[Palm Beach (FL) Post - 3/19/02] It looks like a Space Age squirt gun with a gumball machine on top, but it gives cops an incapacitating triple whammy without causing death or serious injury.
The PepperBall device -- the maker doesn't want to call it a gun -- makes only a light pop when fired. It has practically no recoil, but the projectile it hurls can stop a man in mid-stride.
About 100 Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies have been trained to fire the non-lethal weapon. It uses compressed air to launch round, marble-size projectiles at more than 300 feet per second, as fast as the operator can pull the trigger.
Typically aimed at the center of the chest, the projectiles have a one-two punch that cause intense pain and psychological shock.
The third incapacitating effect comes from release of pepper spray powder that envelops the upper body and causes extreme irritation of the eyes and lungs. Deputies are trained to aim for the chest, because a shot to someone's head could cause serious injury.
The system was first used to subdue protesters at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, according to its maker, Jaycor Tactical Systems of San Diego. It also was used successfully by the Salt Lake County sheriff's office to subdue a bottle-throwing group that tried to crash a packed beer garden on the eve of the Winter Olympics closing ceremonies, said Dennis Cole, Jaycor's training director. At the Palm Beach County Sheriff's shooting range at 20- Mile-Bend, six-foot, 240-pound deputy Russell Jackowitz recently volunteered as a target during classes and took two projectiles, one in the chest and one in the hip.
"It was a shock and definitely stopped me," said Jackowitz, who has a thick torso. "I don't know if I could have taken four hits in a row. It made me step back."
And those were training projectiles that didn't contain pepper-spray powder.
The device is not a substitute for firearms, and wouldn't be used in a shootout or other situations requiring deadly force, trainers said.
But people who threaten officers with a knife or club from a distance could be taken down by it without suffering lasting injuries, they said.
The sheriff's training chief, Capt. Alan May, said the PepperBall can be used from a longer range than regular pepper spray canisters and combines impact with the chemical.
"Everybody benefits because we don't wind up shooting someone," May said.
The department has seven of the $400 devices and wants to get 50 more so SWAT and riot control teams can be equipped, said sheriff's trainer Cpl. Johnny Hyde.
"Our plan is also to use it at the jail for situations where someone won't come out of a cell," Hyde said. "That way deputies and the prisoner won't get hurt" in a fight.
Training started about a month ago, and so far no deputy has used the device against anyone. But another so-called "impact device" called a SAGE gun, that shoots non-lethal projectiles without pepper spray, has been used many times by deputies in situations that didn't require deadly force, May said.
The SAGE has a larger projectile and hits much harder than the PepperBall, but is heavier, more difficult to use and has more potential to hurt the person targeted, Hyde said.
"Policemen have always had a gap between using firearms or pepper spray," said Cole, a retired San Diego County sheriff's captain. "Now there's an alternative. Stand back 30 feet, and stop the aggression."
Ideally, another officer with a firearm would be on the scene for backup in case something went wrong with the non-lethal approach, he said. Only one problem has been reported, when it failed to control a man in Lowell, Mass., and the company is studying the incident, Cole said.
Cole said police typically fire the PepperBall once and watch reaction to it. If necessary, more shots are fired to subdue the person.
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[posted 3/23/02]
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