Public Safety and Security Technologies

CBRNE Countermeasures Thrust Area Projects

Projects in this area focus on standards related to CRBNE threat detection, including standards for existing and new types of sensors, data analysis techniques, and decontamination methodologies. Program activities focus on the development of a comprehensive suite of performance standards, test and evaluation protocols, reference materials and reference data and user guidance for the effective prevention, detection, response, recovery and forensic investigation of CBRNE incidents. Projects within this area include:

• Chemical Standards Program Development. Objective: Coordinate efforts among National Laboratories, Standards Development Organizations, and other professional organizations to assure that first responders have the instrumentation and procedures necessary to make rapid, reliable decisions using field instruments in challenging situations.
• Development of Chemical Detection Equipment Standards. Objective: Establish appropriate detection levels for toxic industrial chemicals (TIC-Ss) and toxic industrial materials (TIMs), based on the operational performance requirements.
• Development of Chemical Decontamination Standards. Objective: Determine the level at which a chemical material is no longer considered a health hazard and to which decontamination equipment must neutralize that material.
• National Independent, Validated Raman Libraries for Forensic and Security Applications. Objective: Develop a validated reference library of Raman spectral signatures of TICs, for use in qualitative identification.
• Instrumentation and Protocols for First Responder Chemical Detectors. Objective: Define user requirements to ensure that detectors meet the operational requirements of the responder community.
• Biological Standards Program Development. Objective: Develop a comprehensive suite of performance standards, test and evaluation protocols, reference materials and data, conformity assessment programs, and user guides.
• Reference Materials for Testing Biothreat Detection Devices and Instruments. Objective: Develop uniform, well-characterized reference materials based on Bacillus anthracis spores and ricin.
• Development of National Sampling Standards for Suspicious Powders. Objective: Develop a national sampling standard for suspicious powders, to be validated by the AOAC and adopted by ASTM.
• Development of a Standard and Measurement Infrastructure for Trace Explosive Detection Systems. Objective: Develop the technical tools required to characterize, optimize, calibrate, and standardize trace explosive detection equipment.
• Trace Particle Explosives Standard Reference Materials. Objective: Develop standard reference materials (SRMs) that provide calibrated trace amounts of high explosives.
• Drop on Demand Inkjet Printing of Homeland Security Standards. Objective: To develop inkjet printing technology as a viable method for producing standards to calibrate and validate tabletop, handheld, and portal instruments for the detection of trace explosives, narcotics and chemical warfare agents.
• Metrology for Integrated Gas Sensors. Objective: To promote and support the development of hardware and software standards for specifying embedded-sensor (ES) virtual-components (VCs) for law enforcement and homeland security applications, such as breath analyzers and detectors of toxic gases, trace explosives, and fire accelerants. To make the ES-VCs compatible with the Systemon-a-Chip (SoC) integration methodology used for digital IC design. This NIST effort will enable gas sensor ES-VCs to be included in SoC CAD libraries and enable integration of these ES-VCs with existing digital VCs used ubiquitously by industry to design large ICs. To deliver working prototype single-chip smart sensor SoCs incorporating ES-VCs, and work with electronic-design-automation (EDA) vendors to make the ES-VCs available in commercial CAD libraries.
• Standards and Quality Assurance for Biological and Chemical Threat Agents. Objective: To create a program to develop and characterize standard materials and measurement methods to test and improve devices and methods for detecting and identifying chemical and biological agents. To coordinate related CW and BW standards development efforts with DoD and work being done on TICs and TIMs by EPA, OSHA, and DHS.
• Test of the Molecular Basis of Virulent Bacteria. Objective: To test the mechanisms by which virulent bacteria kill cells, in support of efforts to develop more timely and effective therapeutic agents.

Protective Clothing and Equipment for Violent Situations

Law enforcement, corrections, and security personnel require special personal protective equipment (PPE) when operating in violent situations, in order to protect them from threats such as blunt trauma, slashes, bites, burning petrol, and chemical exposure. Different articles of PPE (helmets, gloves, boots, armor) must not only meet appropriate standards but also be compatible and complementary in order to provide optimum overall protection.

• Protective Clothing. Objective: To develop a performance standard for PPE for violent situations. With BSI's permission, OLES is undertaking transforming BS 7971 into a U.S. standard and issuing it as an NIJ Standard for use by U.S. law enforcement, corrections, and public safety and security personnel. While retaining the technical content of the British standard, OLES will apply relevant U.S. Safety requirements as promulgated by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

Deliverables

Major deliverables include monthly, quarterly and annual progress reports, ongoing hazard threat analyses reports, draft and final performance standards, hosting of public hearings on proposed standards, contributions to interagency groups, staffing and equipping a suitable test laboratory, publication of user guides, and other relevant products and reports required to fully implement the standards development activities.

Oleoresin Capsicum Canister Study

The use of pepper spray products has grown in recent years as law enforcement agencies seek to reduce claims of excessive force as well as minimize injuries to officers. The active ingredient in most of these sprays is oleoresin capsicum (OC), an extract of hot peppers. A family of structurally related compounds called capsaicinoids is responsible for the pungency ("heat") of chili peppers, and these same compounds are found in OC. The potency of pepper sprays has often been described by Scoville Heat Units, a system originally based upon a taste test and frequently used to compare the pungency of different chili peppers. Other methods of expressing potency include the OC percentage or the percentage of major capsaicinoids. These varying methods of expressing potency make comparing the strength of different pepper sprays quite challenging. In order to develop a clearer picture of the potency of pepper spray products used by law enforcement agencies, we examined the levels of eight capsaicinoids in eleven different commercial pepper sprays

Tasks performed in this study:

The contents of the pepper spray canisters were collected and analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). A phenyl stationary phase was used to achieve separation of the capsaicinoids, and norcapsaicin was used as the internal standard. Multiple canisters of each product were analyzed in order to gauge the consistency of capsaicinoid levels from canister. Products with similar claims of potency did not necessarily contain comparable levels of capsaicinoids, and significant variations in capsaicinoid levels were sometimes observed among canisters of the same product.

Project Status

NIST tested 11 commercial products to:

• identity the amount of active ingredients
• identity and amount of solvent and carrier
• identity of propellant
• spray impact pattern
• spray range
• number of bursts (sprays)
• particle size and velocity in spray
• drop tests from 1.5 m (about 6 ft.)
• effect of storage at room temperature (73 °F) for 4 and 12 weeks
• elevated temperature (131 °F) for 4 and 12 weeks

Methods

• Chemical identity and quantity of capsaicinoids was measured by combined liquid chromatography/electrospray mass spectrometry using authentic standards for all chemicals.
• Chemical identity of solvent, carrier, and propellant was determined by gas chromatography.
• Spray impact pattern, spray range, and number of bursts was determined in a spray test by a semi-automated procedure in a spray test chamber
• Drop tests from 1.5 m (about 6 ft.) was measured in a spray test chamber.
• Particle size and velocity was measured in a spray test chamber using laser phase Doppler interferometry.

Deliverables are:

• Final report of the findings of the study;
• a test method for flammability/and or ignition of pepper spray;
• Draft Specification (standard) for aerosol pepper spray canisters for law enforcement and corrections use;

Protective Gloves for Law Enforcement and Corrections

Objective:

The objective of this project is to update NIJ Test Protocol 99-114, "Test Protocol for Comparative Evaluation of Protective Gloves for Law Enforcement and Correction Applications" and provide technical support work to the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) in their testing program for protective gloves for law enforcement and corrections users.

Law enforcement and corrections officers have been increasingly requesting hand protection as part of their protection equipment package. They need gloves that will provide them protection against sharp objects such as blades and hypodermic needles; the gloves have also to be resistant to pathogen penetration and have sufficient dexterity and tactility such that officers can perform their normal duties while wearing such gloves.

OLES issued the protective glove test protocol as NIJ Test Protocol 99-114, "Test Protocol for Comparative Evaluation of Protective Gloves for Law Enforcement and Correction Applications", June 1999. OLES also helped NLECTC in selecting qualified glove testing labs through a competitive process.

Since the NIJ Test Protocol was issued, several of the test methods cited in that NIJ Test Protocol has changed, namely the ASTM Cut Test and the ASTM Puncture Test. Therefore, in accordance with the normal review cycle of standards, and industry inquiries as to when this NIJ Test Protocol will be updated, resulted in the need for the urgent review and update of this NIJ Test Protocol.

Deliverables

• An updated NIJ Test Protocol for Comparative Evaluation of Protective Gloves for law Enforcement and Corrections applications.