when a U.S. Supreme Court decision radically changed law enforcement procedures. In 1974, Memphis police fatally shot a 15-year-old boy as he ran from a burglary that netted him $10. The case resulted in a 1985 ruling that called firing at a fleeing felon an unreasonable use of force.

“Times have changed,” said Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Wade, who works with the department’s Less-Lethal Team, a group of 12 SWAT team deputies trained to use alternative weaponry.

“The public has become harder on us, and they should,” Wade said. “They should expect more. And we are trying to live up to that expectation.”

By 1986 the Department of Justice established a less-than-lethal technology program, dedicated to the development of such weapons.

Today, local authorities say less-lethal tools are a requirement for any modern law enforcement agency.

“Anybody who isn’t researching this area ought to be,” said Oxnard Police Cmdr. Mike Matlock, who researches such equipment for his department.

Matlock said it wasn’t until about four years ago that Oxnard began exploring the latest technology.

“We weren’t on the cutting edge at all,” he said. “It wasn’t until we saw the successes of other departments that we started to look at it seriously. Now, we don’t wait around.”

Police can’t afford to wait. There are more mentally ill people on the street, more domestic violence calls, and more people intent on goading police into shooting them, a phenomenon known as “suicide by cop.”

To deal with such calls, local authorities today employ a variety of nonlethal weaponry, hoping to control their suspects without killing or seriously injuring them.

“Any time we can prevent lethal force, it’s a win for everyone,” Matlock said. “Nobody relishes the opportunity to have to take someone’s life. It’s an emotional cost for everyone, including the officer.”

The most popular alternative weapon in use now is the beanbag gun, capable of shooting small beanbags with enough force to knock the wind out of most people. A larger version is also available, propelling bags from a 37-millimeter weapon.

For a more powerful punch, authorities turn to the so-called baton gun, which shoots a 4-inch rubber baton at suspects.

But several departments in Ventura County are testing even newer weapons.

A favorite of local authorities is Ludaescher’s Options Gun. An Oxnard officer for more than a decade, Ludaescher experienced firsthand the frustration of staring down someone armed with a bat or a knife.

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“So there you are,” he said, “giving them commands with a gun in your hand and he says, ‘Screw you,’ and there you are in a standoff. And nobody knows how that could end.”

Ludaescher, who retired from the department for medical reasons, wanted to find a better way.

It began with a roll of toilet paper.

He wanted to know if it was possible to attach a pepper spray canister to a firearm. Using a wire hanger, he tied the cardboard roll, meant to simulate a spray canister, to his firearm. Years later, in 1995, he developed the Options Gun.

Push a button forward and a simple shot of pepper spray hits the suspect. Or you can pull the trigger.

His gun is being tested in Oxnard, Ventura County and by the Los Angeles County SWAT team.

So far, Oxnard officers have used the Options Gun three times, including one call that involved a man who refused to take his hands out of his pockets. Not knowing if the man was armed, police drew the Options Gun and fired a blast of pepper spray, only to later learn the man was hiding a syringe.

There is also a lot of hope for the new and improved version of the Taser. The M-26 Taser gun zaps a suspect from 21 feet, more than double the distance of older Tasers. And a single dose of Taser energy leaves the most formidable of suspects curled on the ground in a fetal position.

“This is the closest thing we have so far to a perfect nonlethal weapon,” Matlock said. “And so far it’s been 100% effective. I’ve yet to see it used and not completely incapacitate the person.”

Local authorities continue to review the latest technology as it is developed.

An improved version of the vehicle spike strip is in the works. Dubbed the magnetic strip, authorities say it’s capable of stalling a running motor the moment a speeding car runs over it. The result could be an end to the infamous high-speed pursuits frequently broadcast on television news.

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And then there is an electric stun projectile that can be fired up to 10 meters away and is designed to stick like glue to a subject while shooting short bursts of high-voltage pulses.

Despite such developments, police say they still haven’t found a single law enforcement weapon to entirely replace the type carried since the days of Wyatt Earp--the gun.

“Not until we get a phaser,” said Oxnard Sgt. Scott Whitney, referring to the “Star Trek” device capable of freezing a person in motion. “That’s when we’ll have the ultimate less-lethal weapon.”