Examples abound in which officers need a deterrent short of firearms, he said. If a 17-year-old suicidal person high on drugs, for example, barricades himself inside a house, deputies want to avoid doing something that causes serious injury, Roberts said. Likewise, deputies who need to subdue a mentally ill person who is violently out of control may use less-lethal or nonlethal force.

"An officer is trained to pick the right tool for the right situation," he said.

More than 90 percent of the time less-lethal and nonlethal weapons are successful, Roberts said. And law enforcers are constantly upgrading those weapons to make situations safer for everyone.

"Officer shootings are going down because of all this technology," he said.

One of the few times officers locally were in a crowd-control situation like the one in Boston was during the 2002 Winter Olympics. A rowdy crowd of mostly intoxicated partygoers, angry that downtown's Bud World had been closed, threw rocks, bottles and firecrackers at police and damaged some vehicles and businesses. Twenty people were arrested.

During that incident, the sheriff's office used pepper balls. Some agencies used rubber bullets. But all of the officers involved did not purposely shoot above the waist, officials said. The majority of people shot with rubber bullets suffered bruises on their legs.

"You are trained to shoot low," he said. "The head, neck, spine and throat are no-hit areas. They are no-target zones. (Deputies) are trained not to shoot at those areas."

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com