Less-than-lethal options and riot control in maritime environment

control situation. The electrodes also have to be fired from no further than fifteen feet, and the wires on their own are a liability, especially on board a vessel with hundreds of people around. In addition, the subjects are incapable of action for the duration of the electric current, but as soon as the current is over, the individual is back in the fight. Therefore, the issue was not resolved, and in actuality probably escalated.

There is one electric devise, however, that may have been a potentially useable tool. Taser has developed a shotgun shell that delivers the same electric current. The Taser X12 can be fired from any standard 12-gauge shotgun, from a longer distance, and target specific individuals, such as those people on board the vessel who are carrying weapons and are active threats [see “Taser shows new stun gun system,”13 July 2009 HSNW]. Those individuals can then be placed under custody without injuries to any other person.

The main issue when deploying this cartridge is the tactical positioning and the location of the other people — at times numbering in the hundreds — near and around the individuals who pose an active threat. The current, again, will stop in about ten seconds, and if the soldiers were prevented from reaching the downed individual by the people surrounding that individual, then the use of the Taser will prove useless.

Rubber rounds. This ammunition is used by the IDF exclusively in riot control situations. It is a less-than-lethal option that will cause significant pain, and typically stop a person from any further aggressive approach. This ammunition can be fired from the soldiers’ weapons (added component needed) and is accurate and effective. It is my assumption that the soldiers who boarded the vessel were not equipped with such ammunition since they did not realize the type of resistance they would face.

From a riot control standpoint, for the purpose of maintaining order, the soldiers should have been equipped with ballistic shields (bunkers), and long distance less-than-lethal ammunition. In such a manner, the soldiers would have been able to remain safe, control a large number of individuals, and would have avoided indiscriminate shooting which resulted in fatalities and other injured individuals.

Many of the relevant facts are yet to be disclosed, facts which likely affected decision making at the arena. I would have to assume that if the soldiers boarding the vessel knew what they would be up against, they would have been able better to defend themselves and avoid the PR nightmare they found themselves in. All that said, it is impossible to criticize a soldier firing his weapon in order to defend himself when being attacked by multiple individuals, some armed with blunt objects, edged weapons, and even firearms.

Tzviel (BK) Blankchtein, a defensive tactics instructor, is founder and president of Masada Tactical, and may be contacted through the company’s Web site. Readers may send him questions on topics and issues which are of interest to them. He will post some of these questions, and his answers to them, in the column.