U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Department of Defense Nonlethal Weapons and Equipment Review: A Research Guide for Civil Law Enforcement and Corrections

NCJ Number
205293
Date Published
October 2004
Length
74 pages
Annotation
This report describes the nonlethal weapons and equipment currently used (October 2004) by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as less-lethal devices used by a number of local law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Abstract
After listing every type of nonlethal weapon and equipment used by the DOD (n=58), the nonlethal weapons and equipment are listed for each branch of the armed services. This is followed by brief descriptions of each weapon and piece of equipment. The information provided includes the manufacturer, vendor, approximate cost, participating armed services, brief description of the features, and operational capability/use. Illustrative drawings or photographs are provided for each item. Five nonlethal weapons and pieces of equipment are listed and described for the U.S. Coast Guard. The same information is provided for each Coast Guard weapon and piece of equipment as is reported for those of the DOD armed services. The less-lethal devices used in civil law enforcement are listed and described for the Chicago Police Department; the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department; the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC; the Philadelphia Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team; the Seattle SWAT team; and the U.S. Marshals Service. The appendixes review the nonlethal/less-lethal technologies programs of the DOD and civil law enforcement agencies.