Spurt in riots prompts Delhi Police to demand hi-tech weapons

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Nov 08, 2014: The Delhi Police wants to get its riot acts right. An increase of around 58 per cent in rioting cases this year over the last has prompted Bassi’s boys to look at non-lethal devices called PepperBall guns to control mobs and crowds.

 

These devices have been used to very good effect by security forces during recent riots in Belgium and Hong Kong, and are part of the standard issue for riot control in the US and most European countries.

A PepperBall projectile, also called a pepperspray ball, is a projectile fired from a launcher that looks quite like a modern firearm. The projectile is a payload of a powdered chemical that disperses on impact and causes severe eye and nose irritation for a few minutes, thus forcing disassembly in mob or crowd situations.

Delhi Police chief B.S. Bassi on Friday tried out the new weapons in the lawns of his force’s headquarters. Murmurs of appreciation greeted the good marksmanship of Delhi’s top cop even as Bassi got firsthand experience of the ease with which these weapons can be handled.

Delhi has seen several incidents of rioting and public disturbance after 2012, and the police has had to rely on the old lathi-teargas method. Water cannon has been used on some occasions, but the device has earned the force the ire of the National Human Rights Commission.

 

Courtesy: Indiatoday