Next-generation handcuffs deliver electric shocks, drugs to detainees

Digital Trends ^ | 10 December 2012 | Mike Flacy

[JOAT]

Definitely an interesting, if not controversial, invention for the field of law enforcement, a new set of handcuffs delivers electric shocks like a taser.

Covered in detail on Patent Bolt recently, a patent application for an advanced set of handcuffs was published by the U.S. Patent & Trademark office during late November 2012. Filed by a group called Scottsdale Inventions during late 2010, technology that could potentially go into the handcuff design includes an accelerometer, a location sensing device, a microphone; a camera and a biometric sensor to measure a detainee’s physical state. However, the group has also designed the handcuffs to house electrodes that would deliver an electric shock to a detainee.

SNIP

In addition to the electrodes, the patent details a “substance delivery system” that’s designed to administer anything from medication to irritants. Delivery systems include a “moveable needle” for liquids or a “gas injection system” to deliver a paralytic or sedative. Similar to the data collected regarding incidents of electric shocks, it’s likely that the device will record instances where substances are delivered to detainees.

The handcuffs do include a warning system that would alert the detainee that the delivery of a shock or substance is imminent unless behavior was corrected. The patent outlines a red LED warning light on the device that would turn on in addition to a small speaker that would emit a loud tone before the device is activated.

The patent also details the possibility of using location data to keep the detainee in a specific area or away from another detainee.

Read more at link, also pics.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Ah, but we DO waterboard terrorists.

The CIA claims Zero Dark Thirty lies.

[Ransomed]

Jack Vance has a similar story, the Durdane trilogy from the early 70s.

“The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durdane_series

Freegards

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Two things, first most cops prefer tasers, because guns only have three modes, holstered, brandished, and shooting; but the vast majority of what they do needs something intermediate to that. Other weapons, like a billy club or a tonfa, have their own problems as well.

As far as the Milgram experiment, of giving shocks, while that was a basic breakthrough, there is much, much more to that psychology.

For example, individual action vs. mob action, “identity known” action vs. anonymous action, and one I have been very surprised by, is what I would call “Internet mob mentality”.

In a forum like FR, most posters are well behaved, with just some minimal moderation. But in other forums, anonymous posters can turn vicious, given the right subject.

One that impressed me was a discussion about crime and punishment, where posters were almost in a contest of how sadistic they could be towards prisoners, and their approval of the sadism of others. Torture such as flogging, branding, amputation, and the death penalty for even petty crimes. Some showed twisted creativity in this.

But it also raised the question of were they just too inhibited to propose this in person to someone else, or if they found the peer approval they wanted, were they serious about these things?

[Altariel]

Indeed.

[Boogieman]

“But it also raised the question of were they just too inhibited to propose this in person to someone else, or if they found the peer approval they wanted, were they serious about these things?”

I think it’s a mixture of two phenomena: first, there are those who were serious, and simply found an opportunity to express unorthodox views without being rejected, and second, there are those who may not have been serious, but just jumped on the bandwagon because of mob mentality.

You see similar stuff with something like the Occupy Wall Street protestors. The committed anarchists and radicals latch on to it as an opportunity to voice their extreme views in a welcoming environment, and the hipster hangers-on just mostly parrot those views, because they think it will make them look cool and help them pick up protestor chicks.

[Boogieman]

“Two things, first most cops prefer tasers, because guns only have three modes, holstered, brandished, and shooting; but the vast majority of what they do needs something intermediate to that. Other weapons, like a billy club or a tonfa, have their own problems as well.”

Yes, the idea of giving police a nonlethal, but effective weapon, was a noble one. I just think the decision that the Tazer is the right weapon for that job is not well thought-out, and perhaps, lacking a better alternative, the idea itself may prove to be mistaken.

Previously, without the tazer available, the police officer had more limited options if they encountered some noncompliance. They could either try to talk to the subject and reason with them, or perhaps intimidate them into cooperating, or they could escalate to getting physical with the club and restraining holds, or ultimately, escalate to the use of firearms. Now, they have what seems like a much easier option, of escalating to the tazer.

The result of this, as far as I can see, is that the officers are not as hesistant to escalate the situation anymore, since they see the tazer as a “humane”, nonlethal escalation. So, in situations which they previously might have defused with patience and communication, they will most likely not exercise such patience, and will just taze the subject into compliance. It seems to me, at least with many cops, this rushing to escalate, just to end a situation quickly, is becoming habitual, and it can have unintended consequences.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

That it might be abused by the police is always a concern, but there is the flip side to that argument, that far too often, reason and argument are not at issue at all.

That is, talk to street cops and they will probably admit to fisticuffs far too often, drunks who are so drunk they can’t even see the gun pointed at them and want to wrestle. And some types of druggies that will take half a dozen cops to take down enough to handcuff.

And this takes serious wear and tear on a cop, because even if you win fight after fight, the little injuries add up over time.

Sometimes raw emotions are just as blinding as are alcohol and drugs. This is why cops don’t like domestic fights, because anyone on the scene can suddenly turn on you, individually or as a group.

So bottom line is that a Taser is just a tool, like a gun, club, pepper spray, etc. It’s up to the cop whether they are used appropriately or abusively.