For fifty years, both as a combat veteran, police officer, and trainer for law enforcement and the military, Charles “Sid” Heal has devoted his career to limiting the occasions for catastrophic loss of life and to defusing potentially explosive, life-endangering encounters. He has written on how to de-escalate tense stand-offs, from confrontations with individuals to potential mass disorder (Sound Doctrine: A Tactical Primer); how to formulate strategies, tactics, mission-planning, and decision-making under pressure (Field Command); and how to examine floor plans of houses to enable special forces to end hostage scenarios and home sieges with minimal loss of life (An Illustrated Guide to Tactical Diagramming). In Concepts of Nonlethal Force, Heal explores the ever-growing array of nonlethal options and implements that promise to restore order to out-of-control situations, such as riots, or to tackle assailants in a way that lessens the risk of somebody being killed—whether it’s the officer or the suspect. Heal also examines the history of non-lethal interventions, and the many ambiguities and difficulties associated with employing these items so as to minimize casualties, lower the likelihood of harm to innocent bystanders, and reduce property and collateral damage.

The nature of warfare has changed! Like it or not, terrorism has established a firm foothold worldwide. Economics and environmental issues are inextricably entwined on a global basis and tied directly to national regional security. Although traditional threats remain, new, shadowy, and mercurial adversaries are emerging, and identifying and locating them is difficult. Future War, based on the hard-learned lessons of Bosnia, Haiti, Somalia, Panama, and many other trouble spots, provides part of the solution. Non-lethal weapons are a pragmatic application of force, not a peace movement. Ranging from old rubber bullets and tear gas to exotic advanced systems that can paralyze a country, they are essential for the preservation of peace and stability. Future War explains exactly how non-lethal electromagnetic and pulsed-power weapons, the laser and tazer, chemical systems, computer viruses, ultrasound and infrasound, and even biological entities will be used to stop enemies. These are the weapons of the future.

Field Command is a first of its kind; a full-length tactical science textbook focused specifically on crisis situations faced by the law enforcement community. It expands on the concepts laid out in Heal's Sound Doctrine: A Tactical Primer. The concepts and principles are taken from tactical texts and military field manuals and are presented as close to how they are used as possible. To facilitate understanding, illustrations are abundant and not only clarify the text but amplify it with new insights and applications.

As mankind finds ever more impious ways to kill and maim, some look to non-lethal weapons as a fix. Brian Rappert discusses the technologies involved and the ethics of, for example blinding someone with a laser, leaving them blind forever, versus killing them outright.