Ask anyone what one of the most difficult situations law enforcement personnel find themselves in and they will tell you when it comes to drawing a weapon on a potential crime suspect. Split second decisions need to be made and can result in situations of life or death for the officer and the assailant. All too often in the recent times there have been cases where unarmed suspects have been shot and killed because officers found themselves in a situation where they felt the need to draw and use their weapon. There have been recent technological developments that may help law enforcement when making a decision of this nature with the introduction of bullet capture technology for their weapons.
What is Bullet Capture Technology?
There is a recent creation by a company called Alternative Ballistics that is called the Alternative and can provide officers with an option when faced with a potential situation. The Alternative is designed to be a device that can cause blunt force impact on a suspect to incapacitate a suspect enough where law enforcement can safely take charge of the scene and apprehend the suspect. The technology is a simple orange device that officers can attach to the top of their handgun. The device can be quickly mounted onto to the top of the weapon and it features an extension on it that holds a projectile on the front about the size of a ping pong ball that is made of a strong alloy. When the officer fires their weapon, the alloy at the end captures the bullet and the bullet is then embedded in the alloy, encasing the bullet and firing the projectile at the suspect in order to injure the suspect enough where they can be knocked down and subdued.
The Pros of This Technology
Naturally there is an upside to this type of technology for law enforcement. Currently when an officer is faced with a volatile situation their only option remains one of lethal forced through the use of their gun and bullets. This provides officers with another option, giving them the chance to cause pain to a suspect without the force being lethal. The Alternative is designed so the bullet does not pierce human skin since it is encased in alloy but it will cause great pain and knock a person over, giving the officer potentially enough time to subdue the suspect without further incident.
The use of this bullet capture technology could be a real breakthrough as far as the use of force in law enforcement and provides officers with a very viable option when lethal force may not be required. This can potentially save a great a number of lives when used. The technology is being tested by a number of police departments and there are still some skeptics and criticisms of the technology and how it can be used effectively; however this type of technology could be an important step in helping to reduce the number of deaths that occur during confrontations.