New police weapon to hit Tri-State streets

CINCINNATI - "Horrible."

That's how Colerain Township Police Sergeant Mike Owens described the "Mark 63 Trident" after it was used against him during a training exercise in which he played the bad guy.

"You can see nothing, especially at night with the dark lighting, the light was completely in my eyes...you add the pepper spray to it, it's completely overwhelming," said Owens.

From the perspective of trainer for the department, Owens uses the word "awesome" to describe the weapon he and fellow officers can't wait to take to the streets.

The Mark 63 Trident has been called the swiss army knife of weapons because it's several weapons in one: a high intensity light, pepper spray, stun device, and it's also an impact device, but its designer points out that with his weapon, you can use all the options at once.

Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Ken Stethem says he designed the weapon in five nights, but it took him nine years to get it to market.

"Basically what we've done is we've developed a new paradigm for the application of non-deadly force," said Stethem.

While training Colerain Township Police in the weapon as part of a pilot program, Stethem talked about the "ugly" complexity of today's current non-deadly force options.

"Typically you have to wonder what do you draw, why do you draw it, what do you do if it doesn't work, is it the individual who it's not effective on, is it the product, is something wrong with it or are you not doing it properly?...so now you've got to analyze those three," said Stethem.

The Mark 63 shortens the "decision matrix," he said.

Colerain Township Police Officer Joe Carter said the best thing about this new weapon is the time savings.

"If I want to reposition from my mace to my baton, I have to put my mace away so it can't be used on me and transition to my baton and draw that, and if I have to get rid of that I have to put that somewhere it's secure, so again it doesn't get used on me," said Carter.

Stethem says his weapon is meant to be defensive, and it's the only one out there based on the science of movement.

"You use this tool to block and bridge to a non-compliant individual in order to take custody, and there's a science of movement...it's very simple but it isn't well known and so it's not taught in very many places," said Stethem.

The Mark 63 was inspired by the courage of Stethem's younger brother, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem, who was killed by Hezbollah terrorists in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985. "63" is the hull number of the Destroyer which now bears Stethem's name.

"Sixteen years later 9/11 happened and in 16 years the FAA had done nothing to secure cockpits and that was wrong and I knew it was wrong," said Stethem. "I said to myself somebody should do something."

Stethem says he set out to "protect the people who protect us, so whether they're in the military or law enforcement that's what this device is intended to do."

Colerain Township Police Chief Dan Meloy is so confident in the Mark 63, it has officially replaced all other non-lethal weapons for his officers, including tazers.

"Once I saw it and saw the training I knew it was the right thing," said Meloy.

Meloy negotiated a pilot program with Stethem shortly after learning of the new weapon through a mutual law enforcement friend, Mike Gardner.

Gardner, a former officer for both Cincinnati Police and the Warren County Sheriff's Office with 30 years in training, gives the new weapon a "20" on a scale of 1 to 10.

"I think it will eventually reduce the need for use of force by peace officers because I think once the word gets out how awesome this is, less people will want to resist an officer," said Gardner.

Stethem says Fairfax Police are also training in his weapon. Fairfax and Colerain Township Police will be the first law enforcement agencies in Ohio to use it, and will be among the first around the nation as Stethem slowly introduces it.

For more information on the Mark 63 Trident, and its smaller version, the Mark 911 Patriot (more easily concealed by a plain clothes officer), go to aegisarmor.com.