UK Police trialling laser that 'blinds rioters' - Polidicks

[QUOTE=J!NX;33687080]Hopefully they have a ton of these + all have big mirrors shine every mirror to the light, causing an infinite look of light being shined back and forth between the source, thus, making it explode and killing all its operators. the perfect plan!!![/QUOTE] Or it would just be a massive rave party. Brace for impact.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33684977]That's not really the same thing. All non-lethal weapons have a chance of doing damage they aren't supposed to, why is everyone making such a fuss over this?[/QUOTE] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons[/url] I don't have any moral problems with it, my issue is that it's illegal for the military to do but for some reason the police are excluded from this international law

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33687111]Or it would just be a massive rave party. Brace for impact.[/QUOTE] That would be amazingly confusing The police try blinding them, instead, they party

[QUOTE=Gundevil;33683301] A weapon is a weapon, the sole purpose is to cause pain to a person, honestly cops in most countries don't just walk around and pop you with a beanbag cause it's that time of the day (US excluded, people there just seem to enjoy causing pain). Chances are that if they are tazing you or shooting you with a bean bag, you probably had it coming and be happy your not having a doctor pull little pieces of lead out of your corpse.[/QUOTE] It's 3:30, citizens, you know what that means!

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33686881]Well you know in that case you can just cut the shit with all the weapons that can kill someone or cause horrible pain with little to no effort from the weapon holder and go back to a riot shield with a nightstick, because at least in these cases it's much harder to actually kill a person, as the strength required to do so is much superior to, say, having to press a button to burn someone to the ground.[/QUOTE]Yeah, then you'll be bitching about police brutality when someone gets a concussion and dies from a cerebral haemorrhaging. These lasers have been developed so none of that happens any more happens. These lasers, along with microwave ADS, the police can easily disperse a riot with little to no permanent bodily injury.

[QUOTE=ButtsexV3;33687594][url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protocol_on_Blinding_Laser_Weapons[/url] I don't have any moral problems with it, my issue is that it's illegal for the military to do but for some reason the police are excluded from this international law[/QUOTE] Except they aren't excluded from it. That says permanent blindness. As long as this passes tests to make sure it doesn't cause permanent blindness then that law doesn't affect it and if it does then they won't be used.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33688648]Except they aren't excluded from it. That says permanent blindness. As long as this passes tests to make sure it doesn't cause permanent blindness then that law doesn't affect it and if it does then they won't be used.[/QUOTE] The tests are flawed because they imply the desired effect indeed happens i.e forcing the target to move away. You can't easily run away from a laser or a heat wave when everyone is pushing each other in sheer panic.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33675870]It might be just me but all these "non lethal" weapons sound even more brutal and barbaric than regular deathly weapons. Bean-bags ? Can break your ribs Heat ray ? Can burn you to the ground Tazer ? At best you're pissing yourself, at worst you die of a heart attack Ultra-sound ? Can make you deaf[/QUOTE] If you break into my house, I'll make sure to use 8 1/2 shot instead of a power punch. I wouldn't want to be a brute.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33689231]The tests are flawed because they imply the desired effect indeed happens i.e forcing the target to move away. You can't easily run away from a laser or a heat wave when everyone is pushing each other in sheer panic.[/QUOTE] I seriously doubt that the people testing this won't take into account people not moving away from it. Why do half the people on facepunch seem to think that they are smarter than the people testing or inventing something?

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;33674219]Wasn't the U.S trying to make some sort of Microwave turret that gives people sunburns and deters them?[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;Piy448yMey4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piy448yMey4[/video] Gmod teaches us it WILL end up wrong.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33689819]Why do half the people on facepunch seem to think that they are smarter than the people testing or inventing something?[/QUOTE] Because I'm an engineer, and the idea seems shit? Because I'm friends with doctors, to whom the idea seems shit? Because the U.S. military used to use and develop laser weapons until they finally realized they were shit? Because regardless of fallacious appeals to authority, if an idea is shit, it's shit? What you're trying to imply (irrational skepticism) doesn't really work when one of the nations more content with such weird shit paid for the development of a set of them, and then shortly after said "and they're all goddamn useless."

you guys are stupid you think it's either "so strong that the damage is forever or so weak it barely even works"... more like, in between, you do realize that there is a such thing as adjusting it just enough to flash them, without hurting them, right? also, that microwave device they use for moving riots is not fatal at all, it just hurts enough to get them to move, not to fry them. you guys are over-thinking this way too much... of course, this would be overkill if used in lets say, a protest. BTW, I've don't welding before, you can blind yourself with a flash, temporarily, but it is far from 'permanent', I've done it tons of times in fact... with this, all you do is get flashed, then block your eyes, and your fine. And... if you don't want to get fried by the light or a microwave pointed at you, [B]GET OUT OF THE WAY[/B].

The US made a pretty effective system with heat, was on future weapons.

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33689819]Why do half the people on facepunch seem to think that they are smarter than the people testing or inventing something?[/QUOTE] Probably because an idea seems always good to the guy who found it. It's just common sense a fucking laser can blind you permanently, as a simple weak laser found in the common market can already do that.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33691750]Probably because an idea seems always good to the guy who found it. It's just common sense a fucking laser can blind you permanently, as a simple weak laser found in the common market can already do that.[/QUOTE] A laser can blind you... if you're a dumb ass and STARE into it obviously you won't get blinded if you aren't stupid how do people here not realize this?

[QUOTE=J!NX;33691663]BTW, I've don't welding before, you can blind yourself with a flash, temporarily, but it is far from 'permanent', I've done it tons of times in fact... with this, all you do is get flashed, then block your eyes, and your fine. And... if you don't want to get fried by the light or a microwave pointed at you, [B]GET OUT OF THE WAY[/B].[/QUOTE] You can't [B]GET OUT OF THE WAY[/B] when there's a massive crowd going apeshit with a microwave pointed at you. When you're alone you sure can, when you're in the middle of a protest, you can't. That's why there's so much cases of people falling in crowds running away and getting stomped by everyone. [editline]12th December 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=J!NX;33691772]A laser can blind you... if you're a dumb ass and STARE into it obviously you won't get blinded if you aren't stupid how do people here not realize this?[/QUOTE] You know if they want the laser to be effective they'll obviously have to make it very powerful or else people will just look away and keep going.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33691781]You can't [B]GET OUT OF THE WAY[/B] when there's a massive crowd going apeshit with a microwave pointed at you. When you're alone you sure can, when you're in the middle of a protest, you can't. That's why there's so much cases of people falling in crowds running away and getting stomped by everyone.[/QUOTE] This would of course be for riots, and in a riot, you want to disarm people as fast as possible. For a protest though, what's the point? obviously someone might get hurt, but people bitching about it doing 'permanent damage' is just stupid and sensationalist. If you throw a flash bang in a room full of people, someone could get startled, trip on a nail, and fire blindly and kill people... shit happens.

[QUOTE=ItWasNiceToKnow;33691724]The US made a pretty effective system with heat, was on future weapons.[/QUOTE] Future Weapons, the show on the Military Channel and Discovery Channel? Yeah, it's a great show but it's a bit outdated in some aspects, several projects I've seen episodes about on that show have been canceled since (I believe I remember an episode on the Land Warrior system, which got canceled in 2007, after the episode was made)

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33691781]You can't [B]GET OUT OF THE WAY[/B] when there's a massive crowd going apeshit with a microwave pointed at you. When you're alone you sure can, when you're in the middle of a protest, you can't. That's why there's so much cases of people falling in crowds running away and getting stomped by everyone. [editline]12th December 2011[/editline] You know if they want the laser to be effective they'll obviously have to make it very powerful or else people will just look away and keep going.[/QUOTE] You don't have to get out of the way. There is a magical thing called closing your eyes which is a natural reaction to bright light. A crowd of rioters with their eyes closed isn't going to do much other than beat the shit out of themselves if they are stupid enough to keep going.

Wonder how long it will take until they make some sort of THX 1138-style thing that just outright shuts down your nervous system on demand. Try protesting when you're physically unable move.

[QUOTE=Kuro.;33693891]Wonder how long it will take until they make some sort of THX 1138-style thing that just outright shuts down your nervous system on demand. Try protesting when you're physically unable move.[/QUOTE]I think if your entire nervous system shut down you'd be what's known as "dead".

[QUOTE=Kuro.;33693891]Wonder how long it will take until they make some sort of THX 1138-style thing that just outright shuts down your nervous system on demand. Try protesting when you're physically unable move.[/QUOTE] That would probably be better as a more ethical, completely painless method of killing people than as a anti riot weapon.

I meant just the parts of your nervous system that control movement.

[QUOTE=Kuro.;33695475]I meant just the parts of your nervous system that control movement.[/QUOTE] Isn't that basically what a taser is for?

Man, that whole first page i was thinking "for the love of god [B]SOMEBODY[/B] post that gif of the reflective robots with lasers"

[QUOTE=squids_eye;33692932]You don't have to get out of the way. There is a magical thing called closing your eyes which is a natural reaction to bright light. A crowd of rioters with their eyes closed isn't going to do much other than beat the shit out of themselves if they are stupid enough to keep going.[/QUOTE] Have you looked directly into a laser beam's origin ? it hurts like shit and even if you do it for one millisecond it gives you a nice big black spot in the middle of your sight for five good minutes. They would have to make it insanely more powerful to actually be efficient against a huge crowd, which means seeing the laser beam for even a millisecond before closing your eyes (given you don't look at it twice which is bound to happen) would have a chance of burning your eye incredibly more. Also, some people have more sensitive eyes than other so that would be largely enough to blind someone with light eyes for at least the entire day, if not more.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33697335]Have you looked directly into a laser beam's origin ? it hurts like shit and even if you do it for one millisecond it gives you a nice big black spot in the middle of your sight for five good minutes. They would have to make it insanely more powerful to actually be efficient against a huge crowd, which means seeing the laser beam for even a millisecond before closing your eyes (given you don't look at it twice which is bound to happen) would have a chance of burning your eye incredibly more. Also, some people have more sensitive eyes than other so that would be largely enough to blind someone with light eyes for at least the entire day, if not more.[/QUOTE] They single purpose of the device is to cause temporary blindness. What, do you think they just grabbed a bunch of laser pointers, and went, "Aww yeah, let's crank this shit to the max!" And you're not going need a strong laser to blind a lot of people. That's like saying you need faster bullets to hit a lot of targets.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33697335]Have you looked directly into a laser beam's origin ? it hurts like shit and even if you do it for one millisecond it gives you a nice big black spot in the middle of your sight for five good minutes. They would have to make it insanely more powerful to actually be efficient against a huge crowd, which means seeing the laser beam for even a millisecond before closing your eyes (given you don't look at it twice which is bound to happen) would have a chance of burning your eye incredibly more. Also, some people have more sensitive eyes than other so that would be largely enough to blind someone with light eyes for at least the entire day, if not more.[/QUOTE] "if you look into a lasers origin" Wow no shit it'll hurt, and cause a spot, but like you said, it's only temporary and no they're not using it in point blank, so it wont be THAT bad have you ever welded before and gotten an arc flash? It's blinding, but easy to shrug off, for sure.

[QUOTE=Ganerumo;33697335]Have you looked directly into a laser beam's origin ? it hurts like shit and even if you do it for one millisecond it gives you a nice big black spot in the middle of your sight for five good minutes. They would have to make it insanely more powerful to actually be efficient against a huge crowd, which means seeing the laser beam for even a millisecond before closing your eyes (given you don't look at it twice which is bound to happen) would have a chance of burning your eye incredibly more. Also, some people have more sensitive eyes than other so that would be largely enough to blind someone with light eyes for at least the entire day, if not more.[/QUOTE] Actually yes I have. I also used to stare into the sun during long car journeys as a kid (I wasn't the smartest of kids). I still have better than 20/20 vision. The human eye is sensitive, but you won't go blind unless you stare straight into it for a prolonged period of time or the light is pretty damn intense. [editline]13th December 2011[/editline] And your acting like the temporary blindness is a bad thing. Thats the whole fucking point.

blind these fuckers! yeah!