Police forces around the world know that they will eventually have to keep criminals alive long enough to stand trial and serve their sentences. They also know that they need to use these criminals to gain information about their operations and the local activities of other criminal groups. Suspects need to be interrogated and processed if law enforcement is to progress. This is the reason why they developed weapons and techniques that can incapacitate suspects without killing them.

These weapons aren't like standard firearms. This is because they usually have different kinds of ammunition. The people who use these weapons have to train with them so that they don’t make mistakes in the field. This is because the weapons can still be fatal if fired in the wrong places and at the wrong ranges. They also have to figure out which kinds of materials can stop non-lethal ammunition. They practice shooting at custom flags made of different kinds of materials.

There are also non-lethal techniques with standard firearms. This is because police officers might not always bring less than lethal ammunition. The problem with these techniques is that they rely heavily on extreme marksmanship. They need complete precision and accuracy to pull off the right shot. After all, they are aiming lethal ammunition at specific parts of the body. A miss could mean killing the suspect. That is why they practice shooting at custom flags with specific targets printed on them. Since suspects will be moving while the shooting goes on, the practice targets also flutter in wind to simulate movement.