Police Need Better Tasers…
A Tasing weapon must launch two prongs into the victim from within a 15’ distance. In the heat of the moment, it is not yet a completely reliable device, which may be why fearful/nervous police are over reliant on their guns. Meanwhile, we are always hearing about police accidentally shooting those who they mistakenly think are carrying guns. Weapon scanners and Tasers need to get better for police work to improve. Along the way, we need to improve school/classroom security to the level of airports/planes.
It is tragic that so many police officers cannot effectively incapacitate the people they pull-over, sometimes resulting in injury/death by a) using a gun instead of taser b) mistaking something innocuous the victim is holding for a gun. In addition to better protocols for police (better training, weeding out of bad actors) and felons (don’t run away, hands in air/don’t reach into pockets after pulled over), better tech may be in order lest this becomes a permanent left/right disfunction. Though cameras and stepped-up police accountability have helped, one wonders if jittery police need better tools at their disposal, as the requirements for the job are actually quite high. This article will discuss some possibly better policing tools on the horizon, plus some ways to implement these better tools.
To preface a discussion on better Tasers, one must consider that police encounter potentially dangerous situations on a regular basis, and may reach for their gun as the best option, even if they risk imprisonment for doing so (better than being dead). Tasers have been designed to avoid confusion with handguns (they have a different holster, color, and grip), and yet police still allegedly pull out their gun instead of Taser by mistake. All of this speaks to the relative unreliability of the Taser and lack of confidence in it as the weapon of choice. Tasers also require a distance of within 15’ and the attachment of two electrodes, which can be tricky. Rick Smith, cocreator of the Taser and currently CEO of non-lethal weapon manufacturer Axon, believes his company will make police handguns obsolete by 2030. The challenge, he says, is getting the two barbs that must attach themselves to the victim’s skin, to penetrate heavy clothing. Tasers also incapacitate for only about 5 seconds. The military is working on a Taser weapon with a range of 100 meters (328 ft), can penetrate heavy clothing, and incapacitate for 30 seconds, called a human electro-muscular incapacitation (HEMI) gun. The military is also working on a “Burke Pulser” which fires an electric incapacitating pulse. None of these improved Taser weapons would appear to be available soon, so we may have to suffer through more tragic police shootings in the short term. (Brewster, 2021),(Peck, 2020),(Smith,2016)
Another area where police and security work could vastly improve is weapon-scanning. A company called Evolv has combined radar and AI technology to “streamline” weapon security by removing false positives and speeding up security queues at the airport. Another company called Athena Security, has developed a similar system that is being used at Archbishop Wood High School in Pennsylvania. The Department of Defense and NYPD have been working on a scanning device that could detect weapons up to 80 feet away, using Terahertz waves. A security scanner that attaches to a smartphone, called SWORD, has been designed for school security, and is effective up to 40 feet in distance. (Dempsey, 2021),(Murray,2012),(Locklear,2018),(Harris,2018),(officer.com,2018)
With the success of airport security and federal Marshalls on planes (which has drastically reduced airline terrorist incidents) it is time to talk about school security. Perhaps a combination of perimeter fencing, camera security, security pinch-points, and security scanners should be part of school infrastructure spending. The equivalent of a Federal Marshall (or two) may be needed on a school campus. The great thing about this is that the perpetrator wouldn’t know who among the school personnel was carrying a weapon, so that alone may compromise any attack. With 3D plastic weapons, not all scanners would be effective, but I believe some combination of AI and camera work (ie a person walking onto campus with a duffel-bag, with perhaps even instant face recognition/background if they were a disgruntled student) may be enough to trigger a police response. Security fencing could also prevent escape as well as preventing entry, but there may be a way to open the security fencing in an emergency.
All told, there is a tremendous market for better incapacitating weapons and security detection. As much as people fear artificial intelligence as “big brother” (and this could be a real fear if the wrong people come to power), AI has the capability of making security much better. Don’t look for a Star Trek “set phasers to stun” weapon any time soon, but there could very well be a much better Taser weapon (longer range, longer incapacity, better penetrating power) within the next ten years. Until then we will need to implement sensible protocols for police and felons to follow.
