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Toronto Police Get 'Sound Cannons' for G20
Riotous protesters marching at the G20 summit next month may be greeted with ear-splitting "sound cannons," the latest Toronto police tool for quelling unruly crowds.
Toronto police have purchased four, long-range acoustic devices (LRAD) - often referred to as sound guns or sound cannons - for the upcoming June 26-27 summit, the Star has learned.
LRADPurchased this month, the LRADs will become a permanent fixture in Toronto law enforcement, said police spokesperson Const. Wendy Drummond.
"They were purchased as part of the G20 budget process," Drummond said. "It's definitely going to be beneficial for us, not only in the G20 but in any future large gatherings."
Drummond stressed the devices will primarily be used by police as a "communication tool." The devices double as loudspeakers and can blast booming, directional messages or emergency notifications in 50 different languages; Drummond said Toronto police have used one of the devices already while executing a search warrant this month.
But critics say they are really non-lethal weapons and infringe upon protester rights.
Originally designed for the U.S. Navy, LRADs can emit ear-blasting sounds so high in frequency they transcend normal thresholds of pain. While they are used everywhere from Iraq to the high seas for repelling pirates, LRADs are being increasingly employed as a crowd-control device and at last year's G20 summit in Pittsburgh, police used them on protesters before deploying tear gas and stun grenades.
The acoustical devices can also be pointed at specific targets, transmitting a "laser" of sound that is less aggravating for anyone standing outside its beam.
Of Toronto's newly-acquired LRADs, three are handheld devices that can broadcast noise heard from 600 metres away. Their volume can reach 135 decibels, which surpasses the pain threshold of 110 to 120.
The fourth device is a larger model that can be mounted on vehicles or marine vessels and can generate noise reaching 143 decibels, audible from as far as 1500 metres.
To compare, a normal conversation measures at about 60 decibels. The U.S. National Institute on Deafness says sustained noise above 85 decibels can cause permanent hearing damage.
Drummond acknowledges LRADs can cause permanent hearing damage if used improperly but says Toronto police are developing guidelines for deployment. She said officers will also only use the device's "alert" function if crowds become riotous and will use the manufacturer's recommendation of firing short bursts, two to three seconds long.
"The piercing sound would make someone stop in their tracks for a moment," she said. "Your instinct would be to cover your ears. So rather than being violent, the tendency would be to stop the violence and protect your hearing."
While Drummond couldn't comment on how much the devices cost, they were purchased from B.C.-based Current Corporation, which sells LRADs at about $10,000 for the handheld models and about $25,000 for the larger ones, according to sales representative Don MacLeod.
MacLeod said his company trained police officers in Toronto on May 18, sharing deployment guidelines that include shooting a narrower beam of noise in small spaces, since the sounds can bounce off building surfaces or cars.
He criticized irresponsible users of the LRAD, including Pittsburgh's use of the device last year when officers ran a continuous aural assault as opposed to the short bursts, which Current Corp. recommends.
But MacLeod defends the LRAD as an extremely valuable communication tool, used for everything from evacuation notices and hostage negotiations to riot control.
But Queen's University professor David Murakami Wood, an expert in surveillance, criticizes neutralizing euphemisms like "communication tools. He says LRADs should be considered potential weapons and large international summits can often be used as testing grounds for new police technologies or techniques.
"They're being very disingenuous about what this is," he said. "It emits a sound that is in fact at frequency levels that can go way beyond what human beings can put up with in terms of pain and can be damaging."
For University of Toronto adjunct professor Peter Rosenthal, a lawyer who has participated in several trials involving Taser deployments, anything that can stun people or crowds should be considered dangerous.
"Tasers were introduced and said to be totally benign but have now generally been recognized as dangerous weapons," he said. "To start using experimental weapons on people is really outrageous in my view."
79 Comments so far
Show AllCicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Speak of the devil and up he pops. I was excoriating these things on CD just yesterday. These are not "non-lethal" crowd control technology. These LRADs are anti-democratic Weapons of Mass Maiming (WMM). The specs given in this article for the large vehicle size version are wrong. Those wheeled units can fire short bursts as high as 160 decibels and can permanently deafen people and if you get caught in a sustained 140 Db burst it can cause permanent BRAIN DAMAGE. These nightmares were first tested on civilians in Iraq. Even Orwell didn't imagine such cruel public mass sonic cattle prods. No citizenry should tolerate these devices in the hands of any civilian police. They are weapons of war.
LRAD sound cannons are made by a fascist MIC war-profiteering American company. Sorry another one of our international disgraces gets foisted on you, Canada. When the revolution comes we should seize all of them and line them up outside the offices of the World Trade Center turned on full blast until the globalists inside try to flee like the rats they are and we burn out all their ear drums. Then we should take them to the big bank headquarters one by one. Then the oil companies. Then the RNC. Then the DLC.
"LRAD sound cannons are made by a fascist MIC war-profiteering American company."
Isn't Current Corporation a Canadian company?
Canada is in America.
assiedawg, you obviously were not educated in Australia, as your lack of geographical knowledge shows. Last time I looked Canada was in NORTH AMERICA not the United States Of America.
Glad I could help.
Pete
Actually, if you will look at a map, America is basically one big land mass with the Panama Canal cutting the north and south apart:)
But thanks for the help anyway;)
Can't blame a guy for not wanting to identify with the US.
Lol, I heard that! Next time I travel abroad, I think I will just tell the people I meet that I'm from Anarctica or some other inert place that doesn't have the reputation of bringing the U.S. brand of democracy to other countries then requiring payment for that new form of government with whatever natural resources they may have.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
American Technology Corporation (ATCO), a San Diego-based company, manufactured the LRAD used at the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh in 2009. Maybe they have subsidiaries selling them or licensing agreements for other companies to make them.
"He criticized irresponsible users of the LRAD, including Pittsburgh's use of the device last year..."
The police are not exactly what one would call models of restraint these days. It is not uncommon for the mindset of "well, if a little bit of pain or tear gas breaks up a small demonstration, then A LOT of pain or tear gas will break up a large demonstration."
These are the same paramilitary goons who used a flashbang grenade and drawn pistols to execute a minor arrest warrant. WHile being filmed for an A&E TV show. A seven year old girl sleeping on the couch during that raid died when a police pistol 'accidentally discharged', shooting her through the head, killing her instantly.
I live in Canada, and the Toronto Police have a long and colorful history of using excessive force to quash public demonstrations and free speech.
There's a county in Maryland that is using S.W.A.T. teams to serve MISDEMEANOR warrents now. These jackbooted thugs will batter the door down with a battering ram and come rushing into the home with their AR-15's ready to fire, just as they would in the apprehension of an armed and dangerous felon.
Not too long ago, there was a mix up as to an address of a supposed marijuana dealer. The local sheriff;s department had Fedex deliver a package wrapped in brown paper. Little did the family know, it was weed, sent to them compliments of the sheriff. Later on that evening, a S.W.A.T. team rammed their front door in, tossed a flashbang grenade, shot and killed the family's two pet labrador retrievers, and cuffed the family face down on the floor of their living room for over three hours while they interrrogated the family. One of the children was cuffed lieing next to his dead beloved dog.
You would think a major fuckup like this would result in disciplinary action against the pigs who executed the raid. Well, there wasn't and the judge commented that mistakes do happen.
There was another incident in Georgia where a Baptist preacher was shot and killed by an off duty narc. He had picked up a girl he knew from his church was having problems with drugs. Well, the police were staking her out, and when the preacher picked her up hitch hiking, he drove around with her for awhile trying to help her and discuss her difficulties with drugs and her struggles with life in general. When they pulled into a convenience store, the two pigs jumped out of their car and ran towards the preacher's car without identifying themselves as cops. Since they were in an unmarked vehicle and the cops were off duty, thus out of uniform, the preacher tried to back out quickly and run as he thought he was about to be carjacked. One of the off duty cops fired several rounds at the preacher, hitting him and killing him. A later report stated that this particular cop wasn't even allowed to carry a gun as he had failed his test for qualification with a handgun. Neither cop was indicted by the grand jury, and they were both "punished" by being put on paid administrative leave for six weeks.
These are the kinds of bastards we have out there carrying guns and tasers!!! To protect and serve? What horseshit! I have many more stories similar to the two I just related but don't want to bore you with the many that I do have. I just saw an article on Alternet two days ago that was showing a cop in Liberty Hill, Texas (a little town in Central Texas that I actually lived in for 16 years) getting set up by another ex-narc in a sting. The ex-narc left a duffel bag full of money for a supposed drug purchase and the cop took the money and threw away the duffel bag. He got caught on video and the tape was shown to the police chief. Rather than thanking this ex-narc for uncovering corruption in his department, he had the Williamson County Sheriff's Department retaliate against him by breaking into his home, again with a S.W.A.T. team, planting marijuana in his room, then arresting him and taking his children from him and turning them over to CPS. He still hasn't regained custody of his children. This ex-narc (he now has found the enjoyment of the herb himself and uses weed in lieu of booze) was describing how dirty law enforcement has become, including planting drugs on people, if they have large quantities of money, they will accuse them of drug trafficing, money laundering, and conficate both the money and vehicle under asset forfiture laws under the threat of a felony arrest (the cases NEVER go to court), and training drug dogs to give false alerts when people refuse to allow the pig to search their vehicle.
Folks, it isn't crime you have to worry about. It's the motherfuckers that are supposed to be protecting you from crime that are the actual criminals, and unfortunately, because they carry a badge and gun, there isn't much you can do to stop them. If the "case" happens to go to court and you are the defendant, guess who the jury is going to believe...you or the pig? The very reason the ex-cop I was discussing above got out of law enforcement is because he couldn't sleep at night. He knew he was ruining people's lives and decided to turn against the corrupt cops and do something he felt was the right thing to do for a change. I salute his conscience.
boy, the future is really not looking good...
we need to get about our business and alter daily realities before opposition becomes insurmountable...
metal, you've been pretty vocal recently about communication, in particular, and someone proposed the web radio idea...
I think that's good...I don't know that we see things the same way, but I feel the machine must be globally disrupted, and on a grand scale, or survival is at stake...
the primary factors, to me, are building unity around the action, rather than the 'after', agreeing on a date, and preparing in the meantime...
obviously, opposition is already on guard...
so much of the 'after' will be locally-dependent, as it should be, that it becomes difficult to either predict or prescribe...those there will need to run things there...
individuals will live differently...rather than observers and reactors, they would be active participants in their own lives...making their own decisions, working with their neighbors, handling their own problems, managing their resources...
I, of course, see private property as a real problem, but...
how soon would anyone else be ready to go?
I've been suggesting September 22, 2012, as the end of a slightly-future growing season, but that seems so far away to me, now...
I'm already gardening, planning to increase, and am looking at adding some smaller farmy animals, but, really, am still caught up in the same treadmill of economic justification as everyone else...
can we help each other break free? I love to imagine a day when the 'usual' day is no more...it could be glorious...
of course, there are these sound cannons, and drones, and oceans of oil...wow...
back to the David Byrne thing:
you may say to yourself, my god! what have I done?
letting the days go by...
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
You're kind of all over the place here. All I know is that to achieve the working-class victories of the New Deal took an organized true LEFT pushing FDR to do the right thing--even though he was more predisposed to it than any other Democrat until RFK, who was assassinated in 1968. In the 1930s, many in academia were exposed to the socialist critique of capitalism, not yet as afraid to be identified with it, and on the side of the workers. The unions were also more exposed to this critique and were much better organized and knew how to give as good as they took in the streets. The press was much more diverse, more competitive and had a lot more reporters and editors sympathetic to workers than today, although there were still plenty of capitalist coddlers. Real lasting change takes organization, no way around it. New laws have to be written and enacted to change or eliminate failed old laws. It doesn't just spontaneously happen in any intelligent fashion that truly reconfigures the system. The Berlin Wall did fall in large part because too many people ceased believing in it and in failed State communism, but look at the capitalist oligarchs, neo-lib exploitation of workers and resource/terror wars that followed in the EU. Germany resisted fighting in Bush II's war in Afghanistan but got sucked in anyway, mainly because of how capitalist backed treaty commitments dragged Germany in.
I agree with Metal that these weapons are in the wrong hands and directed at the wrong forces. The people should be in control and not those bastards in the corporations that are exploiting and killing the working people of this planet and the planet herself.
All of this is allowed to proceed by our apathy. Will we rise up when it gets bad enough? Isn't it bad enough NOW?
Just bring ear plugs
I have fabbo BOSE noise-cancelling headphones that I use on planes.
Whadddya think? Should I give it a go?
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
Depending on how good they are the noise canceling headphones will protect your ears. But if the decibels are high enough and sustained enough the sound waves will still penetrate and permanently damage your brain.
It helps to think of them as sonic disruptors, like the ones the Kingons used on classic Star Trek. It's not just the sound that one hears associated with these weapons but the intense sonic energy they concentrate on their target. Powerful enough sonic disruptors will shatter concrete which has no ears.
They'll probably arrest you and charge you with something.
That's no joke. There are plenty places where it's illegal to wear a gas mask, bulletproof vest, or protective helmet if not in/on a vehicle. The cops don't want citizens to be able to defend against their violence.
I don't know what has happened to Canada. They used to be so peaceful.
oops
I don't get the oops but certain agree with the gearing up for war. What with drones flying everywhere now and the brave ones in their air conditioned little war game cubicles ready to fire missiles at anything and everybody. This is really pathetic.
No kidding - it seems we're joined at the hip, we're USA's little wannabe younger brother. Twits like Mulroney, Clark, Harper, etc. are particulary adept at playing the me-too game. I hate that. Every bit of the American toxic sludge oozes over the border - it used to take a little longer. I quit my career because of the effects of that sludge, refused to participate.
It's saddening, and frankly, distressing, to see our law "enforcement" people geared up for war in outer space. I had a run-in with a couple of them a few months ago - fortunately they were not after me, but I suddenly felt I was in a movie about a war with space insects. (They had been deployed to catch a couple of putzes of fast-food robbers - what will they bring out for a serious crime, I wonder.)
Not only will the LRAD hurt people's ears, it will hurt the ears of every creature within range. The entire region will be disturbed. (whether you like rats or pigeons or not is really irrelevant - there's also robins, insects, and squirrels and all kinds of beneficial creatures, like people's pets - will they be prepared with ear plugs?). The noise will also damage historical architecture.
It seems our systems are preparing for civil war, urban warfare - wonderful - just assume every citizen is a criminal - pre-emptive warfare on citizens. It's not the country I want for my children.
But it's - not yet - quite as bad as the US. See if you can rent a movie called "Brazil" -it's not about Brazil. It's quite prophetic.
RE: The fourth device is a larger model that can be mounted on vehicles or marine vessels and can generate noise reaching 143 decibels, audible from as far as 1500 metres.
1500 meters! That's almost a mile away. What will happen is that people far away from, and no knowledge of, the "protest" may suffer serious ear damage and hearing loss. What if a person is driving or doing some other potentially dangerous activity when they get hit by the LRAD? "Collateral damage" could be high. Regardless of claims of their precision, operationally the LRAD will act as an indiscriminate weapon.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
You can HEAR them that far away, but their effective weapons capability range is 300 meters or three football fields--bad enough. The sonic disruption can inadvertently injury anyone who walks through the beam regardless of their age, health or whether they are even participating in the demonstration being crushed at the time. These are weapons of mass maiming and mass public torture and the most evil, anti-democratic disgrace that all Americans should be ashamed of.
Clubs, tear gas, dogs, fire hoses, beanbag shotshells, tasers, sound cannons...live ammo? What would happen if the rabble broke out of their free speech zone? Anti-riot weaponry has escalated steadily, and is more dangerous than ever. A few shots would disable the sound cannon transmitter, but any shots from the crowd would certainly be countered by full-auto response from the police/national guard/army/contractors assigned to riot control. Non-violent protest has always been met with force; response in kind, tragic as it would be, would give the media a field day. Glenn Beck, screaming "See? See? I was right!!"
The sound connon, beanbag shotshells, and even live ammo would curtail a lagre crowd for a short period of time. But once those in the crowd saw their freinds/neighbors, etc. being gunned down, rage would take over. Remember, there would be thousands to hundreds of thousands, many of them armed and trained in the military themselves. eventually, the police would lose control of the weapons that they were using to try to supress the crowd and those weapons would be turned on them. The bottom line...in a situation like this, if the oppressors ever lose control, I damn sure wouldn't want to be in their shoes.
aussidawg,
You're scenario will happen it always does, simply because every oppressor will eventually push the masses to a point where the majority feels that it has nothing to lose by retaliating. It has happened all throughout history, and will be ever thus because those who oppress, just can't help themselves.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
The thing missing in these comments is that recently, local law enforcement has been the target of fanatical right-wing "citizen sovereign" groups like the Hutaree and those two white trash "citizen sovereigns" who assassinated two cops. The Police State actually has more to fear from the far-right than anti-corporatist/anti-"free trade" protests or protests of the Dimocratic and Rethuglican conventions, which are bogus political spectacles anyway. But our capitalist oligarchs are pushing things way too far.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - John F. Kennedy
It depends on how bad the economy gets and how many more brazen, large scale betrayals of the working-class the Dims and Rethugs attempt and how dangerous the Supreme Kangaroo Court becomes on the issues of corporate and Unitary Executive power. The working-class masses can snap at one point, but if there's no coherent organization or plan to any of it the country could just balkanize into regions of civil insurrection and attempted police and military crack-downs, some that are successful and many that blow-up in the ruling elite's faces and feed a worse backlash. America's worst years are still ahead of it.
The sound cannon is indiscriminate. In these so called "riotous" demonstrations there often only one or 2 people out of hundreds that are violent.
This device can not and will not discriminate between peaceful protestors and those that are not peaceful. It would seem to me this unconstitutional and a violation of the Charter of rights and freedoms.
Its message is simple. As a crowd control device it is stating "Thou shalt not gather in crowds".
Funny how the media NEVER discusses why a lot of pissed off people are protesting things like the G-20 conference to begin with. The way the stories are always framed, the *message* is that the people dont have the right to be pissed off at people who are robbing us all blind and destroying the planet, and that these people have the *right* to use such weapons on protestors.
I mean, it's like taken for granted that the corporate state can use such weapons as it sees fit. The media never state the obvious, that the people have the right and the justification to be mad as hell
The people have the right to destroy these machines and their manufacturing facilities.
Unfortunately the people have neither the means nor the will to do so.
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
The people have the means and might still develop the will depending on how harsh things become.
Ah, yes. We have the "Sound Cannon," which can deafen you or cause brain damage. We have the "Pain Ray" which boils the subcutaneous moisture under the skin, causing unendurable pain. We have various nausea producing and disabling gasses. We have Tasers, which can shock, paralyze and kill.
All of these things and more are just considered control equipment to ensure that "Freedom of Speech" and opinion are not exercised, or if so, very politely and quietly under the direction of our friendly HS trained law enforcement agencies. Then, there are the dogs, the mounted police with their truncheons, armored cars, dowel and bean bag guns.
Aren't you glad you live in a Constitutional Republic, where such things cannot be done?
Oops, sorry, there is no such place anymore. Does anybody remember the words to the Horst Wessel song? We may need it or something similar soon.
Horst Wessel
The flag high! The ranks tightly closed!
SA march with calm, firm steps.
Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries
March in spirit in our ranks.
Clear the streets for the brown battalions,
Clear the streets for the stormtroopers!
Already millions look with hope to the swastika
The day of freedom and bread is dawning!
Roll call has sounded for the last time
We are all already prepared for the fight!
Soon Hitler's flag will fly over all streets.
Our servitude will soon end!
The flag high! The ranks tightly closed!
SA marches with a calm, firm pace.
Comrades shot by the Red Front and reactionaries
March in spirit in our ranks.
Receive our salute; you died an honorable death!
Horst Wessel fell, but thousands newly arise
The anthem roars ahead of the brown army
The stormtroopers ready to follow his path
The flags sink before the dead who still live
The stormtrooper swears, his hand balled into a fist,
That the day will come for revenge, no forgiveness,
When Heil and Sieg will ring through the fatherland.
Horst Wessel
I am disappointed that nobody has brought this 70+ year old monstrosity up to date with references to Homeland Security and other types of state security apparatus.
Surely at the very least Horst could be replaced by 9/11?
How convenient for the police state. No need to torture people one at a time anymore.
The sadistic fascists who now control what used to be known as the free world can now torture, er, I mean, "communicate" with protestors en masse.
Exactly.
The problem isn't that we don't hear them; it's that they won't hear us!
Does anybody know how to disable the LRAD?
Seems like a rock in a slingshot might do the trick.
I posted an answer here:
Earthian May 27th, 2010 2:05 pm
The State is the biggest torturer and mass murderer -- never any individual.
Use North Sonic II valves for your ears. Hunters use them for both hunting with and practicing with guns.
They allow for normal hearing, but when a loud sound happens, they shut down.
A high-powered rifle or a 44 magnum handgun are not loud to shoot when wearing these. They work fine with the high-pitched sounds of these LRADs. I have a small LRAD, a hand-held one. I've tested the Sonic II-type valves on the LRAD sound, a high-pitched, wavering siren. They work just fine. They are priced from $8 to $12.
See:
http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/health-enterprises-acu-life-shooters-impact-ear-plugs.html
and
http://earplugstore.stores.yahoo.net/sonicvalveii.html
and for detailed reviews, see here:
http://reviews.cabelas.com/8815/220678/reviews.htm
Thanks a million! I was just going to post the question of how to protect yourself from this awful machine.
You are welcome. Don't leave home for a protest without your Sonic II earplugs and some kind of gas mask! (And perhaps wire cutters.)
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
While such earphones will protect the nerve receptors of your ears from the sound, the kinetic energy of the concentrated sonic beam, if at high enough decibels, will still penetrate your brain tissue and can disrupt the cellular structure and cause permanent brain damage. Think of these weapons as sonic disruptors, like the ones the Klingons used on classic Star Trek. A powerful enough sonic disruption beam will shatter concrete, which has no ears. The vehicle LRADs can fire short bursts of 160 Db which far surpasses the pain and deafness threshold, especially if you get hit with enough bursts.
I wonder if it might be possible to reflect the sound back to the people at its source, using Parabolic sound mirrors: to reflect and focus sound. A quick minimalistic search found:
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple/explore/acoustics/parabolicsoundmirrors/
What fun that would be!
Cicero: "Freedom is participation in power."
You're on the right track, but it could also be just as dangerous to people passing unaware through the reflected beam, whether they are protesters, police, military or media or not.
First, it seems counter productive to maim Canadian citizens with these weapons of war considering that they have national health care. So not if but when they attack the protesters with the sonic weapon, how many hearing aids have to be given to the Canadian citizens?
Second, what is the point of peaceful protest if the govt. always acts with aggression? We should just admit that we are not in a free country if the police act/national guard act this way. Stop pretending this is a FREE COUNTRY!
I think the only way now to make change is with your dollars, your vote or in the courts. If you protest you are just a punching bag for the police.
Seems alot more humane then sicking the dogs or bringing out the water hose .
The bigger issue hear is that half the people protesting at these G-20 events are doing it because its the hip thing to do.
Instead of working to buy locally made goods and use less oil( no personal car, unless its electric ) these protesters will show up for a few hour, yell "power to the people" and go home.
Obedience is the noblest virtue, Keith. As for going home, how long should they stay out? I'm just asking because you seem to have a real feel for these sort of things.
-TIA