MHPS will equip 12 officers with less-lethal, non-penetrating projectile guns

By Jeremy Appel on October 20, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

The Medicine Hat Police Service is equipping its frontline patrol officers with a less-lethal gun that shoots plastic, non-penetrating projectiles.

Next month, a dozen officers will be trained to use the 37mm single-shot projectile launcher, which fires a large plastic round.

MHPS Insp. Joe West says while the device has been available to tactical units since 2008, the force decided to expand its use to ensure officer and public safety.

“It’s nothing new to the MHPS or province,” he said. “What’s new is expanding the program to patrols, because it has been successful in de-escalating incidents where you can’t get close enough with a taser.”

Many of these incidents are knife calls, West added.

“Oftentimes if we wanted to use a taser, we’d have to get within a close range, which causes unnecessary danger to the officers and then the subjects,” he said.

The new device allows the force to deal with these calls at four times the distance than they would with a taser.

“To say it’s not lethal would be incorrect,” clarified West. “To be struck with one in the head or neck could be fatal.”

The officers are being “trained to absolutely minimize that possibility” by aiming for the “lower extremities,” he said.

After the training program, the MHPS plans on having up to four officers trained with the projectile launcher on the streets at any given time, according to an MHPS news release.

The program costs $9,300 and the equipment will last seven to 10 years.

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