What:
Using a joystick and computer monitor, deputies will operate the apparatus, which emits an invisible beam with the range of about 80 to 100 feet. The millimeter wave travels at light speed and penetrates the skin up to 1/64 of an inch and warms up the nervous system's heat receptors. Whoever gets hit by the heat wave instinctively moves out of the beam, which makes the pain go away.
Where:The L.A.County Sheriff’s Department will test a civilian version of Raytheon’s military heat ray in one of its county jails. Called the Assault Intervention Device (AID) the 71/2 foot tall device emits a targeted beam which causes individuals to experience “an unbearable burning sensation that forces individuals to recoil”.
The six month test conducted with the US Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice and Penn State University will examine the impact of the ray gun on patterns of violence.
The Active Denial System (ADS) a military version of the L.A. heat ray was deployed to the war Afghanistan and was at the disposal of commanders on the ground but they decided against its use and the weapon was withdrawn in April of this year.
Why:
This suppression tool appeals to law enforcement agencies because when inmates fight in a dormitory, dining room or exercise yard, jail officials often have to wait for backup before they can intervene. The technology would allow them to act sooner, potentially reducing injuries and curbing violence
The impetus for testing AID is reminiscent of the original reasoning for the TASER.Which was seen as an easy to use non- marring weapon, no mess crowd control weapon. Amnesty International has documented over 334 deaths that occurred after the use of Tasers between 2001 and 2008
What could possibly go wrong?
The ACLU blog
reports that in 2008 miscalabrations of the device during military testing injured five, one with lasting burns.
While the device was being tested by the Air Force, however, a miscalibration of its power settings caused five airmen in its path to suffer lasting burns, including one whose injuries were so severe that he was airlifted to an off-base burn treatment center.
A 2008 report by noted physicist and less-lethal weapons expert Joergan Altmann explained that the ADS device's microwave beam heats the skin without lasting harm only if the beam is switched off immediately once a temperature of 122 F. is reached — and then only if the beam is not retriggered
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