The embattled police here are testing something no other department in America has tried, in an effort to prevent another potentially explosive incident in which an officer kills an unarmed civilian.Ferguson police are evaluating a new attachment to their guns that could give a suspect a chance to live in an otherwise lethal encounter with police.
This latest piece of weapons technology is called "The Alternative," and it's an orange-colored plastic device mounted on a gun barrel that turns the first fired bullet into a pingpong ball-sized projectile, designed not to kill.
Several officers have been trained on how to use it, but city officials have yet to decide on making the gear a requirement.
"It's something we're testing for ourselves and seeing if this is even something feasible or reasonable to use for law enforcement officers.
The testing began just a week shy of the six-month anniversary of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by then-Officer Darren Wilson, who is white and has since quit the force. The August police shooting sparked an intense, sometimes violent reaction from Ferguson residents, and demonstrations spread across the country.
Protesters condemned police tactics as brutal and excessive against minorities, citing other police killings of black men, often unarmed.
The new gun technology is being evaluated as a remedy to the simmering tension between police and community members.
Local officials didn't want to speculate whether the device could have altered the outcome of the Brown-Wilson encounter. Wilson, who was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, told a grand jury that as he sat in his squad car, Brown, who was outside the vehicle, punched him in the face. Wilson fired multiple shots at Brown, killing him.
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