Evening star., 1932-10-30

or they can wade in, clubbing and
IN shooting and hurt lot OF people In
either case they get cussed out
Their problem is in ways more dlfncuit
than that which confronts soldiers in the pres
ence of the enemy. The latter have no obl!ga-
tions to their opponents and can without com
junction do them all the harm they want to
while they bar them from their objective.
But the police are dealing with fellow
citizens: they are legally the servants of the
very men whose madness they are trying to
hold in check So they must measure their
blows and do only what is needed to carry out
their orders.
The trouble is that the police have never had
flexible enough weapon for this particular
task Bare hands even night sticks, often will
not avail to stop mob. But the only thing
left is the revolver and the revolver is primarily
a weapon of war designed to kill or MAIN
man rather than merely to stop him.
What the police really need is something that
will enable one or two men to disable score
or a hundred for a few minutes or few hours.
but leave them the worse for it after
wards
OUCH a weapon is already available, say
- officers OF the Chemical Warfare Service
of the United States Army. Several Of the
non-deadly gases exceently adapted for
police use, they state, and need only be studied
bit by intelligent members Of the police forces
to give them greatly increased command over
some of their toughest problems and at the
same time greatly diminish permanent ill con-
sequences to the poDulace and i'll will toward
themselves.
Tear gas and of its relatives will do
exactly what is needed in handling mobS. yet
leave not so much black eye bruised
head afterward.
number Of advantages claimed for tear
gas and the other non-lethal gases by members
of the Chemical Warfare Service.
They call attention. first. to the fact that
with gas the effects of its use can be measured.
and adapted closely to the ends in view.
mere Whit OF tear gas is enough to scatter an
irresolute mob without commanding leaders.
But hard and desperate gang of convcts
in a prison riot might need severe medicine, and
for them a 6ose of DIN" toxic smoke might be
prescribed leaving them nauseated and seasick
for a couple of hours. Firearms have only one
answer to both widely differing problems-and
that answer is really too drastic fo- either.
A GAIN, if you f:e on a mob. the actual
material effect of your fire lasts only as
long as you are firing But gas has longer
Duration anywhere from few minutes to days
or weeks. depending on what gas you use and
how much of it you release.
This property of the gas weapon is especially
valuable if you are dealing with persistent
mob-say one that is determined upon lynch
ing. A court house lawn drenched with tear gas
is not likely to be invaded b. the mob second
time the same night. gang OF desperadoeS
gassed out of barricaded house will not go
back in even in the face of certain capture.
A third advantage claimed for gas IN ponce
use is its complete impartiality. No one escapes.
If YOU are in a mob and the police begin shoot
ing -our chances OF being hit are really quite
rem0te
In the afray It the Fort Dearborn plant OF
the Ford works last March there were some
5000 narch,rs Of whom about "a were hit by
police bullets and that was counted, rightly,
tragically large casualty list. Yet "a out OF
5000 is very small percentage
If the police had had plenty of tear gas every
one in that mob would have got dose OF It
and he would have known in advance that he
would get it, and probably would have made
himself scarce accordingly.
The knowledge that everybody is going to get
hit if the police dr2w their weapons, instead of
only ore in 2 h'l26~ed, chould have powerful
psychological efIe
Corollary to tfi1 advantage of gas is the fact
that with it the policeman can shoot around
the corne~." When machine guns rattle in the
streets, even byStanderS run no farther than the
nearest corner, duck behind an IL" pillar.
Sheer curiosity, if not actual hostility, holGS you
to the spot to see the show
hiding places 1t will follow you into an alley,
down cellar steps behind the garbage can
anywhere you go. Wherefore the member of