NEW YORK (FinalCall.com)�When demonstrators take to the streets of Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention, Aug. 14-17, they can expect pepper spray and rubber bullets, if they get out of control.

Police Chief Bernard Parks shared his crowd control plans with the media after courts ruled the city could not limit protests. The chief�s remarks after the July 24 legal decision are another example of how law enforcement is moving toward the use of so-called non-lethal weapons to control crime. The idea is to utilize alternatives to live ammunition, batons and physical force by officers, and avoid deaths, say its advocates.

Its detractors say non-lethal weapons can be just as deadly as traditional weapons and more research needs to be done. They cite instances in which civilians have died at the hands of officers using pepper spray and other tools that aren�t supposed to kill people.

The pepper spray East Orange, N.J., police officers used on Earl Faison was supposed to subdue him. It may have helped kill him.

Five officers were indicted June 21 for federal civil rights violations, bringing attention to the Faison death last April.

According to the indictment, pepper spray was sprayed into Mr. Faison�s nose and mouth while he was handcuffed. Officers are also accused of beating and kicking him, and lying about what happened. U.S. Attorney Robert J. Cleary has declined to specify a cause of death, and a full medical examiner�s report is not yet public.

One larger issue in the Faison death is use of the chemical compound oleoresin capsicum, or "OC," which is an inflammatory agent derived from the cayenne pepper plant. It disables by causing the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat to swell and close, temporarily constricting airways and paralyzing the larynx.

" �Non-lethal� is a contradiction in terms," said Jen Corlew, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, in a telephone interview from the human rights group�s offices in Washington, D.C.

In a report issued last year, the group documented instances where 70 people died after being subjected to OC spray during arrest or in police custody. The report, "Cruelty in Control: The Stun Belt and other Electro-shock Equipment in Law Enforcement," noted that last August, police in Tucson, Ariz. stopped using OC spray after one suspect died and another was hospitalized.

While non-lethal tools are needed to lessen the risk of death from firearms or other weapons, in most cases use of weapons like pepper sprays is not monitored, Ms. Corlew said. Amnesty has also raised concerns about other weapons, like stun belts. The device is wrapped around prisoners and an electrical charge forces prisoners to obey.

There is no perfect less-than-lethal weapon that satisfies all scenarios and requirements, argues the federal government�s National Institute of Justice. "We are trying to help by providing options," said Sandy Newett of the institute�s Office of Science and Technology. The institute has said its less than lethal weapon program hopes to minimize injuries during policing to save lives of officers, corrections employees and the public.

The National Institute of Justice said law enforcement and corrections departments are considering blunt impact projectiles, pepper sprays, baton-launched nets and a laser dazzler that can be used to disorient suspects and prisoners.

All weapons are tested before use and the institute is looking at the legal and social issues around less than lethal weapons, said Ms. Newett.

Even a name change from "non-lethal" to "less than lethal" weapons is part of law enforcement and manufacturer efforts.

"By using the term less-than-lethal, we reduce the criminal liability suits against police, sheriffs, and correction departments," said Steve Tuttle, a spokesperson for Taser International, in San Diego, Calif. Taser International manufactures and distributes the M26 Taser, a gun which discharges two electric projectiles into the flesh of a suspect or prisoner.

For Ray Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University, so-called "non-lethal weapons" are as ominous as the fatal police shooting of Muslim immigrant Amadou Diallo in New York. Four white policemen involved were acquitted of murder charges in that incident.

Some may argue that non-lethal weapons are an alternative to deadly force, but that still doesn�t confront issues of police misconduct and racism in law enforcement, he said.

If officers have a racist mentality, any weapon can be lethal and Blacks and Latinos will still be abused, he warns.

Dr. Ed Liszka, director of the Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies at Penn State University, said there needs to be a discussion of new weapons technology.

"If we don�t go after this issue in a responsible way�if we are not careful�no one will be willing to approach what we feel is the necessary alternative to lethal force," he warns.

For a year and a half, Dr. Liszka and his staff have been working on ways to prepare the public for such a debate, which he says will take place as use of non-lethal weapons become more prevalent.

Other agencies need to examine this issue and the bottom line�moving law enforcement agencies away from the traditional means of subduing people involved in criminal behavior, he said.

"Police and correction officers have long expressed a need and desire for alternatives to firearms, batons, and hands and feet when confronted by violent or uncooperative suspects. In the past 10 years this need has been expressed in a variety of ways," adds the National Institute of Justice, which is a Justice Department agency.

"What they are really saying is that if they shoot you with a rubber bullet, you have less reason to complain of brutality because no one is being killed," commented Sidney Grisso, editor and publisher of African Unbound Magazine, in Silver Spring, Md.

Such thinking still avoids how police abuse suspects, even when death does not result, he said. Activists in Maryland have mounted an anti-brutality campaign sparked by several deaths or beatings civilians have suffered at the hands of police officers.

Critics also note less than lethal weapons were supposed to be used during World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, Wash., last year.

"Something went wrong in Seattle, because the chief of police has resigned quietly," said activist Dick Gregory, who adds that questions about long-term harm from such weapons have not been answered.

The National Institute of Justice spokesperson agrees, saying money to pay for research about health effects and field trips to talk with officers about use of the devices is needed.

But, Ms. Newett added, that does not mean current use of the weapons amounts to using suspects as human guinea pigs.