National Lawyers Guild Chicago Chapter

The Libby Scooter:

"...to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests."

"The dreadful irony is that the use of non-lethal weapons is designed to reduce the risk of fatal injury." -- Boston Police Commissioner Kathleen O'Toole "...[E]ven if properly employed, severe injury or death are still a possibility. Non-Lethal weapons shall not be required to have a zero probability of producing fatalities or permanent injuries." --GlobalSecurity.org Opposition to police adoption of so-called "Non-Lethal" or "Less-Lethal" weapons may seem counter-intuitive. Who could be against giving the police more flexibility in contolling violent persons? Don't we w! ant police officers to have options short of drawing their service arms? Won't "Non-Lethal Weapons" decrease the number of officer-involved shootings? The evidence supporting a "Yes" answer to the last question is ambiguous so far, but unpromising. The four main, apparent problems occurring in jurisdictions that have adopted "Non-Lethal Weapons" are: 1) Increasing Excessive-Force incidents, interference with First-Amendment-Protected Activities, and Denial of Public Space incidents during crowd-control . Nationally, NLG Legal Observers and others have observed a tendency by some police forces to substitute the deployment of projectile launchers and chemical irritants for negotioniation and communication in crowd control. The October, 2004, death at a Boston Red Sox victory demonstration of 21-year-old Victoria Snellgrove is perhaps the most infamous example in the U.S. The availability of these "less-lethal" weapons may increase police inclination to interfere illegally in First-Amendment-Protectected Activities. The November, 2003, Miami police response to the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting provides a disturbing example of this problem. 2) Increasing injuries and deaths among persons with mental illness. 3) Greater liklihood of police use-of-force in routine calls. 4) Tendency toward overt use of torture in incarcerated settings. Because of our emphasis, through the Legal Observer program and Mass Defense committee, on supporting First-Amendment-Protected Activities, NLG Chicago focuses on police adoption of the unconventional weapons technologies. Internationally, much of the academic, activist, and legal concern is about military applications of "non-lethal weapons." Links: Community-Based Organization: http://www.nolesslethal.org Boston-based activist group w/ on-line petition to sign. Community-Based Organization: http://www.sunshine-project.org International biotech issues activist group w/ on-line clearinghouse of documents on non-lethal weapons development. Military media website's definition of non-lethal weapons: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/non-lethal.htm List of systems in development, including "a chemical laser technology to produce a large flash, bang, and shock wave to temporarily disorient and incapacitate individuals in a crowd." Manufacturer of the weapon that killed Victoria Snelgrove: http://www.fnherstal.com/html/Index.htm International issues: http://www.btselem.org/english/Firearms/Rubber_Coated_Bullets.asp