Three grenade launchers have been moved in and out of the Goshen County Sheriff’s Office in the past 65 years.
Yet not one of the weapons has been used by the county’s deputies.
Sheriff Don Murphy said the county bought its current launcher, which was made by Casper weapons manufacturer Defense Technology, for use in the county jail.
“We would use it in situations when less-lethal force is justified to get the situation under control,” Lt. Jeremy Wardell said. “That tool gives us an option not to use lethal force.”
Less-lethal weapons are used to incapacitate a person but are not intended to kill them.
Linda Burt, executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming, said recent protests in Ferguson, Missouri, portray the ease at which police may use military-style weapons against civilians. Demonstrations broke out in Ferguson in August after a teenager was shot and killed during a struggle with a police officer. Law enforcement fired tear gas into crowds of protestors.
“Just because they haven’t used them doesn’t mean they don’t plan on using them,” Burt said.
Goshen County received its first grenade launcher, a 37mm, in the 1950s from Federal Signal, Murphy said. Federal Signal is a global corporation that makes and distributes equipment for police and fire departments.
Despite not using the first launcher, the county received a M79 single-shot grenade launcher from the Department of Defense’s military surplus program. Wardell said the county does not have records on the second weapon after its return to the federal government.
“We no longer had a use for it,” he said.
Goshen County, population 14,000, is the only county in Wyoming listed by the defense department as having received a grenade launcher from the government.
“I think the problem has been more about the fact that the federal government has encouraged people to take this equipment,” Burt said.
Wardell called the Defense Technology weapon, a 40mm single-launcher, a “less-lethal” option. He compared using the grenade launcher to utilizing pepper spray or a Taser.
“It’s just another option in that middle area between verbal and lethal force,” Wardell said. “We have the ability to use it in the jail as well.”
Murphy said the launcher would predominantly be used for riot control. If a fight broke out between 16 people in a pod at the jail, a deputy could fire rubber pellets at the ground in front of the brawl to get the attention of the inmates.
Wardell oversees the jail, which currently houses 25 inmates. He said there hasn’t been a large fight there in the past year.
“I’ve worked for the agency for 16 years, and we’ve never had a riot we couldn’t control,” he said.
The sheriff’s office also stocks non-lethal sponge grenades, which provide temporary incapacitation through blunt trauma, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Murphy said the launcher could be used for a long distance shot if deputies wanted to fire a tear gas round into a hostage situation.
Goshen County hasn’t had a hostage situation for at least 15 years, Wardell said.
Burt said the grenade launcher may only exacerbate situations like these.
“It changes the attitude of not only the population but of the police,” Burt said. “It turns that law enforcement officer into a soldier instead of a police officer out there to serve and protect.
“The community then becomes an enemy.”
http://trib.com/news/local/crime-and...8114a0da7.html
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