Prison to get non-lethal guns
(CNS): Government appears to have plans to arm local prison officers, according to a release from a Canadian firm which makes non-lethal weapons. Lamperd Less Lethal Inc has announced that the Cayman Islands will be buying the firm’s full line of ‘launchers’ and the less lethal AR/15 50 cal. with which to arm its prison officers. CNS has contacted the prison and the Portfolio of Internal Affairs to ask for more details on the plans to arm officers with these weapons and is awaiting a response. It is not known at this stage how many weapons have been purchased, who will use them and when. However, Lamperd said it had been working with Cayman for two years and officers have trained at the firm’s facility in the past.
The weapons manufacturer said it was pleased that Cayman had chosen its product line rather than the stun gun technology, which it said is associated with numerous deaths worldwide, while Lamperd’s products have caused zero deaths. The firm, which is based in Ontario, said it has 40 years experience in manufacturing police and military products and its patented Wasp round is composed of a specialized composite that allows the ammunition to maintain its properties over a wide range of temperatures, from 58 to 212 degrees F. It also dissipates energy, inflicting what the firm said was an adequate but not lethal trauma to the target, the firm claims.
Less lethal or non-lethal weapons are arms which fire rubber or wax bullets that are less likely to kill a victim, though they can still inflict serious harm. The firm said the weaponry is designed to ensure the safety of military and civil defence personnel by disabling an opponent rather than killing. It is used by military and police forces around the world for crowd control and peacekeeping activities. It is particularly well suited for situations where there would be a likelihood of harm to bystanders if conventional weapons were employed, the firm states on its website.
Lamperd said it has developed a line of exceptionally high quality launcher systems, which have gained widespread industry attention for their accuracy, ease of use and flexibility, and whichthe CIG has reportedly bought.
Category: Headline News
So what happens when an officer holding a non lethal gun comes across a criminal with a lethal gun?
Can you see the headlines now
1 Officer shot dead while police is on the lookout for criminal with bullet shaped bruise
Better than nothing i suppose
I am extremely happy to hear this, it about time that these officers are given realistic means of restraining some of the prisoners that may pose a security risk to the prison and prison officers.
Government need to see to it that the police is given some of these non lethal guns too.
Why is it that we only seem to get to hear what is directly affecting us here in Cayman, through foreign media and not from our own government or media? First the mutant mosquito thing and now this? What next?
Why are the people of Cayman so ill-informed by those responsible for them?
Well this is another interesting conundrum. According to the internationally accepted use of force continuum, i.e. an officers reasonable responses to threat levels, an officer deploying non-lethal ammo has reached the level of force in the continuum known as ‘deadly force’. According to the U.K., at least, training guidelines, an officer who deploys non-lethal ammo, which then fails, has to be prepared to then move to conventional ammunition if the threat still exists, or is not ‘neutralised’. .
Frankly, I wouldn’t want to see the majority of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Farce armed with a rolled up newspaper, never mind a firearm.
It seems as if the Prison is doing better than the Police. At least they are trying to get something to protect their Officers, but the Police seems to enjoy have their Officers exposed to the elements. The last time I checked, the element in a lead bullet was known to kill when fired from a gun. Can someone explain that to the man in charge?
This is a step in the right direction maybe they could issue the police some non lethal handguns and a real hand gun as back up so they could start being real policemen and enforcing the law. They could react to violent \\ lethal situations without having to wait for fire arms to be issued. If they aren’t mentally capable of carrying firearm,s they should not be police officers in the first place. Train them arm them and get them out on the streets where they belong protecting the public. They could start taking this island back from the criminal element that is operating here.
Great!
But what about the Police… I am getting sick of hearing about unarmed officers making to reports late! A 100 armed Police force would be more effective than a 300+ unarmed force who hide up in the police station all day!
Non-lethal guns? We don’t need that! Remember that famous TV prison named Oz. They need the Oz treatment… some Cow-cod.
Can the public get these "non-lethal" guns as well for our own protection??????????
And they are only non-lethal when the projectile hits you in the body. If you hit someone in the head… Better start making those prison officers into 1st grade marksmans.
P.S. they f"ing hurt and will put any man or gangster wannabe on his knees begging for mercy.