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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday December 28 2017, @02:22PM   Printer-friendly
from the sounds-like-trouble dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Despite risks which include permanent hearing loss, LRADs are increasingly part of police's crowd control arsenal

After a wait of nearly ten months, MuckRock has finally received documents from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department regarding their response to the protests surrounding President Donald Trump's inauguration early this year. Surprisingly, while we didn't receive any records related to the J20 protests, we did receive documents relating to January 21st's Women's March, which in Washington D.C. alone attracted by conservative estimates between 450,000 and 500,000 people. While it was the largest protest in the city since the anti-Vietnam War protests of the '60s and '70s, no arrests were made.

The After-Action Report provided by the DCMPD, under the header "Improvements," contains the information that the department utilized both a D.C. National Guard Jump Team, and a Long Range Acoustical Device, better known as an LRAD. The LRAD was used "to assist in instructing the crowd flows on continuing to flow away from the entrances of the stations."

Since the first documented use of an LRAD sound cannon on protesters by Pittsburgh Police during the 2009 G20 summit, LRAD use by police against activists appears to be on the rise. The Pittsburgh Police Bureau used it again in 2011 during the Super Bowl, the New York Police Department has used it several times including the Eric Garner protests and during Occupy, the Oakland Police Department also used it against Occupy protesters, and more recently and perhaps most prominently, an LRAD was deployed during the Ferguson unrest and the Standing Rock protests.

There are various models of LRAD, with military grade versions that can send voice communications up to 5.5 miles away, and slightly less powerful versions like the LRAD 500X or 300X which are what police departments generally use. All can produce a sound somewhat akin to a high-powered car alarm that can cause intense headaches, nausea, loss of balance, and potentially permanent hearing loss.


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  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday December 28 2017, @09:10PM (5 children)

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday December 28 2017, @09:10PM (#615268)

    The main problem is the voting system, which forces a two-party system. No one in either party has done a damn thing to fix the voting system in any way whatsoever, be it the first-past-the-post system, or the Electoral College, or anything else.

    The EC is wrong because it makes votes in some states worth more than votes in other states, and that's inherently anti-democratic. It shouldn't matter if I live in Wyoming or New York; one vote per person should be the rule in a race where everyone votes. But eliminating the EC isn't going to fix the even worse problem which is the two-party system caused by FPTP. We need a better election system that allows people to choose other parties without fear of their vote being "wasted".

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  • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday December 28 2017, @09:31PM (4 children)

    by fustakrakich (6150) on Thursday December 28 2017, @09:31PM (#615273) Journal

    We need a better election system

    Everybody keeps saying that over and over. Nobody says how to do it.

    --
    La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday December 28 2017, @10:03PM (3 children)

      by Grishnakh (2831) on Thursday December 28 2017, @10:03PM (#615282)

      Huh? That's not true at all. Getting rid of the Electoral College system would require a Constitutional Amendment, and the process for that is certainly well-understood, and has been done many times, though none that recently.

      But just fixing the election system (getting rid of First Past The Post) is much easier: the Constitution (IIRC) doesn't specify that FPTP must be used in any particular election, and in fact I think States are free to use whatever system they want to choose electors for the Presidential election (including having the electors be chosen by the state legislature rather than popular vote). So if you want to use a different voting scheme than FPTP, all you have to do is pass a law. This could even be done at the state level.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 29 2017, @12:11AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 29 2017, @12:11AM (#615319)

        See my comment (above) [soylentnews.org] about the National Popular Vote bill.
        Once enough states, representing 218 electoral votes, sign on, The Electoral College and a constitutional amendment become moot.

        getting rid of First Past The Post

        Amen. Australia has a working model.
        They also fine people who don't show up at the polls.
        (You don't have to vote, but you do have to sign your name.)

        ...and while we're at it, WTF is it with Election Day being on Tuesday, a workday?[1]
        A proper country would make Election Day a holiday--perhaps even holding elections on weekends.

        [1] Is it clear to you yet that USA was set up as an Oligarchy?

        -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

      • (Score: 2) by dry on Friday December 29 2017, @03:28AM

        by dry (223) on Friday December 29 2017, @03:28AM (#615399) Journal

        Another weird thing with your government (Federal) is having the numbers of representatives capped at 535. For such a big country it seems weird to have the representatives so diluted. Canada with 1/10 the population has about 3/5ths the representatives. Your founders thought it was important too, which is why the amendment to fix it is still out there and can be passed by 27 more States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Apportionment_Amendment [wikipedia.org]

        People do want a better system, at least in Canada, where we aren't that much different. It's the politicians who don't want to lose the chance of having a monopoly on power. Here the last federal election was won partially on the promise of no first past the post elections. The government went back on its promise pretty quick, claiming it as too divisive.
        Same with the last Provincial election here, except the third party, the Greens, won enough seats to hold the balance of power and made a deal that they'll support the government as long as we change the voting system, probably with a referendum on how.

      • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday December 29 2017, @03:53AM

        by fustakrakich (6150) on Friday December 29 2017, @03:53AM (#615409) Journal

        I'm just saying it takes voter initiative to do it. I doubt the current crop of politicians want to change anything that threatens their gravy train..

        --
        La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..