UK: New generation of shock weapons
01 September 2005
Taser International, the Arizona-based company which manufactures the 50,000 volt stun gun that is used by the UK's police forces, has been forced to correct claims about the weapon's safety following an investigation by US officials. There has been intense concern over the stun gun's safety and stability, and while it was eagerly adopted by police forces in the UK, it is banned from export because of its use as a weapon of torture in countries such as Greece, Spain and Austria. General safety concerns arose because of the lack of tests on the "less-lethal" weapon and the rapidly escalating death rate associated with it - Amnesty International has information on more than 70 deaths since 2001 that are attributed to the use of police tasers in the USA and Canada. Taser International has now voluntarily amended its claims regarding safety and limited the use of the words "non-lethal" in an effort to deflect criticism from the Arizona attorney general.
In the UK, the response to the criticisms by the last Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir John Stevens, was to call for the use of the Taser to be extended. In the USA the Homeland Security Advanced Research Project Agency (HSARPA) has announced an extension to its programme, with "weapons designed to fire 'electric bullets' into crowds [that] are being developed for police and border protection agencies."
Where the existing Tasers fire a pair of darts trailing current-carrying wires to shock the victim the new programmes aim to "develop wireless weapons that can be used over greater distances". This new projectile is being developed by Lynntech in Texas and can be fired from a shotgun or grenade launcher. The New Scientist magazine describes the effect of the weapon as follows:
On impact the device sticks to the target and delivers an 80,000-volt shock for seven seconds, using a pulsed delivery similar to that used by Tasers. Further shocks can be triggered via remote control.
Another project being pursued by the "less-lethal" weapons industry is the "Piezer". Mide Technology Corporation describe this as containing "piezoelectric crystals, which produce a voltage when they are compressed. The Piezer would be fired from a 12-gauge shotgun, stunning the target with an electric shock on impact."
A third project involves the Inertial Capacitive Incapacitator, which is being developed by the Physical Optics Corporation, and uses a "thin-film charge storage device that is charged during manufacture and only discharges when it strikes the target. It can be incorporated into a ring-shaped aerofoil that can be fired from a standard grenade launcher at low velocity, while still maintaining a flat trajectory for maximum accuracy."
The first prototypes are expected to be delivered to HSARPA by the end of 2005.
Amnesty International "USA: Excessive and lethal force? Amnesty Internatiuonal's concerns about deaths and ill-treatment involving police use of Tasers" 31.11.04; New Scientist 13.8.05; Standard 29.9.05.