66 Resource book on the use of force and firearms in law enforcement Using instruments: • Sticks, batons, truncheons • Use of shields to push people back • Handcuffs and other restraints • Chemical irritants, such as “pepper” or OC spray and tear gas • Water cannon • Dogs and other animals • Electroshock weapons, including stun guns, batons and “tasers” • Kinetic impact weapons, such as baton rounds or rubber bullets, bean bags • Firearms This list is not comprehensive, as there are many other instruments of force, and new ones are being developed on a regular basis. In practice, most applications of force in law enforcement do not involve using instruments but instead the use of an officer’s hands, arms and body to push or pull against the subject to gain control.143 Only those instruments that have been appropriately tested, authorized in law for use, have robust rules and regulations governing their use and are used in accordance with these rules should be employed.144 Where instruments of force are new there may be provisional regulations governing their use during the pilot-phase. Never should instruments be used other than according to the guidelines or for other purposes than what they were designed for. A situation should be avoided where law enforcement officials carry their own instruments of force for which the agency refuses to take responsibility. 5.3.  Instruments of “less-lethal” force Principles 2, 4 and 5 provide that, where force is necessary, graduated force should as far as possible be used. The availability of less-lethal equipment enables law enforcement officers to refrain from using firearms, or to allow a more effective graduated use of force. As noted in the previous section, in order to decrease “the application of means capable of causing death or injury to persons”, the BPUFF task governments and law enforcement agencies to develop lesslethal instruments.145 143  See Police Executive Research Forum, 2015; Michael R. Smith, J.D., Robert J. Kaminski, Geoffrey P. Alpert, Ph.D. e.a. A Multi-Method Evaluation of Police Use of Force Outcomes: Final Report to the National Institute of Justice, NCJRS, July 2010: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/231176.pdf 144  In an emergency situation, law enforcement officials can use anything to defend themselves or others as long as it is justified. However, they should be given effective instruments, so that they don’t have to rely on improvised tools. 145  BPUFF refers to “non-lethal incapacitating weapons”. However, it has become good practice to use the term “less-lethal” over “non-lethal,” to underline that these instruments can be lethal. This noted, in the ordinary course of their intended use, less-lethal weapons have a smaller risk of causing death or serious injuries than firearms do. However, there is no internationally agreed upon definition of less-lethal weapons.