When faced with a violent individual, particularly one wielding a knife or another type of weapon, law enforcement personnel frequently find themselves with few choices beyond employing lethal force.
Within one Moore County police department, the Police Chief and the leadership team here have diligently worked to provide their officers with the equipment and training that allow for alternatives to deadly force.
At the Aberdeen Police Department, officers are equipped with multiple strategies besides discharging a firearm when dealing with a potentially aggressive suspect in specific situations.
This includes conventional weapons like a Taser, pepper spray, and batons that officers have on their belts, along with other specialized tools crafted for scenarios where non-lethal force may be necessary to control a suspect.
Under Police Chief Brian Chavis, the department has converted all of its shotguns over from firing conventional rounds that could kill a suspect, so that all of these shotguns now fire bean bag rounds, which are meant to incapacitate as a less than lethal round.
Interestingly these shotguns are all a bright orange color on the stock and pump of the gun, so as to clearly identify the shotgun as a less than lethal weapon. Every officer on the road patrols with one of these weapons available in their vehicles.
There may inevitably be instances when an officer must resort to self-defense or the defense of the public employing any necessary measures, which may include lethal force through the use of a firearm, which they carry on their side.
Even with access to these weapons, officers never want to injure or kill a suspect if at all possible. Anytime someone can be taken into custody using minimal force measures, that is always their primary goal.
Another important advancement at the police department in Aberdeen this year under Chief Chavis, is a mandate that all officers will wear body cameras when on duty that are activated during any law enforcement interaction. This even includes the departments plain clothes detectives.
This is combined with the vehicle mounted video systems that had already been actively used by the department before to ensure that should any incident happen in the field it is documented to protect both the officers and the public, while also potentially preserving important evidence.
The Aberdeen Police Department is well on the way to ensuring it's officers are as equipped as possible to face the dangers that they must confront daily in the performance of their duties.
Other agencies in the county have access to similar less than lethal weapons. We focused on the Aberdeen department for this article after speaking to the Chief about some of the changes being made as he has taken over leadership of the department.
We look forward to bringing you additional news in the future as the department continues making strides to meet some of the Chiefs goals since taking over the position less than one year ago.
09/19/24
Billy Marts
댓글