Personal - How Police Officers Use Non-Lethal Weapons In Their Jobs

Police departments in the United States must deal with a variety of difficult situations each day; officers never know how a traffic post or call for help might ultimately turn out. Because of this unpredictability, policemen and women have been armed with a variety of weapons that help them deal with the dangers they face on a daily basis. Three of the most common non-lethal weapons that police officers utilize are stun guns, tasers, and pepper spray. All three have proven useful alternatives to pulling out a firearm and thereby escalating an already-hazardous situation.

There are many instances in which a cop may use a weapon other than his firearm. A common circumstance may be when someone is threatening to commit suicide-in the case that the suicidal individual is not holding a gun. For example, if the person has a knife held to his throat, the police will want to keep him calm without approaching him too closely. Being able to daze the suicidal individual with a taser gun from 15 feet away means that the officers needn't place themselves in harm's way. It also means that the subject will be stunned for a long enough period that officers can safely confiscate the knife and handcuff the person.

Officers have found many situations in which pepper spray proved to be the best option, crowd control being a common case. If police officers are faced with containing a rioting mob, pepper spray can be an effective method of dispersing the crowd. The spray impacts more than one person in the area, and can be used as defense against a number of assaulters. Pepper spray may be used in hostage situations as well. If an attacker is holding a hostage and the police wish to disable him, officers may use pepper spray to do so. The pepper spray may also disable the hostage, but it will not cause any long-term harm to its targets. Pepper spray disables both the victim and the attacker, and allows the police to remove the weapon and take the attacker into custody.

Stun guns are best used in close-quarter situations; this is because the gun must make contact with the attacker in order to take effect. This weapon is best used in situations where an officer finds himself wrestling with a subject. Stun guns can also be used after an arrest, to subdue someone in a vehicle or a jail cell. Because these spaces are enclosed, pepper spray would not be an effective choice of weapon-the use of such sprays could impact police as easily as it disables their attackers.

There are a variety of protocols and rules that a police officer must follow before using any weapon. Ultimately, however, it is up to the individual officer to decide which method is the best for use in a particular situation. When a cop deals with an aggressive unarmed person, the officer can turn to one of these weapons as an alternative getting in a fist fight with his aggressor.

The police must also take caution when dealing with pregnant women, the elderly, and children. For example, if a pregnant woman is threatening a police officer with a knife, the officer may want to use pepper spray instead of a taser; the spray is less likely to cause harm to the infant.

No matter which non-lethal method a police officer uses when dealing with a suspect, all are viable alternatives to firearms. Armed with these non-lethal alternatives, an officer is able to avoid the use of lethal force whenever possible. Police agencies that have implemented these alternatives have seen the rate of police shooting suspects decrease dramatically.


Although this article speaks of non-lethal, self-defense tools that police officers use, it must be noted that private individuals can use all of these same tools to protect themselves from harm as well. The fact that police agencies provide these tools to their officers is a testament to the effectiveness of these tools in very specific situations. By examining your own activities and lifestyle, using this article as a guide, you can determine which of thses self-defense tools could best protect you and your family in the event that you are faced with a threat of harm.