Technology on the horizon to prevent officers from being dragged

[Bob Hubbard]

Technology on the horizon to prevent officers from being dragged

“When you reach into someone’s car, you’re entering their turf,” said Ed Nowicki, executive director of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association in Wisconsin.
“You don’t want a fair fight, you want an unfair fight,” he said. “You want to get them out of their turf as fast as you can.”
Research is under way that could give officers another option.
Military scientists and private labs in California and Michigan are developing “directed energy” beams that could be aimed at a vehicle and fry its circuitry.
“Getting the right frequencies in the right amounts to disable the target car, and not yours – that’s the challenge,” said Sgt. Brian Muller, who heads the Less-Lethal Technology Exploration Project at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The department has teamed up with a nearby aerospace lab to study the technology, which Muller characterized as emerging.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

I used to advise the guys who locked themselves inside their cars to cover their eyes, right before I used my maglite to take out the side window. They often got out right before I got the flashlight past my shoulder on the down swing. Ah, the joys of lo-tech.

 

[jks9199]

Right now -- this is a huge long shot. Too many variables... and too many years until the device is reasonable and portable.

Even then -- you have to think of it & deploy it while being dragged...

 

[arnisador]

It'd be nice if they could give them this option, but...what are the power requirements? How big will this rarely used item be? It's surely worth researching, of course, but I wonder...

 

[Bob Hubbard]

I can see other uses. Like, a huge decrease in high speed pursuits, and their resulting chaos.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Until then, JUST DON'T REACH IN TO GRAB THE KEYS! They've been preaching that since I was in the academy 12 years ago.....and cops are STILL getting dragged down the roadway after trying to yank the keys out of the ignition of some car that a suspect refuses to get out of! Most of the dragging incidents result from that single act.

Better option:

1) Taser the driver!
2) Pepperspray the driver!
3) Grab the driver by the arm, hair or other handy appendage and drag him OUT!