Water cannon on police shopping list

By BRIDGET CARTER

A hose that sprays water at high pressure could be introduced as a police crime-fighting tool.

It joins a short-list of weapons that give electric shocks, punch and suffocate and, if approved by the Government, could be introduced next year.

The police project manager for operations, Inspector Lindsay Duncan, said that on rare occasions, high-pressure water from a fire hose would be useful.

It could be used for crowd control or if someone was doused in petrol.

The Fire Service already uses high-pressure hoses for firefighting, but Inspector Duncan said police used them overseas.

"It is something less lethal that could work," he said.

Other equipment to be tested by police within the next month includes two new pepper spray formulas, taser "stun guns" , pepper balls (like paint ball guns) and bean bags.

Mr Duncan said pepper spray advancements on the market included a variety that could reach further than the sprays now in use and another which had reduced after effects.

Last month, a Hamilton man died after police pepper sprayed him. Two officers used the spray to subdue him and he became unconscious after he was handcuffed.

Bean bag guns fire 40g "socks" filled with lead shot, which knock their target over.

A bean bag round is not meant to penetrate the body. The impact is spread over a wide area and its blow compares to a punch from a professional boxer.

Police in Canada suspended use of the weapon in April 1997 after a man shot by a bean bag round died of blood loss.

Pepper balls and beanbags would be used only by armed offenders squads, Mr Duncan said. "If we can knock him out with a bean bag rather than shooting with a bullet, it would be great."

Tasers were likely to be used by front line police if introduced.

The weapon, which costs nearly $500, delivers a five-second, 50,000-volt electric shock. It fires two shock-delivering probes which have a range of up to 6.4m and are able to penetrate clothing.

The taser is used in the United States, Canada and Australia, and will soon to be introduced in Britain.

A British newspaper reported last week that in the US, tasers have often failed to subdue suspects and their overuse has resulted in a string of deaths.

The California Highway Patrol says that a taser's effect could vary. Some people were almost unaffected by it, particularly if they were under the influence of drugs.

This has prompted officers to either stun suspects repeatedly, killing them, or resort to guns.

The taser has also been blamed for causing death from excessive electric shocking.