In 1993, 82% of all sheriff's departments armed their personnel with semi-automatic handguns. The rest were equipped with revolvers. A majority of departments either supplied the weapons or provided an allowance for the purchase of weapons. During the same year period, 68% of the nation's sheriffs supplied protective body armor to their regular field officers. Approximately 97% of all departments authorized officers to use one or more types of non-lethal weapons. Impact weapons, such as batons, were the most favored of the non-lethal category of weapons. Following impact weapons were aerosol chemical weapons and pepper spray, that are traditionally used to disable subjects with a noxious dispersement from an aerosol canister. An estimated 39% of sheriff's departments employed one or more dogs for the purpose of law enforcement. In 1993, over 3000 dogs were maintained by the nation's sheriffs for constabulary related activities. Just over 4% of sheriff's departments used horses for law enforcement missions. Collectively, in 1993, sheriff's supported 1000 horses for this purpose. Nationwide departments operated about 52 cars per 100 sworn sheriff's officers. Boats were used by an estimated 30% of sheriffs for patrol functions. Only 5% of sheriff's departments operated fixed winged aircraft and 3% operated helicopters.¹⁵⁸