SPRAY FLASHLIGHTS

Members of the Municipal Police in Prague have been already for some time successfully using a completely new equipment allowing them to conduct their actions at night in more safety and more efficiently. This “service hit” called TORNADO is currently implemented across the board within the Customs Service, while other parts of our official armed units are now testing this new equipment and consider buying it. What is it? In the opinion of many experts, it is a breakthrough category of security tools. It is a Czech product and there is nothing like it anywhere in the world – it is the so-called “spray flashlight”. Designers in the ESP Company have developed a top modern service spray enabling the user to hit the face of a perpetrator with a highly effective pepper substance at the distance of several metres. It has been supplemented with a special head containing the super strong LED diode. The main inspiration for this project came from the increased demands related to a suitable non lethal tool for specific actions conducted in bad light. According to long-term statistics, up to 80% defensive or enforcing actions takes place in semidarkness or in complete darkness.

Assistant in actions

There are still some members of security units who do not like spray and look down their noses at it. However, they are the people who probably know only obsolete, almost 30-year-old teargases. They could be only people not knowing much about the modern possibilities and utilisation ways related to the newest tools developed in the third Millennium within the policing practice. The newest kinds offer never before seen features. Firstly, they could be sprayed at surprisingly long distances and their design of the “liquid bullet” could hit the target at the distance of about 5 metres. And that is without the increased risk of hitting other people around. This provides the chance to use it also in larger rooms. The current fills, based on the cayenne pepper, are more effective also in the case of a hurried hit of a person with his or her eyes closed. The level of the paralysing effect is progressively increasing, thanks to the development of new kinds of substances. Some of the recent tests have brought convincing results showing that the modern variants (having, however, the necessary international certificates) are good enough also when used on hardened drunks and drug users. It has been well documented worldwide, but also within the experiences of policemen in Prague, who have used this new equipment, that the correct tactical use of TORNADO was surprisingly successful. When the troublemaker did not go down to the ground immediately after being hit, there is at least a good chance that it decisively limited his/her chances to attack or possibly run away. Sometimes, the spray could be a very good solution even when it is used against a group of troublemakers, or for the overcoming not manageable resistance of an extremely well physically developed individual and his final restraining. In addition, it is the so-called non lethal tool, the results of which are reversible in contrast to the use of a baton or a revolver – it means no blood, no concussions or broken bones. In short, it helps and does not harm too much. It is a much more limited application of “enforcing tools” (it is basically a different description of the use of necessary force to upheld law and order …), but without extensive resulting damage. In practice, it means the management of many precarious situations without the risk of possible consequences related to the later responsibility of law and order enforcing officers accused of an inappropriate use of force. Understandably, it offers the elegant solution without the unpleasant media and political impacts on the whole organisation.

The ability to see

At the beginning of the project resulting in this breakthrough product, there was the already mentioned fact that the big majority of cases, in which defence or enforcing tools are used, take place usually in the evening or at night. It would be highly impractical to carry a torch in one hand and the spray in the other in such situations. In addition, it is quite difficult to coordinate movements of both arms in tense moments. Darkness or bad light during a policing action do not help either. Unfortunately, similar conditions only increase delays in reactions to attacks by perpetrators and could also result in wrong or inadequate use of the enforcing power. The clear needs of in time identification of threats at the time, when there is bad visibility, and the chance to use an adequate enforcing tool at night led us to concentrate our efforts in this direction. Many policemen in the streets ask for a suitable solution. The two-year development combined with demanding tests has finally fructified. The modernising of semiconductor flashlight sources, featuring the newest LED diodes providing very strong light, has progressed so much that it allowed the integration of the highly efficient light source into the body of a classical defence spray. And it happened without the need to increase the spray size.

Policemen can use the so-called “spray flashlight” TORNADO as any other common light source during their service whenever they found themselves in dark places. It is easy to find the spray button and the torch switches on automatically after you lift the protection cap. When there is a threat, you can then effectively use the very efficient pepper spray at the distance of about 4.5 to 5 metres by simply applying pressure by your finger. The application at such a distance often resolves the indecisive situations with a passive person armed with a cold weapon. When you have the “spray flashlight” TORNADO, you can do it even in complete darkness. Both flashlight and “teargas” could be thus easily managed by a single hand, while the other hand can be used for other important activities (e.g. defensive cover, handling of a baton or a weapon, etc.). The fact that you can clearly see the other person provides you with a better chance to optimally and in time utilise this efficient enforcing tool. It becomes much easier, when you hold your flashlight in the same hand. You can clearly see the face and inspect documents of a suspicious person in a dark park, or discuss the situation much safer with an increasingly agitated drunken driver. The reaction to a suddenly worsening situation could be very swift. The new “spray flashlight” also allows for much safer examination of threatening inner spaces, where a suspect could be hiding (thanks to the long distance of spraying, you can eliminate such a person from outside – you thus do not need to risk entering the room). The chance to manage an attack by an angry dog at night is also not negligible. Having the TORNADO means, in short, the chance to see and to be permanently ready in the case of a sudden threat to resolve the conflict without the violence and permanent fatal consequences for all parties involved. We might say that this significant innovation has once again improved chances of security units to conduct their activities effectively even in bad light.

When I do not know about the risk, I do not have a chance to effectively protect myself.

Tactical effect

Another very useful effect of the TORNADO application is that the strong beam of light covers the entire figure of a suspicious person and makes him or her dazzled by surprise. This aspect results not only in disorientation of the troublemaker, but it also significantly contributes to the safety of the law and order enforcing officer. The suspect does not know when the officer decides to use the spray, thanks to this dazzling effect, (if he or she knows at all that the officer aims at him or her not only the flashlight, but also the spray …) and he or she cannot cover the face with hands and suitably time the closing of his or her eyes. The light beam itself allows, during sudden actions, to instinctively and very precisely point the spray on the target. The centre of the light circle is the place where the irritating substance lands. In most critical situations, for example, when the police officer defends himself or herself, it prevents the accidental turning of the jet towards the officer’s face. The flashlight also helps when the officer judges the spraying distance and allows for a fast correction of a bad hit. We have realised in practice that this new innovation does not only increase the efficiency of the use of this defence and enforcing tool, but it also helps in the elimination of mistakes which could understandably occur under stress in dangerous situations. It thus makes the demanding activities easier even during the most difficult moments occurring in policing activities.

The fill of the new spray is not flammable and this is just another big advantage, when its alternative action takes place together with the use of the enforcing tool AIR Teaser (flammable mixtures in combination with an electric discharge of this paralysing device could result in putting the cloth of the suspect person in fire and thus in heavy burns). The fill contains an unusual new substance which might help a lot in the policing service – it is the substance visible under the ultraviolet light. Even when the perpetrator was not properly hit and he or she escaped with just few drops of the substance on his or her cloths, he or she might be later found guilty because, thanks to this described modern system, his or her presence at the scene can be clearly proved.

There is also a training version of this spray flashlight TORNADO available. It is filled in with a not harmful inert water fill. That provides the Police officers with the good chance to include this new tool into their complex training featuring varied model situations during which they can try the optimal tactical and legal use of the TORNADO.

The TORNADO model is manufactured in 40, 50 or 63 millilitre versions. The classical spray bottle is fitted with a head featuring the integrated very strongly shining LED diode, which can be used for tens of hours with a single fill. The covering cap, preventing the unwilling spraying, contains 2 lithium batteries. The very natural movement – putting the thumb on the spray button, causes the lifting of the cap and switching the inbuilt flashlight on (this can be easily and comfortably done also by one hand in a glove). When the bottle gets empty (or when the date of use expires), the upper module with the flashlight could be easily transferred to a spare bottle. The life span of the spray, before the necessary exchange, is 3 years (instead of the usual 2 years applying to other similar products). A swiveling plastic holder is available for comfortable carrying of this Spray flashlight. This unique Czech product has already received a patent in USA and in Europe.

The spray flashlight TORNADO features the above average technological and chemical properties when it comes to all official usually assessed criteria:

• Special ballistic shape of the beam allowing for better hits
• Range: up to 4.5 m
• Spraying diameter: 10 – 20 cm
• Not flammable substance
• Maximal deviation 10% at the reach, when used in temperatures    from –20°C to + 50°C
• Handling at the temperatures from –20°C up to +50°C
• It works even when the jet diverges up to 60° from the horizontal axis in any direction
• The spray remains tight, not leaking the liquid, even after a fall from the height of 2 m and when the jet diverges by 30° from the axis
• It remains tight even at 50°C
• Easy handling for both left hand and right-hand preferring people
• Easy handling even in the darkness
• Easy handling also when wearing gloves
• The application pressure must be > 10N
• Concentration of the active substance in OC: 0.3 ± 0.03% of the weight of capsaicinoides
• Diameter of the sprayed aerosol > 2µm
• The dissolved and pressurised substance is not carcinogenic
• The dissolved and pressurised substance does not harm unborn babies
• The dissolved and pressurised substance does not change human genes
• The dissolved and pressurised substance does not crystallize or coagulate at the temperatures from -20°C to +50°C
• The spray expiry period (the life span) is 3 years

Not only the spray, but also the fill observes the demanding international requirements. For example, they fulfil criteria of the German “Technical directives applicable on irritating substances (RSG)”. The Oleoresine Capsicum substance (OC) has been verified and tested by MPA Hannover (the laboratory testing and approving materials). The “Technical directive” describes the required technical specifications as well as the criteria applicable on tests of constructions containing the OC irritation substance.

Spray flashlight TORNADO in the world

	You can meet the Tornado spray more and more often all over the world – in this case in hand of an officer of the Federal Police of Mexico.