According to the provisions of the Law "On Police", officials are allowed to use special means to render psychological and physical impact. Not all employees have equal access to such authority; in order to obtain permission to use the funds, qualifications and permission from a higher authority are required. We will understand what special means and active defense means are.
Police right to use special means
As mentioned earlier, employees of law enforcement agencies are allowed to use special tools in their work. The law strictly establishes cases when it is allowed:
- to prevent an attack on a policeman or any citizen;
- termination of the resistance that the employee has during detention or in other actions;
- the detention of a person who was caught at the time the crime was committed;
- preventing an armed attack;
- deliveries to internal affairs bodies to prevent an attempt to escape or cause harm;
- suppression of illegal actions of any degree of danger;
- vehicle stops and in other cases listed in the article of law.
Now let's move on to what special means are. These are technical devices or animals that are used by employees to make their work more efficient. The procedure, conditions and consequences of applying them are strictly regulated by law, because in one way or another, the means limit the rights of citizens. There are a great many such devices. For example, handcuffs, rubber sticks, devices that destroy barriers, armored vehicles, water cannons, electroshock devices and much more.
Varieties of special tools
All funds, depending on why they are needed and in what area are used, are divided into three global groups:
- Personal protective equipment. The name itself suggests that such funds are intended to protect the employee during operations from firearms, sticks, batons or other methods of physical impact. As protection, this group includes helmets, body armor, and various shields. Personal protective equipment and active defense are mainly used in combination, so that the health of a police officer is not harmed.
- Funds providing assistance in conducting special operations. If the first group is aimed at protecting personnel, the second group has an impact on the offender. Its nature may be different; these are tear substances, and psychological, and light, acoustic effects. In addition, the group includes means of stopping transport, eliminating obstacles and much more.
- Active Defense Means (SAO) is a separate large group, which we will talk about in more detail.
Characteristics of the CAO
Designed to reflect the active actions of offenders, which are manifested in attack, disobedience, resistance with the use of third-party auxiliary means. Using active defense means, police officers exert influence on criminals by means of quick physical as well as painful influence. The complexity of the use of such funds lies in the fact that injuries to the offender or other damage should not be inflicted.
Active defense means are intended to influence criminals only when all other types of means have not provided the functions and tasks of the police. To use them, the offender must maliciously violate the law and public order or commit a serious crime. In this regard, the proportionality of the social danger of the offender with the methods of influence applied to him is important.
Examples
We give some examples and determine what applies to active defense means. Complete exhaustive lists are regulated in the orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, which are hidden from the public and are secret. This category includes an extensive list of devices - chemical, electrical or light-sound. Active defense means include:
- A striking example is the special rubber stick. There are many of its modifications and forms. The essence and purpose are reduced to use in a confined space, a room. Among the advantages noted flexibility and ease of use. It is forbidden to apply to blows on the neck, groin, collarbone or on the head.
- Carbine. It refers to both active defense means and the type of weapon authorized to be carried by police officers. It is used in extremely rare cases when riots, seizures or other mass incidents occur.
- Electroshock devices. Designed to influence the offender by means of current, they are temporarily taken out of a conscious state, which allows you to transport a person to the desired institution.
- Tear mixtures are also active defense means that act on the human mucosa and have an irritating effect. They cause lacrimation and irritation, do not lead to any serious consequences and do not cause damage to health. Only temporarily knock down the normal functioning of the body of the criminal.
- Means that are aimed at restricting the ability to move.
We gave only a few examples that are the most striking and familiar, then we will consider the groups into which, depending on the nature of the action, all CAO are divided.
Traumatic SAO
These include rubber sticks, gas pistols, carbines, grenades. If we already talked about the stick, then we bypassed other means. Vivid examples of individual active defense are grenades and carbines. The first are light-sound and affect the sensations and organs of the criminal. They are recognized as tame and as a result lead to the appearance of a bright flash of light, as well as to a loud sound. All of this is designed in such a way that serious harm is not inflicted on either violators or employees. Special carbines are equipped with rubber bullets, which can not cause significant harm, but temporarily disable the intruder.
Restrictions
The only representative of special active defense equipment of this group are handcuffs. Over time and as technology advances, modifications can be completely different. The only thing that remains is the presence of two arcs that tightly bound the hands, and a chain that unites these arcs and does not allow you to move your arms in wide amplitude. Handcuffs are actively used at the time of detention and escort of the offender to the police department. Maintenance is very simple - you need only once every six months to inspect the lock and lubricate it, as well as rinse with gasoline.
Irritant
This includes aerosols and spray cans filled with tearful substances. The most popular, inexpensive and effective tool is the "Bird cherry". Depending on the specific composition and concentration, it can be of various types. Also a popular compound is "Lilac". They are presented in the form of grenades, like the first group, but unlike the latter, they have a pyrotechnic composition. As a result of the application, a large gas cloud appears in which the concentration of tear substances is increased. Most varieties are used exclusively in open areas. The main active substance, on the basis of which the studied group of devices works, is chloroacetophenone. This substance is white in color, consisting of small crystals and having a pungent smell of bird cherry. Such a smell can limit the mobility and activity of offenders who do not have gas masks or other means of protecting the mucous membranes.
Electroshock devices
This is a relatively new type of personal protective equipment and active defense, used since 1999. The devices operate through clothes, they are used for 1-2 seconds, which causes pain and loss of balance, as well as immobilization for 20 minutes. These devices are very popular with criminals who offer serious resistance or commit a serious crime. They exist in several different forms. Typically, this is a small device that fits into the hand of a police officer, at one end of which are two conductors at the edges. When turned on, an electric charge arises between them, which does not pose a danger to human life, but causes suffering. In order to put the device into practice, the permission of the boss is required.
The value of CAO
Active defense means are of global importance in suppressing the activity of the offender. This is the only group of special devices that are aimed at protecting the employee and resisting the enemy, therefore the structure of the group is quite broad and diverse in nature. In view of the importance and importance of the presented group, experts conduct a lot of research and develop more and more modernized, convenient and resistant devices that provide serious help to the police.