Lightfield Less Lethal Research
Lightfield Less Lethal Research’s line of star-shaped impact munitions look like plastic koosh balls, but they pack a punch. The koosh ball design of the rounds allows them to fit into 12-gauge shells. It also eliminates almost any chance of penetration by the round when used as directed. The sea-urchin-shaped munitions also flatten out, distributing their kinetic energy across a wider area of impact than standard bean bags or sock rounds.
Lt. Joseph Garcia of the U.S. Corrections Special Operations Group (US C-SOG) is the officer in charge for the Berks County Prison SOG team in Pennsylvania. Because corrections officers do not carry lethal weapons, use of long distance less lethal devices is important. Otherwise, officers must come in close contact with inmates, which is inherently dangerous. That’s where Lightfield Less Lethal comes in.
“We used Lightfield Less Lethal about a week-and-a-half ago on an inmate in an open housing unit area,” says Garcia. “He had hot water he said had bleach in it and he said he had a shank. From a distance, we were able to engage the inmate and deploy two mid-range slugs from the door 30 feet away from us. And we got compliance pretty quick. We were able to hit him once in the shin and once in the calf.”
Lightfield sales and training specialist Neil Keegstra says the company’s SuperStar can be safely shot at a suspect from as little as two yards out to an effective range of 15 yards. The StarLite contains less powder in the shell and can be used from as little as one yard out to an effective range of 10 yards. Because corrections incidents almost always occur in close quarters, this range is especially important.
“We use them primarily for hostage rescue in what we call a close-quarters operation because of the accuracy of that round,” says Garcia. “And it’s a little more palatable, instead of blowing some guy’s head to smithereens, to knock him out cold.”
But one of the biggest selling points for Garcia and his agency is the array of 12-gauge less-lethal munitions that Lightfield Less Lethal offers, allowing officers to escalate along the use-of-force continuum as necessary.
“Using Lightfield Less Lethal munitions is safer for the officer and cleaner for the agency because they’re able to justify it more articulately,” says Garcia. “It’s cleaner all the way around. Even the inmates can understand that if a police officer uses any impact tools, once an inmate says, ‘No more,’ I automatically hold, and he complies.”
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