Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: What Non-lethal Technology Has the Best Chance of Replacing the Gun?
Wycliffe writes: Most cops are not out to kill someone, but when someone reaches for a cellphone or their glovebox, the cop may assumes the worst and try to protect themselves from dying. Guns are used to immobilize the target, and aren't even that good at it when a person is charging. What other potential devices could be used to protect a cop so that guns are unnecessary? Foam? Lightweight body armor? Nets? Robots? 'M.A.N.T.I.S.' paralyzing gas? Force field? What non-lethal technology out there has the best potential to be more effective at immobilizing a target and/or protecting a cop than a gun?
This is the only solution that might actually work.
This was already tried, and there is a TED talk on the topic which I am too lazy/busy to look up. I don't recall what country this happened in, but non-lethal weapons were handed out to a particular peace force with the intent that they would be used instead of guns, thus resulting in fewer instances of violence. The actual results were that the non-lethal instrument was used something like 10 times more often than guns were, and there was no real reduction in gun usage during police operations.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
I agree.
Police are supposed to protect the peace--not be thoughtless killing machines. We live in a time, when anyone wants to die, that's all they need do, is antagonize a police officer. They are that reliable.
We checks and balances were supposed to be on police officers have obviously failed.
I witnessed firsthand police aggression, when a police officer tried coercing me to take his version of the truth while taking a statement. I had to raise my hands and step back because I thought he was going to kill me. Try dealing with that after you have been hit by a car.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
Tasers already exist. Yet, cops shoot to kill instead of stun to disable. Why do we need another non-lethal weapon that won't be used?
How about a 2 hour course for high-schoolers in the inner cities called: How to behave around the police? Nearly every high-profile death by police officer would not have occurred if the person had simply complied with the police doing their jobs. Add mandatory jail time for resisting arrest. Resisting or not shutting up while getting arrested should include a smack of the baton.
Dynamite ones
Nullius in verba