Miami Beach officers will be equipped with non-lethal shotguns
The fact that the Miami Beach officers are frequently using the deadly weapons has been highly publicized in recent years. For example, in 2011 some officers fired more than 100 rounds into a car on Miami Beach.
On Wednesday, the police department have confirmed that a new non-lethal shotgun was introduced into their arsenal which fires lead pellets and can be fired from as far as 75 feet away. This new bean bag 12-gauge shotgun will become standard issue for patrol officer.
So now, we have the advantage of we can negotiate with someone a bit more. We do have that distance if we do need to deploy it. Instead of actually deploying some bullets down range, we can deploy these bean bags, and hopefully, it does not result in death, said Officer William Collado.
The colour of the new weapons is bright orange and they can fire the lead pellets at a force of 200 feet per second. Other old shotguns were upgraded to fire the bean bag pellets.
The new non-lethal shotguns will be carried by 40 officers starting in November. Anyway, these weapons will not replace the handguns that policemen carry on their waistbands or other firearms that they may have at their disposal.
We think it's a win-win for everyone. It can cause some blunt trauma, especially bruising, and again, we're specifically designed in training to go ahead and deliver the round at a distance of not less than 20 feet, Deputy Chief Rick Clements said.
Also the Chief Dan Oates highlighted the dangers of using a lethal weapon: "We have an obligation to be constantly looking for different options to move the organization forward and reduce the potential of inadvertently harming somebody."
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