'Weaponized' Smartphone Cases May Give False Sense Of Security
COSTA MESA (CBSLA.com) — Some women around the country are arming themselves with weapons connected to their smartphone cases, but the new technology may be too good to be true.
Alicia Murton won't leave her house for her morning run without grabbing two things — her cell phone and pepper spray.
"I feel like it's always best to be safe. You just always wanna have some kind of protection if, unfortunately, something does happen," she said.
One form of protection is called the Yellow Jacket — a stun gun combined with a cell phone case. Two prongs from the device, which is available online, generate 650,000 volts of electricity at the touch of a button.
Costa Mesa self-defense trainer Philip Sahagun warned women that weaponizing a phone can give them a false sense of security.
"It would be very easy for someone to come up, knock it down and then go into their attack," he said.
Sahagun said the same is true for phone cases with pepper spray attached in small canisters, like Spraytect or SmartGuard.
"Pepper spray doesn't always work 100 percent of the time," Sahagun said.
A CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh tried to deploy Spraytect three times. Each time, the product either oozed out or sprayed for just a few seconds.
Sahagun said there's no replacement for self-defense training.
"It's not just about the tools that you have; it's about the mentality that you have to use them," he said.
