SECURITY experts met up in California last month to discuss plans to roll out a non-lethal landmine that zaps intruders with 50,000 volts. But while the device satisfies the 1997 Ottawa Convention, which bans explosive landmines, some experts question its safety and are concerned that it could breach international humanitarian laws.
The Taser Area Denial Device is based on the Taser electric shock weapon, widely used by police forces around the world. A pair of darts is fired at intruders from a distance of about 7 metres, and a high-voltage electrical pulse is delivered through lightweight metal cables to the darts. The electric shock incapacitates the intruder by overriding their neuromuscular control (快猫短视频, 15 February 2003, p 34).
Each battery-powered TADD has up to 12 pairs of darts that can be fired independently at different targets, and is capable of delivering a total of 200 three-second shocks. 鈥淭he goal is to immobilise the assailant or bad guy and then dispatch guards or police to take them away,鈥� says Marshall Toplansky of Tasertron in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company that developed TADD.
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For example, a guard monitoring a perimeter fence through a surveillance camera can remotely trigger TADD if he spots an intruder. It could also be set up so that if infrared motion sensors spot an intruder, the guard is alerted and triggers the device. In both cases, human input ensures safety. This is called a 鈥渕an-in-the-loop鈥� system.
So far the technology has yet to be deployed. But TADD could soon be used to upgrade the security systems at US nuclear facilities or replace conventional landmines for military use. According to Toplansky, security experts at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico who are responsible for handling the security at all US nuclear facilities, met with Tasertron last month at Kirkland Air Force Base, in California, to discuss using the technology in perimeter defences as part of an overall strategy to improve security.
Managers from Nevada State Prison Service have also expressed interest in the system, says Toplansky. Prison guards would find TADDs useful not just for perimeter security but also for controlling the prisoners inside. Wall or ceiling mounted units could be triggered during riots, for example, to stun prisoners.
Used under these conditions the technology doesn鈥檛 seem much like a landmine. But Richard Lloyd of London-based Landmine Action is worried that the technology could easily be developed into something more ominous. 鈥淚nevitably this stuff leaks out to a much wider use. I think it would be foolish to rely upon marketing claims of limited use,鈥� he says. Indeed, the US military are particularly interested in developing autonomous versions that can be dispersed across the ground to create no-go areas. Tasertron has so far only done the feasibility studies for such a system.
More importantly, Lloyd does not believe enough research has been done to prove that this device won鈥檛 kill. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e pregnant, a child or old, the effects of 50,000 volts are potentially lethal,鈥� he says. These devices might even violate the Geneva Convention, Lloyd says, especially if they are unable to discriminate between combatants and civilians. He says it is not a question of comparing the kind of damage different landmines cause. 鈥淚t would be difficult to envisage their legal use if there wasn鈥檛 a man-in-the-loop.鈥�
Toplansky admits there are issues around the unsupervised use of TADD. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the reasons why we have been looking at the man-in-the-loop system for perimeter security,鈥� he says. 鈥淣obody wants to take out the wrong target.鈥�
Others remain unconvinced the technology will even work. Steve Tuttle of Arizona-based Taser International told 快猫短视频 that his company had not pursued this way of using Taser technology because they don鈥檛 believe it will work. 鈥淭he effects only last as long as the electrical current is on and once it stops, the person recovers instantly,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not much chance that a person could be incapacitated long enough to cause area denial with today鈥檚 technology.鈥�
