Gentle Persuasion

One thing that helped avert bloodshed in New Haven last week was a small aerosol bomb, the "Chemical Mace," that is being put into use by some 2,000 law-enforcement agencies across the country and in time may well replace the head-cracking, bone-breaking billy club. Dubbed the "gentle persuader" by some policemen, the Mace fits inconspicuously in a belt holster--and looks about as persuasive as a can of shaving foam.

The resemblance ends there. With a range of from 12 ft. to 15 ft., the Mace's chemical stream (a tear-gas concentrate called phenylchloromethylketone) affects nerve ends and produces an instant shock and a choking sensation that incapacitate its victim as effectively as a blow on the head or a hand on the throat. Yet the chemical wears off after about 30 minutes, leaving no lasting aftereffects. In New Haven, Police Chief Francis McManus found it "highly effective" in quelling the mob. The Mace has also been use ful in everyday police work. In the year it has been used in Columbus, Ohio, says Chief Robert Baus, attacks on policemen have dropped by 50%.

Technology--belatedly--is coming to the aid of police in other ways as well. A new, extra-tough plastic helmet, developed by the American Safety Equipment Corp., has deflected countless bricks and bottles in such places as Newark and Cincinnati, while Pennsylvania state police have bought plastic shields, from the Gentex Corp., for even greater protection, gladiator style.

The most ingenious new tool for riot control may be "instant banana peel," a powdery chemical introduced last week by Fort Worth's Western Co. of North America. Sprayed on the street and hosed with water, the chemical, which goes under the trade name "Rio-Trol," produces a surface ten times as slick as ice--and ten times as hard for rioters to walk on. Still in the early stage of experimentation by at least one company is a tranquilizer dart--a kind of instant Miltown--that could be fired from a distance, yet reduce any suspect to euphoric nonviolence.

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