Longview Hills @ Newport Oregon

(CBS) The use of tasers and other non-lethal weapons by law enforcement officers has proven highly controversial and come under intense scrutiny.

Now, a Torrance, Calif. company is producing a device it says could become a non-lethal weapon of choice -- the "LED Incapacitator."

The federal Department of Homeland Security has put more than $800,000 into the device, according to Brandi Hitt of CBS station KVOR-TV in Sacramento, Calif.