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Washington (AFP) Nov 27, 2007 A UN committee that decried Taser stun guns as a form of torture is "out of touch" with the realities facing law enforcement agents, one of the heads of the Taser company said Tuesday. The UN Committee against Torture said Friday in a statement that the use of Tasers "causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture" and, in some cases, results in death. "It shows how out of touch the UN committee is with modern policing," Taser chairman of the board Tom Smith told AFP at an interview in Herndon, Virginia, outside Washington. "There's not one use of force the police employ that does not inflict pain," he said. "Pepper spray goes on for hours and hours, hitting someone with a baton breaks limbs, shooting someone with a firearm causes permanent damage, even punching and kicking -- the intent of those tools is to inflict pain," he said. "With the Taser, the intent is not to inflict pain; it's to end the confrontation. When it's over, it's over," Smith said, insisting that the effect of being "tasered" is short-lived and not life-threatening. Tasers pack a 50,000-volt punch, which paralyzes targets. The UN criticism of the stun guns followed a string of deaths in the United States and Canada that occurred after police used Tasers to subdue people, including 40-year-old Pole, Robert Dziekanski. A videotape of Dziekanski collapsing and dying after being tasered at Vancouver airport by Canadian police, who then piled on top of him, was released earlier this month, raising new calls for Tasers to be banned. The UN committee made its comments on the stun guns in recommendations to Portugal, which it urged to reconsider equipping police officers with Tasers because of their potential to cause grave physical and mental harm. According to Smith, Portugal saw the Taser as a means for law enforcement agents to treat people more humanely. "Portugal had gone to the committee... to outline how they would better treat people they take into custody," Smith said. "They talked about improved training, better policies -- and the use of the Taser because it ends confrontations much more quickly than pepper spray, the use of batons, or other brutal force," he said. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com
Northrop Grumman Installs And Tests New Radar Test Units On B-2
Palmdale CA (SPX) Nov 27, 2007Northrop Grumman has completed the installation, integration and initial flight testing of the first developmental test units (DTU) of the new radar antenna developed for the B-2 stealth bomber's radar modernization program (RMP). The availability of the new antenna -- an active electronically scanned array designed and built by Raytheon -- will allow the Northrop Grumman-led B-2 industry team to complete the comprehensive RMP flight test program interrupted last year by integration issues with the antenna. |
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