Los Angeles Times: Study: Rubber Bullets Dangerous

[url]http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/ats-ap_intl16may23.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dtopinternational[/url]

Study: Rubber Bullets Dangerous
By EMMA ROSS
AP Medical Writer

May 23 2002, 5:59 PM PDT

LONDON -- Some types of rubber bullets used by police to restrain unruly
protesters kill and maim too often to be considered a safe method of crowd
control, new research concludes.

Rubber-coated bullets are intended to inflict superficial painful injuries to
deter rioters. But a study of their use by Israeli security forces has found
police often fire from too close and aim poorly. Even when fired properly, it
said, the bullets are so inaccurate that they can cause unintended injuries.

The study, published this week in The Lancet medical journal, examined the
effects of rubber-coated bullets used by the Israeli police force during riots
by Israeli Arabs in northern and central Israel in early October 2000.

Those bullets are in fact made of metal encased in a rubber shell, and are
different from the original rubber bullets first used in 1970 by the British in
Northern Ireland.

The British rubber bullets were designed to be fired at the ground so that they
would bounce up and hit the legs of demonstrators. Britain stopped using rubber
bullets in Northern Ireland in 1975 in favor of shorter, less inaccurate plastic
ones.

Other variations of rubber bullets are used in several countries, including the
United States. These include rubber-coated metal bullets, rubber plugs, plastic
bullets called baton rounds, and beanbag rounds -- fabric beanbags about the
size of a tea bag filled with lead pellets.

Each type has a different effect on the human body under different
circumstances.

Mike McBride, editor of Jane's Police and Security Equipment, said the Israeli
findings have no bearing on other types of crowd control ammunition.

"There are lots of different manufacturers out there making lots of different
types of riot control projectiles," McBride said.

Baton rounds, or pure plastic bullets, are used in Northern Ireland today. They
are lighter, faster and more accurate than their rubber predecessors, McBride
said.

"They've been used 166 times in Northern Ireland, twice in mainland Britain, and
there have been no deaths associated with the use of those," he said.

-- continued --

In the United States, local police make their own decisions on what to use for
crowd control, and methods vary across the country.

The study, conducted by doctors at the Rambam Medical Center at Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa in northern Israel, involved 152 people who
were admitted to hospitals in early October 2000 with a total of 201 wounds from
rubber-coated bullets.

Israel says it uses rubber bullets and tear gas as non-lethal methods of crowd
control to reduce casualties. However, former police commander Alik Ron told a
public hearing last September into the Arabi Israeli riots that police were not
trained to use rubber bullets and sometimes shot from a short -- and lethal --
distance at rioters.

In the study, the scientists documented for each patient which regions of the
body were hit, whether the bullets penetrated the flesh, the severity of the
injuries, surgeries that were needed and the final outcome.

There were two types of rubber-coated bullets used during the riots.

The first type, recommended for firing at the legs of a specific person from at
least 131 feet away, is a blunt cylindrical missile composed of three metal
cores coated in hard rubber shells. It is fired from a special canister that
fits onto the muzzle of a gun. The bullet splits into three after it is shot.

The other bullet type is composed of 15 tiny rubber-covered metal balls packed
together into a cartridge. When fired from the recommended distance, they
disperse to form a circle about 22 feet across. This type of bullet is
recommended for use against groups of people.

The researchers found the bullet injuries were randomly distributed all over the
body. They were mostly in the limbs, but also frequently found in the head,
neck, face and chest.

Bullets that hit the legs caused the least damage, while those that hit the face
usually caused the most harm, often permanent.

"This type of inaccurate ammunition -- one missile that breaks into three
components immediately after firing -- and the resulting ricochets evidently
make it difficult or impossible to avoid severe injuries to vulnerable body
regions such as the head, neck and upper torso," the study said.

Nearly 60 percent of the bullet wounds were above the belly button, which
suggests the police were not always aiming at the legs, the study said.

The researchers determined from the pattern of wounds and bone fractures that
bullets were also sometimes fired from close range.

Almost half the injuries were mild, but 35 percent were considered moderately
severe wounds and 19 percent were severe.

Three people were blinded and one patient turned psychotic, the study said.

-- continued --

Two people were killed after bullets went through the eyes and pierced the
brain, the study found. Another patient died from a complication after surgery.

* _

On the Net:

http://thelancet.com
Copyright 2002 Associated Press

In the United States, local police make their own decisions on what to use for
crowd control, and methods vary across the country.

The study, conducted by doctors at the Rambam Medical Center at Technion-Israel
Institute of Technology in Haifa in northern Israel, involved 152 people who
were admitted to hospitals in early October 2000 with a total of 201 wounds from
rubber-coated bullets.

Israel says it uses rubber bullets and tear gas as non-lethal methods of crowd
control to reduce casualties. However, former police commander Alik Ron told a
public hearing last September into the Arabi Israeli riots that police were not
trained to use rubber bullets and sometimes shot from a short -- and lethal --
distance at rioters.

In the study, the scientists documented for each patient which regions of the
body were hit, whether the bullets penetrated the flesh, the severity of the
injuries, surgeries that were needed and the final outcome.

There were two types of rubber-coated bullets used during the riots.

The first type, recommended for firing at the legs of a specific person from at
least 131 feet away, is a blunt cylindrical missile composed of three metal
cores coated in hard rubber shells. It is fired from a special canister that
fits onto the muzzle of a gun. The bullet splits into three after it is shot.

The other bullet type is composed of 15 tiny rubber-covered metal balls packed
together into a cartridge. When fired from the recommended distance, they
disperse to form a circle about 22 feet across. This type of bullet is
recommended for use against groups of people.

The researchers found the bullet injuries were randomly distributed all over the
body. They were mostly in the limbs, but also frequently found in the head,
neck, face and chest.

Bullets that hit the legs caused the least damage, while those that hit the face
usually caused the most harm, often permanent.

"This type of inaccurate ammunition -- one missile that breaks into three
components immediately after firing -- and the resulting ricochets evidently
make it difficult or impossible to avoid severe injuries to vulnerable body
regions such as the head, neck and upper torso," the study said.

Nearly 60 percent of the bullet wounds were above the belly button, which
suggests the police were not always aiming at the legs, the study said.

The researchers determined from the pattern of wounds and bone fractures that
bullets were also sometimes fired from close range.

Almost half the injuries were mild, but 35 percent were considered moderately
severe wounds and 19 percent were severe.

Three people were blinded and one patient turned psychotic, the study said.

-- continued --

BTT - because there is discussion about arming pilots with guns and also less lethal alternatives.

Good find.  Thanks.