Penn State Trying To Find Safer, Better Ways
To Resolve Conflicts Through Technology

July 22, 2002
University Park, Pa. --- In Kosovo, U.S. peacekeeping forces faced stone-throwing mobs. In Somalia, as portrayed in the recent hit movie "Black Hawk Down", U.S. soldiers were forced to defend themselves on a city street filled with civilians. And closer to home, all too often in the United States, hostages are held at gunpoint behind barricaded doors while police weigh unreasonable demands and struggle to save innocent lives.

Since the early 1990s, police and the military have explored non-lethal technologies to limit the use of deadly force yet successfully deal with major conflicts involving thousands of people. And since the 9/11 terrorist incidents, the need for security and safety technologies are more urgent than ever.

Starting in 1997, a Penn State research group, known as the Institute of Emerging Defense Technologies, has been studying a wide array of existing and emerging technologies in hopes of helping law enforcement and the military develop alternatives to conventional lethal and non-lethal weapons systems. In addition to providing scientific analysis and research, the Institute reviews legal, social and ethical implications of using nonlethal technologies as well.

"The Institute is dedicated to the furthering knowledge for the responsible employment of emerging technologies for both military and law enforcement missions," says Andrew Mazzara, director of the Institute for Emerging Defense Technologies, headquartered at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory. "These technologies are used for peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, noncombatant evacuation, hostage rescue, and domestic law enforcement and corrections facilities.

"Projects funded through the Institute range widely from noise reduction in military armored vehicles to better sensors for detecting highly toxic chemicals used in a public attack or biological agents such as anthrax," Mazzara says. "Our researchers also developed a 'smart fence' to detect intruders using existing, low-cost materials, and they tested non-lethal ammunition such as 'rubber bullets' for their effectiveness and found a lesser accuracy quality. Computer software developed at Penn State for use with handheld computers is enhancing patient care by helping ambulance personnel collect data more efficiently and provide more information to hospital emergency departments. "

Penn State researchers completed a study assessing

the feasibility of using pharmaceutical drugs as an alternative to lethal force to subdue individuals threatening others. The researchers conducted a comprehensive survey of the medical literature to identify pharmaceutical drugs that produce a calm state, or known as calmatives. Nine drug classes including benzodiazepines -- the class to which Valium belongs, for example, were identified as having high potential for use as a non-lethal agent. The feasibility study was presented to the Institute's Advisory Board as one of many approaches meriting future consideration. Currently, the feasibility of combining pepper spray with a calmative agent to ease the physical reactions of people exposed to pepper spray is also being studied, with initial funding from the National Institute of Justice.

Penn State researchers serve the nation by identifying and aiding in the assessment of technical approaches that contribute to improved national defense, force protection and homeland security. Scientific analysis, such as the feasibility study on calmative agents, represents only an initial step in the development process. The approaches must, of course, by further evaluated by government advisory panels on legal, societal and ethical implications before these concepts are further developed. Recommendations for development of novel technologies are frequently proposed to the Institute by defense and law enforcement agencies for feasibility assessment.

"Prior to the 1990s, there was little objective criteria and standards by which to measure the usefulness of existing commercial technologies except in actual conflicts," Mazzara says. "The Marine Corps saw a need for such a research facility and worked with ARL to develop this Institute, which includes Penn State scientists with expertise in applicable areas and has expanded to other colleges and universities, government organizations and other non-profit research organizations. Unfortunately, events of the past year in the U.S. and around the world are demonstrating the genuine urgency for more research and development of non-lethal technologies for military and law enforcement to ensure people's safety."

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The Institute of Emerging Defense Technologies web site is at http://www.arl.psu.edu/areas/defensetech/defensetech.html