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UK Police Test 'Temporarily Blinding' LASER

Posted by Soulskill on from the for-sufficiently-permanent-values-of-temporary dept.

esocid writes "Called the SMU 100 it costs £25,000 and sends out a three-meter 'wall of light' that leaves anyone caught in it briefly unable to see. Designed by a former Royal Marine Commando, it was originally developed for use against pirates in Somalia. While tasers and CS gas work well over short distances the laser is said to be effective at up to 500 meters (1,640ft). Being targeted by the beam has been compared to staring into the sun before being forced to turn away. Paul Kerr, managing director of Clyde-based Photonic Security Systems, which came up with the design, said 'If you can't look at something you can't attack it.'"

5 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. If you can't look at something you can't attack it by EkriirkE · · Score: 4, Informative

    I think suicide bombers would disagree.

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  2. Re:seems like a really bad idea by eudas · · Score: 4, Informative

    Primary source:
    http://www.un.org/millennium/law/xxvi-18-19.htm

    And, links to the wikipedia articles (if that's not considered too circular):
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Certain_Conventional_Weapons
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons

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    Blessed is he who expects the worst, for he shall not be disappointed.
  3. Re:seems like a really bad idea by geckipede · · Score: 5, Informative

    Blinding laser weapons are specifically mentioned in the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons annex of the Geneva Conventions.

    See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons

    And yes, it does make a specific distinction between temporary and permanant blindness, so this thing is almost certainly legal as far as this particular protocol goes.

    I should point out though, that the UK police have never even resorted to using water cannons outside of Northern Ireland, and use of riot equipment is a very serious political issue here. Breaking out the doom rays on a crowd of protestors is not going to happen lightly, and if it did happen, it would not be brushed off or ignored afterwards.

  4. Re:What is with the UK and all this surveillance a by sadness203 · · Score: 4, Informative

    "The protesters were keeping the police from leaving"

    Yet, you can clearly see the officer in the same video, going on the other side of the protester, walking over them casually without any difficulty, while waiving in his hand a can of pepper spray, just before spraying them.

  5. Re:What is with the UK and all this surveillance a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    You can find out how many people have been shot by police over the last 20 or so years here : http://inquest.gn.apc.org/website/statistics/deaths-in-police-custody/police-shootings.

    53 (about 2.6 a year). Compare that to other countries.