S.W.A.T. December 2007 - McKeesport Police Department

Insight
Technology’s
SSL-1
80-Lumen Tactical Light
For Pros And Citizens
» BY SCOTT OLDHAM
The most crucial (and often the most difficult) part of the lethal force engagement sequence is
identifying the target.
The hostile may be obscured by
their purposeful use of cover or
may be only partially visible due
to some type of concealment.
In this regard, the most likely concealment
is darkness. Whether you are a
police officer searching for a suspect, a
soldier or Marine storming a bunker or a
homeowner checking on something that
has gone bump in the night, darkness is
not your friend when it comes to target
identification. As such, the use of an illumination
tool to assist in first locating
and then identifying a target is not only
prudent, but mandatory.
There are many tried and true methods
for using a handheld light source in
combination with a firearm; however,
all of these techniques, to one degree
or another, have problems associated
with their use. The major problem they
share is that both hands will be filled
Insight Technology’s SSL-1 is a small
but intense light source capable of
being mounted on a duty weapon for
full-time use.
with either a firearm or a flashlight, and
so tasks such as opening doors or using
your non-dominant hand for other purposes
become quite difficult. Enter the
firearm-mounted light.
This concept is not new. In fact, some
drawings exist that prove this concept
was thought of near the turn of the 20th
century—over 100 years ago. What is
relatively new, however, is that the use
of a light affixed to a firearm has now be-
28 S.W.A.T. » DECEMBER 2007 SWATMAG.COM