Time For “Less-Lethal” Restraints

Think about the numerous incidents of police trying to arrest a person (often of color) who is armed with a knife and who refuses to surrender. Are there other ways of trying to resolve this matter? Recently, on March 28, the Associated Press released an article identifying the number of persons who died after being “tased” by police — more than 1,000!

Are there other methods of “less-than-lethal” methods of controlling persons with blunt or sharped instruments other than the Taser? I think there are. And thinking, innovative and creative police leaders need to search them out and experiment with them.

The AP recently asked a valid question: “Why did over 1,000 people during the last decade die after police subdued them with force that isn’t meant to kill?”

They wrote, “Every day, police rely on common tactics that, unlike guns, are meant to stop people without killing them, such as physical holds, Tasers and body blows. But when misused, these tactics can still end in death — as happened with George Floyd in 2020, sparking a national reckoning over policing. 

“Over a decade, more than 1,000 people died after police subdued them through means not intended to be lethal, an investigation led by The Associated Press found. In hundreds of cases, officers weren’t taught or didn’t follow best safety practices for physical force and weapons, creating a recipe for death.”

Here’s one way to solve this problem that has been used for centuries in Asia; the Japanese police weapon called the “sasumata.”

Here’s my suggestion. And we need to talk about it and quit depending on the Taser to solve this problem for us! It is time to “think outside the box.” And the “box” is dependence on ECDs (Electronic Control Devices) such as the Taser to be the only option in these situations.

The key is that the use of this non-lethal weapon is not to be on a “one-versus-one” basis, but rather using two or more police officers using this weapon to control and arrest a person armed with blunt or bladed weapons. Or a person unarmed, but physically out of control.

Japanese police training on using the sasumata. This weapon has been historically was used as a non-deadly alternate to use of force.

The following video shows it being used by Chinese police to control a man wielding a large knife in a public place. Can you think of situations in which the use of “man-catchers” would be more effective (and more publicly accepted) than the use of a firearm?

Here’s two “real-time” incidents of police in China and Thailand effectively using this weapon.