Officers to Swap Lethal Tools for Pepper Spray

Celebrating the International Human Rights Day in Malacanang in the Philippines, the Philippine National Police have said that they are thinking about stripping their officers of their lethal traditional firearms, to replace them with non-lethal devices such as pepper spray, batons and weapons that fire rubber bullets as a way to fight crime.

The PNP would give priority to the creation of a plan that would specify the employment of non-lethal weapons. The PNP would research the most efficient non-lethal devices which would potentially be adopted by the PNP.

Non-lethal weapons would essentially be part of the PNP’s main objective when it comes to promoting human rights in the Philippines.

The promotion of human rights would mean a strength factor for the PNP’s Human Rights Desk, the increase of PNP Human Rights Education and Training, the publication of a PNP Human Rights Desk Operations Manual, in addition to enhanced interaction with the public.

However, while providing officers with pepper spray for them to employ while on duty is ideal, effective training would have to be undertaken for the officers involved to fully understand how to utilize the spray canister in the most effective way possible.

When it comes to apprehending a suspect, officers want to apprehend them in order to take them away into custody. This they can’t do if a lethal weapon has been employed in order to subdue them. After all, a lethal firearm is deadly and has the potential to cause life threatening harm. On the other hand, a non-lethal device isn’t deadly and does not have the potential to cause life threatening harm, which is why non-lethal devices are the perfect answer to police needs regardless of the country they are from.

Remember though, that pepper spray and the other non-lethal devices aforementioned should only be employed as a way to effectively prevent a suspect from continuing with their hostile behavior towards others. It’s important that they are not abused as their main role is to protect the lives of others.