Trends in the Development of Non-Lethal Weapons and Special Equipment

Introduction: Crime rates are escalating in India. Civilians are forced to live amidst criminal activities happening every day. Safety is taken for granted and people end up losing lives. These lives can be saved by using personal safety products. A good design can prevent loss of human life. Need: Existing non-lethal weapons share a common flaw- they inflict serious injury and can be misused. The major flaw is that all existing products can be taken away and used by the attacker on the victim. There is a serious lack of accessibility to these products. Victims do not get enough deployment time. Method: A study was conducted to find out problems in existing products. Data revealed that the maximum population feels threatened almost every day of their life. Existing literature was reviewed, and surveys were conducted to establish the need for new design solutions. Purpose: Not every fight requires a lethal response. Therefore, non-lethal weapons should be owned by civilians for personal safety. The product will empower the victim. Self-sufficiency in personal safety will reduce both dependency on authorities and crime rates. Conclusion: To reduce the fear of crime and its occurrence, non-lethal weapons and safety products can be redesigned. This will solve existing problems and provides safety to all and save lives.

In practice it will be for the jury to determine whether the weapon used by the principal is sufficiently different from that contemplated by the accomplice for there to be a departure from the joint enterprise, but it can be imagined how difficulties might arise where, for example, the agreement is to hit the victim with bare fists and the

This section describes key issues and particular considerations with respect to the use of certain less-lethal weapons. The list of less-lethal weapons here is not exhaustive, but it includes those most commonly used in contemporary law enforcement. Certain weapons are designed to be used against individuals, while others, less discriminate, are intended for use against groups of individuals. The description of risks or potentially unlawful use is not exhaustive, but rather presents the most common problems associated with a particular type of weapon.

This thesis represents the first critical examination of the proliferation of sublethal weapons in Australian policing. It traces the introduction of such weapons in Australian policing, with an emphasis on Conducted Energy Weapons (CEWs), in particular Tasers®. Using a multi-method, phronetic approach it examines whether the rhetoric used to support the introduction of CEWs is reflected in the policies related to the use of such weapons and in evidence about their use in the field. Phronetic methodology aims to explain social phenomena via the piecing together of large and small details that form the context of events; in this case the introduction of CEWs in Australia, the resulting policies established to control the weapon’s use (excluding Tasmania and South Australia where access to the policy documents was refused) and also evidence about its use in practice. This comparative analysis of CEW use in each Australian state and territory is directed at three specific sites: the rhetoric used in relation to the introduction and further justification of CEW use by police across Australia, the policies used to guide police in their use and the available evidence about how CEWs are used in practice. The analysis draws on a broad range of sources incorporating document, news media and interview material. The findings draw attention to the phenomenon of ‘mission creep’ occurring in Australia, where CEWs have come to be used well outside of their original intended purpose. The thesis shows that this pattern has already been observed in relation to Oleoresin Capsicum spray (OC Spray), which is the other type of sublethal weapon widely adopted by police in Western democracies. It is now being observed internationally in relation to CEWs. The thesis therefore adds an Australian perspective to a growing body of literature suggesting that sublethal weapons’ use by police is likely to have a corrosive effect on police/ community relationships and, crucially, on the principle of minimum force. It further argues that the weapons may have a profound impact on the delicate balance of consensual versus coercive policing styles. The analysis is set against the broader history of CEWs, and especially events in North America, where electronic weaponry evolved. Experiences in Britain and New Zealand are also examined briefly. The findings also demonstrate that the reasons for CEW adoption by police across jurisdictions, nationally and internationally, are very similar. It is argued that this is the case because decisions (and policy making) have been based on a series of misconceptions about sublethal weapons’ utility. The thesis argues that the problems arising in jurisdictions that use CEWs are so similar as to warrant a set of clear statements about the potential consequences of their inappropriate deployment in Australia. On this basis, this research concludes by making an argument for the importance of establishing strict national guidelines to control the use of CEWs and by offering a range of observations on what such guidelines could look like.

The author agrees with the thesis of the verdict according to which, “the legal protection that is due to a public official granted to a physician in Art. 44 of the Act of 5 December 1996 on the Professions of a Physician and a Dentist Physician and in Art. 5 of the Act of 8 September 2006 on National Medical Emergency Service does not cover situations other than providing short-term assistance (i.e. providing first aid and performing emergency medical procedures) or medical assistance where any delay would result in exposing to danger of loss of life, grievous bodily harm or health disorder, and in other urgent cases”.