I am in the process of writing an instructional article on the use of white light for defensive purposes. Specifically, in the typical low-light conditions that many attacks occur, how much light is needed to induce flash blindness of enough intensity and duration to evade/escape the attack.
While there is plenty of information available on using a flashlight for SA and with a firearm to PID a target, there is little documentation of how much light is needed to temporarily blind an assailant. This is my goal: to determine how much light (in luminous intensity) under a variety of ambient lighting levels is needed for the light itself to serve as a viable non-lethal self-defense tool.
Back in November, @HALO51 reached out to me for some advice on specifying a flashlight for his warrant arrest work, which generally involves forced-entry and subduing uncooperative suspects. He related to me flashlights he had used in the past and based on that, I made some suggestions on what might work better for him. Based on his results with the new light (a Malkoff MD3-M91T) and its known lumen and lux capacity, a baseline of required output capacity is beginning to form. I'll leave it to HALO51 to elaborate on his results if he wishes to, but based on his feedback it's obvious that today's high-powered LED flashlights are bright enough to induce observable temporary flash blindness in subjects under typical indoor ambient lighting levels (the higher the ambient light level, the more difficult to induce temporary flash blindness). My sincere thanks to HALO51 for sharing his experience with me and inspiring me to investigate this topic further!
I am hoping other P-F LEO members might be willing to share their experience as part of this case study. If anyone would like to contribute data points, here is the info I'm looking for;
- Flashlight used: make, model and if available, its rated lumen and candela output
- Incident took place indoors or outdoors
- Ambient light conditions (near total darkness, street lighting, normal interior lighting, etc.)
- Distance to subject
- Subject state of mind (submissive, agitated, etc.)
- Effect of light on subject (from no effect to incapacitated)
- How long did the effect last
- Response of subject to having light projected into eyes (from submission to violent response)
Feel free to post your info below as a response, or PM me if you would prefer to respond confidentially.
My thanks in advance to all who feel inclined to contribute!