Can’t say. Cops are more expensive but at least they don’t create permanent records than can be analyzed by AI to track everyone and everything. Then again money is fungible and could be better spent elsewhere.
The US not withstanding, people usually feel safer when they see police officers. I don’t think they get the same effect from cameras being present.
I have wanted to vandalize every red light and speed camera in my city for several years now and can’t figure out how to avoid detection from the network of traffic cameras in my area. I could stay in residential areas as much as possible, but then I have to contend with those fucking Ring doorbells watching me sneak past. Big Bro level observation is already here and stepping on my desire to irreparably harm government property (and get away scot-free).
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Oh cool the taxpayers who suffer get to pay. The actual murderers, not so much. Great system.
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Thought for a few seconds this was talking about the rapidly declining magazine and was all, kind of overwrought, no?
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hoo boy
This is actually a really interesting dilemma for me. Do I hate all propaganda and fight against misinformation no matter where it comes from, or do I let it slide when it benefits my “side”? This isn’t even misinformation, per say, it’s just a highly-spun take on the facts. We all have areas of expertise or knowledge that is more technical or advanced than that of the general public, and I know we’ve all seen media portrayals of whatever those things are, and they are usually wrong, incomplete, or biased. In my case, this is one of those times. I worked on this system when I was at the AF Research Lab in 2002-2003.
Disclaimer: I am NOT defending the cops. I don’t think they should have access to military tech like this. Not because it isn’t effective or safe, but because it isn’t effective or safe in untrained hands, which we all know how well and thoroughly cops are trained. 
The “heat ray”, or Active Denial System, IS safe, is much less harmful or lethal than rubber bullets or even tear gas, and with a few tweaks could be used to safely disperse crowds, if that’s what you want to do. I do not trust the cops to use it judiciously, though.
This article and the spin around it make it sound like the ADS is some kind of ray gun the cops could carry around to light people on fire with. It is not that. It’s not a ray gun. It uses millimeter waves to excite the molecules in the top level of the skin to make them feel hot. Human reflex is to get out of the way. I know this because I was a test subject for it. It feels like when you have your face in front of a hot oven and you open the door.
The point of the system was to find a non-lethal and less harmful way to disperse crowds other than live ammo, tear gas, or other “less-than-lethal” methods. It’s a vehicle-mounted system, so you would definitely know it’s there. It’s a big antenna on top of a jeep or humvee.
When we were working on it, no one thought to ask the basic “how do people know which way to run out of the beam” question. The system was shelved because of this, but a simple solution would be to mark the edges of the beam with low-grade lasers. The beam is very directed, because of the nature of millimeter waves and the design of this specific waveform. I stood half in, half out on one of my tests and the line was quite definite (and definitely weird).
Anyway, I’d rather be hit with that than tear gas (which I have also experienced). Also, there are no permanent effects. hundreds of people tested this, many of us multiple times. The longest anyone could stay in the beam was just over 4 seconds.
All that being said, proper use of the system would require people who are well-trained and not cruel, because it was designed to be used in shorter bursts to allow people time and space to disperse. I, of course, can imagine sadistic cops keeping it on a densely-packed crowd and making them feel overwhelming heat and causing trampling/panic.
Bottom line: I agree that the cops shouldn’t have this system. I have trouble with the over emotional histrionics about a “heat ray” and people imagining ray guns that vaporize people like in a cartoon.
ETA: The commander on the ground in Fallujah insists that the whole thing would not have happened if they’d had one of these there.
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I assume “less harmful” means still potentially harmful. How harmful could injudicious use be? I assume there are obvious tweaks that can make it more harmful.
What happens if it is used on a dense crowd and it is targeted at a person who is blocked in on all sides except forward for an extended period of time? Can it be aimed at the middle of a crowd from an elevated point above the crowd?
I don’t trust the Air Force to use it judiciously either, or the Commander in Chief in charge of the Air Force.
What does it do to your eyeballs? People do some crazy stuff with microwaves and it’s extremely dangerous for your eyes.
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So, this is an early-2000’s era rendering of the system as it would be deployed. I think I used this image in a briefing once, lol
As you can see it’s already elevated a little bit. The draft ops manual described it being used in short 5-sec bursts, usually aimed at the front line of a crowd. The point was to make them feel the heat effect (your skin isn’t really hot, it just feels like that) and when they start to scatter, turn it off. Rinse and repeat.
the controller could rotate the dish on both the X and Z axes, but the height was fixed. The efficacy lies in protecting a point or entrance, like a gate for example. Also, like many crowd control tactics, once your crowd knows what to look for, they can counter it. I would suggest front line protesters take metal shields or (LOL) wear metal suits.
The only data we never took was extended exposure (more than 5 seconds, for example) because it wasn’t necessary. There was an auto shutoff after like 10 or 15 seconds (I’m not sure of the exact duration, it’s been a long time), but I’m sure that could easily be disabled by asshole cops.
We had press and celebrities and 4-star generals coming to be test subjects for this thing. We also had field commanders from Iraq and Afghanistan calling us about it. The lab rats were NOT used to that. Usually something developed in the lab would take years to see field deployment.
Ultimately it was shelved for the reasons you all mentioned, and because it would “look bad” to use. Personally, I think shooting people with bullets looks worse, but what do I know.
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If the military had that Tech I wonder if they would make people get naked and pile them up in pyramids and see how long they can handle being exposed to those rays. Protocols aren’t always followed.
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Waterboarding doesn’t look as bad as pulling out someone’s fingernails. That made it easy to waterboard people hundreds of times.
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We had a similiar situation for me regarding the recent kerfuffle regarding the post office. I have a background in material handling. Now… IDK what was actually happening. But some of the stuff that was reported to be happening regarding the physical shuffling and disassembly of the sorting machines didn’t make sense and verged into conspiracy land.
Moving on to less lethal crap the cops (and military) do…
As always, the copraganda is strong on this issue. If you are saying to yourself “sure, LRADs/etc are less lethal than CS, boy that’s some good coppin’ there, by golly…” You’ve been sucked into some really dirty copraganda (and really need to take a shower). All cops are bastards.
The correct comparison is to the null option… the cops not wilding and bringing the violence. Are LRADs/etc more safe than doing nothing. And the answer is… well obviously “no”. Because if the answer was “yes”, the military wouldn’t test it, or have any use for it anyways.
Let’s go back to a golden oldie…
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-FBI-Probes-Pepper-Spray-Swabbing-2824079.php
The Humboldt Co CA SO was infamous for torturing NVDA activists doing a technical lock down by prying their eyes open and rubbing their eye-balls with q-tips dipped in CS. The deputies even had little “Bat-Man” pouches to hold q-tips made for their “Utility Belts”.
Do here’s what we got…
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Q: Are LRADs/etc & eyeball swabbing less likely to kill actually kill the victim than sending the goons in with billy-clubs like the good-old-days? Sure, that’s what they claim.
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Q: Are LRADs/etc & eyeball swabbing torture, as commonly understood internationally. A: Yes.
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Q: Does any of this mean that mean the cops -ever- are forced to use LRADs/etc, eye-ball swabbing, goons with billy-clubs, clouds of CS, etc/etc/etc on non violent activists? A: No, they always have the option of being non-violent themselves, and just waiting things out.
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Q: Are the cops the “good” cops because they use this shit? Do they get a donut? A: No, all cops are bastards. No donuts.
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I watched that interaction on audit the audit. Pretty sure it’s the same incident. Cop was a complete prick and should be fired.
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That’ll teach him.
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So many good things from Virginia today! congrats, man
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