h a l f b a k e r yThe leaning tower of Piezo
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Semi-tazer fires one electrode dart only into the suspect, as a warning that the second one can quickly follow if needed, completing the circuit.
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If I got one of these I'd simply pull it out, before the
user could fire the second dart. Sorry, it's a nice idea
but not terribly useful. |
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It would be simpler and cheaper to just say "I have a
Taser! Put down the Hello Kitty Rocket Launcher and step
away from the rhinoceros!" |
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Many tazer darts have barbs and require minor surgery to pull out. |
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The police in the UK record every usage of a taser - it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser sighting. |
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I've seen meth heads on "Cops" take up to three or
four or them. Nothing can stop them when they are
in fear of getting caught. |
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Really this would require the ability to fire two or more additional darts. Those scofflaws who simply pull out a warning dart will find themselves penetrated by a welter of many darts of various shapes and colors. The tazer holder might have a dial indicating which of the several darts should be charged with current, as current running thru different parts of the body might have different effects. The skillful use of this system could be done so as to direct the muscles of the one tazed to perform various dances. In the name of law and order, of course. |
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/it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser sighting./ |
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Some method needs to be devised so these preambles to taser use are less obvious. Don't UK police wear those tall hats? Certainly they used to, and those hats are probably still around. Maybe the taser(s) could be stationed in the hat, triggered by a fierce brow crinkle. |
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//it turns out that nearly everyone surrenders as soon
as the officer takes the taser gun out of the holster or
when the officer turns on the taser's "red dot" laser
sighting. // |
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I've heard the same thing. Last year I was chatting with a
Maine State Trooper who
brought his dog in for a check-up and vaccInes; I can't
remember how we got onto the topic, but we ended up in
a mutually informative discussion of non-lethals (he'd
never heard of Stingballs), and he
told me this: the most popular brand of taser has two
shots, and he said that he had used his on several
occasions, firing one shot and releasing the trigger after
just a second to, in his words, "give the subject a little
taste" before "giving them both barrels" and administering
a longer sustained shock if they continue to resist. I don't
know if this practice is widespread, but he claimed that
he'd subdued combative individuals with the 'warning shot'
alone more often than not. |
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I've experienced a split-second jolt from a hand-held stun
gun that a (female) college friend carried, and it was...
extremely painful and unpleasant with effects that lasted
several minutes, so I find the cop's story quite believable. |
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I've also been indirectly maced (in an accidental discharge
at a rock concert; some chick's self-defense key fob
exploded in a mosh pit). I'm not sure which was worse,
that or the stun gun. |
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My understanding of these gadgets is that they pass a high voltage, low current charge. The high voltage part of the charge is about 50 000 volts (as advertised to you recalcitrant recidivists) without contact, i.e. arcing through the air. With contact and subsequent drop in resistance, you get about 5000 V through the circuit. V=RI, with current consistant, a drop in resistance gives a drop in voltage. In order to keep current in the milliamps consistantly, it is best to keep a circuit flowing. This is why these things arc in the air. You are draining a capacitor, and you would like to do that uniformly, or as uniformly as permissable. If you put one end of your delivery mechanism into the offending person, and then deliver the next later on, I fear you may actually deliver all 50 000 volts to the meatbag target, for some period of time. This may have serious implications. I know that it's volts that jolts and mills that kills, but 50 000 of thems volts may be a tipping point... |
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Yeah. In terms of danger, I've had much worse shocks from
a welding machine--high amperage, relatively low voltage.
It's a different flavor of electrocution, as well. It doesn't
make your muscles freeze up for several minutes like the
stun gun did to me, but it's a much more immediate and
startling pain. |
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A friend who is now a police prosecutor told me of
a domestic violence incident where they were
called to subdue a man whose neighbours thought
posed a risk to them. The guy got into a bit of a
grapple with two officers,
removed their sidearms and threw them over a
fence, so all of the cops, as they arrived, took off
their firearms and waded into the fray. |
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In short, they used up 5 cans of pepper spray on
him, while he rendered 2 TASERs unserviceable,
along with 3-4 batons and 3 of the 11 officers
attending. |
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In the end the got him when he slipped over on
the lawn and they all piled on and TASERed him
again while they held him down, then cuffed him
with plasticuffs. |
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Turns out he was an elite special forces soldier,
somewhat intoxicated and feeling rather maudlin
that one of his friends had been killed in
Afghanistan and he had returned home to find his
wife had left him. He didn't want to hurt anyone,
as evidenced by his actions in throwing away the
police weapons once he had gained control of
them. |
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I'd hate to be a copper... seriously, the poor
buggers go into all sorts of shit with their hands
tied with regards to terms of engagement and
practically blindfolded as to the tactical
situation they're facing. |
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Agreed. Soldiers may get much more hurt thrown at them
on a daily basis, but at least they know it's coming and
have a semblance of an idea where from and in what form.
The same trooper I talked tasers with told me a happy
little tale about responding to a call involving a woman
having trouble in labor (he was about a 1/2-hour closer
than the ambulance) and ending up walking into a meth
lab
and having a gun shoved into his face. |
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Karen said that incident was the one where she
opted to switch from operations to prosecution. She
observed that it was not somewhere they should
have been and that the soldier was perfectly sane
and reasonable after everyone stopped trying to hurt
him. |
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He was given a suspended sentence at the end of
the process, and asked if he wouldn't mind living on
base for a while. |
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