Gordo's Brain!

The CBC is reporting that, just in time for the Olympics, the Vancouver police have acquired an LRAD. There’s nothing worry about, though: it’s “simply a new communications tool that will allow officers to address huge crowds at distances of up to 300 metres”.

Apparently the anticipated “huge crowds” are also deaf. This thing is capable of producing a focused beam of sound at 146 dB. The human pain threshold for sound ranges from 120-140 dB. It’s quite the bullhorn, isn’t it?

I’m not one to distrust the police^*, but the manufacturer of the unit markets these things primarily as a sonic weapon and a communications device second. From disrupting protests in Tblisi in 2007, to dispersing crowds in Iraq, to repeling Somali pirates, it’s in use all over the world. As a weapon that can also be used to communicate. Contrary to what the Vancouver constabulary claim, it’s effective communication range is closer to a kilometre.

Just for the record, this is how the police “communicate” to crowds with an LRAD. It’s from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in September:

Thanks, but I’d prefer they just wrote me a letter.

4 Responses to “We trust the police, don’t we?”