British testing "directed energy weapons" for crowd control
OK, yes, the Daily Mail, I know. But still. Directed energy weapons designed to induce an unbearable burning sensation without leaving permanent injuries? Delightful. Heartwarming, even.
Government scientists are testing a range of exotic new 'less lethal technologies' to help frontline police officers tackle offenders without using firearms.Gadgets undergoing trials include 'sticky nets' which can entangle crooks while deliver a powerful electric shock, and low-powered lasers which cause severe pain when fired at an offender's skin, but without serious injury.
Controversial deaths such as the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes - who was mistaken for a suicide bomber by Scotland Yard firearms officers - has left the Home Office anxious to explore new non-lethal technologies which could offer ways of stopping suspects in their tracks.
Pictured is the adhesive gun also being considered by the Home Office. The highest echelons of Britain's police so face a conundrum: silence dissent by gluing people's mouths shut, or just keep them busy screaming?
"If you give people every conceivable weapon and tactical option there is, then the training need is so great they are never actually going to be on the street," says an anonymously-sourced firearms instructor.
Stink bombs, sticky nets and foam... the new 'less lethal' weapons being tested by police
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When will the EFF print the specs for DIY EMP generators?
The big danger with the pain beam is that its intended purpose(to drive people away from whatever is being guarded) depends on the target being able to move. If the subject can't move, then it is purely a torture device, and a good one at that. Luckily, people never get knocked down by fleeing crowds, trapped between fences in the free speech zone, or just restrained with duct tape in the police station basement. Clearly not a problem.
'Heartwarming, even.'
Actually, I think that misses the mark ... they're only 'top-10mm-of-the-epidermis-warming,' and that's why they don't roast Joe Peaceful Demonstrator like a Thanksgiving turkey.
:)
Skinwarming doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
It would make a great name for a band, though. As would "don't roast Joe"
But tweaked, most protesters wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Sounds a lot like the microwave weapons the US Army were testing... the ones that make you feel like your on fire without most of the unpleasant side effects of actually being on fire.
I love that the non-lethal weapons designed for the US army have to go through more scrutiny then lethal ones.
Ok, granted someone might get seriously injured by microwaves, but it's still a lot better then the current methods, like "fire aimlessly at the crowd".
in a situation where this might be used, i guess they want something that might stop a suicide bomber from being able to press the detonator. i'd say that electricity would be the best option for this, like those tasers that fire little darts. unless they only exist in films.
and low-powered lasers which cause severe pain when fired at an offender's skin, but without serious injury.
Not that anyone could possibly miss and hit an eye or something.
Look, nonlethal weapons are certainly better than the alternative, but until they get used by sober professionals who don't want to hurt anyone, and who're not violating civil rights, they'll still be tools of oppression as much as guns are.
We (the whole world) needs more humane police directives, and police who're not going to treat citizens as targets for brutality.
Hitting the eye won't do anything, microwaves don't damage tissue it just causes your nerve endings to go nuts. It's a weapon that needs no precision, just someone to click a button.
This marvelous new weapon would not stop a suicide bomber, only force him to move out of the microwave zapping area.
This is not aimed at people like Jean Charles de Menezes, it is aimed at people like the followers of Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King who would be sitting in to block a railway line or a street (for example, to make it difficult for delegates to attend the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week, or a meeting of the IMF or Group of 8). Statements by the police have made this very clear, such as the ones by New York and St. Paul police recently lumping together "terrorists," "anarchists" (who might throw a garbarge can through a McDonalds window -- whether acting as police provacateurs or on their own), and those peacefully practicing civil disobedience.
The use of the Jean Charles de Menezes killing as a pretext for this new weapon is especially outrageous. It is all too apparent that the police who killed Jean Charles had orders to kill him because somebody in the government needed a headline (the day after an attempted terrorist attack) reading "One Down!" (as they got, in Murdoch's Sun). Had police wanted to stop Jean Charles, they had a half-hour to do it, plenty of time to take note that he was not carrying a bomb around his waist, and could easily have stopped him by having one experienced police officer grab each arm as he got on and off buses.
Love the picture of the loogie gun!
monstrinho_do_biscoito, the only modern weapon I know of that can reliably stop a bomber from pressing a detonator is a high-caliber bullet.
Unfortunately that method is easily defeated by use of a "dead man switch".
In my (admittedly limited) personal experience, muscles will spasm or contract unpredictably in response to electrical charges sufficient to incapacitate a human.
--Charlie
Trent, he was talking about the lasers, and a laser strong enough to hurt is a laser strong enough to blind in a tiny fraction of a second.
So the police, having killed Jean Charles de Menezes for no reason, are now using his killing as a pretext to roll out new weapons for use against people like the followers of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. This weapon is obviously not aimed at "suspected terrorists" since it only forces a target out of the zapping area. It is aimed at people who peacefully sit down to block a railway line or a street, like those at the Republican convention last week in St. Paul, or like demonstrators against the world's self-appointed rulers at "Group of 8" or IMF meetings. Statements last week by St. Paul and New York police revealingly attempted to lump together "terrorists", "anarchists" (who throw garbage cans through McDonalds windows, whether as police provacateurs or off their own bat), and those engaging in peaceful civil disobedience.
They would never have used this weapon against de Menezes, but not just because it would be useless against a suicide bomber. It is all too apparent that the police killed Jean Charles because somebody in the government, on the day after an attempted terrorist attack, wanted a headline reading "One Down!" (which they got, in Murdoch's Sun). The police followed Jean Charles for half an hour, plenty of time to determine that he was not carrying anything or wearing a bomb around his belt, and plenty of time for two experienced police officers to grab him by each arm as he climbed on and off buses or stooped to pick up a copy of a free newspaper.
Come on, there's no "But still" about it. It's the fecking Daily Mail.
Go Paste Pot Pete!
...That damn thing looks almost like a Steampunk Phaser II. Look at the RG-6 Coax connector for the barrel :-)
I say that whoever creates a version of the "makes you feel like your skin is on fire" gun available for use against papparazi should get the Nobel prize. They give one of those for tormenting scumbags, don't they?
But these can also be used in prisons. In British prisons, there is no death penalty. If you get imprisonment until the end of your life, in maximum security prisons, you can't really punish murder as a result.Prisoners seriously assault eachother because understaffed and nearly underpaid 'screws' aren't going to risk their lives for a vicious psychopath. Weapons like this can be used to subdue murderers and would be genuinely feared instead of just ignored. Additionally, you haven't an idea of the abuse many police officers receive from day to day. Having something to stop an armed man from stabbing someone without killing him can only be a good thing right?
Basically my point is unless you have really worked as a police officer or 'screw' you have no idea. If you think so little of every new scheme designed to protect the public, you are as useless as everyone else who whines for days on end.
But these can also be used in prisons. In British prisons, there is no death penalty. If you get imprisonment until the end of your life, in maximum security prisons, you can't really punish murder as a result.Prisoners seriously assault eachother because understaffed and nearly underpaid 'screws' aren't going to risk their lives for a vicious psychopath. Weapons like this can be used to subdue murderers and would be genuinely feared instead of just ignored. Additionally, you haven't an idea of the abuse many police officers receive from day to day. Having something to stop an armed man from stabbing someone without killing him can only be a good thing right?
Basically my point is unless you have really worked as a police officer or 'screw' you have no idea. If you think so little of every new scheme designed to protect the public, you are as useless as everyone else who whines for days on end.
cops are lazy. Give them more "non-lethals" and they'll use them more.