AFTER MASSIVE OUTCRY, SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS SONIC WEAPON SWITCH “DISABLED”; CONCERNS REMAIN

[Liberty Belle]

Source: East County Magazine

September 16, 2009 (San Diego) – San Diego County Sheriff’s Department notified media today that it would hold a demonstration of its highly controversial “sonic weapon.” What was demonstrated, however, was only the loudspeaker capability of the device—a feature which has effectively been used in search-and-rescue operations and to broadcast messages during a sandcastle contest. The sonic weapons switch, capable of emitting tones loud enough to damage ear drums or worse, has now been “disabled,” Sheriff’s Lieutenant Ed Musgrove informed the media at the end of the event. (View our video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulkl5Lw5gm8) But concerns remain.

“If you accidentally flip that switch and someone is within a 30-foot range, they can have their eardrums burst, bleeding in the inner ear, and it can result in an aneurysm or death,” reporter Kim Dvorac from Examiner.com said in an interview on KCBQ radio’s Rick Amato show last night , citing a source in the Department of Defense http://www.amatotalk.com/podcasts/AMATO-09-15-09-HR1.mp3 .


“The officers shown at this town hall meeting (for Susan Davis) were using this within 30 feet of townhall attendees and other officers,” she added. Dvorac published two stories on the Sheriff’s deployment of LRADs (long-range acoustic devices) after East County Magazine) broke the story on Friday http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1874 , creating a firestorm of controversy.

As we reported, LRADs have been used to repel insurgents in Iraq and to prevent piracy of ships aboard the high seas. Dvorac, who said she has spoken to various sources who have served in the Middle East and who are familiar with the use of LRADs, added this clarification. “They are also using this over in Iraq and Afghanistan to target terrorists in crowds, to take them out and save people around them…This can be pointed directly at you and it will burst your eardrums, but the person on the right or left will not be harmed by this.” She added that she could find no support in her research or among experts interviewed for use of LRADs as crowd control devices—the use for which Sheriff Gore says he purchased the device.

Our story, a joint investigation with Liberty One Radio, sparked a flurry of comments critical of the Sheriff, drawing national media coverage. USA Today picked up the story, along with major conservative and liberal blogs. At a Sheriff’s debate Saturday co-hosted by ECM editor Miriam Raftery and KCBQ Radio’s Rick Amato, the crowd turned unruly when a question about the sonic weapons was posed by Dvorac. Three other candidates for Sheriff condemned Sheriff Bill Gore for approving LRADs at public rallies.


Read more: http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/?q=node/1896

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Moderators - I'm the author and give permission to publish a bit more than the 4 paragraph minimum. I thought it significant that event the other candidates for Sheriff, including very conservative Republicans, all condemned the use of sonic weapons by law enforcement. Issa and Hunter weren't too keen on finding out these weapons had been rolled out at a town hall forum where they were speaking, either.

Please click on the link to our story and post some comments there, too!

[RandomThoughts]

1. I am pretty sure the Geneva convention outlaws weapons used to deafen or blind people.

Why is that switch even on the device?

[aquart]

7. Because it is NOT a loudspeaker. It's an assassination device.

That's what they paid for.

[Robb]

15. It's also good for serving nachos. nt

[truthisfreedom]

2. And in other nauseating news...

They disabled the "switch"? C'mon. It's f*cking weapon. "Disabled switch" is not comforting. "Accidentally re-enabled switch" is the headline.

[Gman2]

10. Ive got one of those on my motorcycle too. I flip that switch, and walah ignition!

[BlooInBloo]

3. Heh - the terrorists have to hold SOMETHING back - else it wouldn't be a surprise!

[byronius]

4. Lots of rowdy fifty-something Democrats holding wild fundraisers down there, I hear.

Gosh, they had to call in the SWAT team for that last one, right? With all the grandmothers? Didn't they handcuff one older lady, and roughly question everybody over a right-wing neighbor's prank call?

[Gman2]

12. I have had that same swat team in my backyard.

Three times, the stormtroopers have insisted on entering my home late at night, without a warrant. Three times nothing. The first time, A girl I lived with, hit me, then called the cops to have me arrested. They came, almost took HER away in cuffs, then gave ME a unnoficial lifelong record of domestic abuse. Saying that there was no way to have the forms reflect that she was the abuser.


Thankfully, the fix is NOT in to the Attorney General level, as I have acted against the crooked cop/judge team and enlisted the AG to good effect. Some of my harrassment may be retaliation.

[aquart]

5. Oh, wait. It could have been used on Hunter and Issa?

Just give me a few blissful moments to dwell on that.

[Gman2]

13. Is it not funny , that it was unmothballed for a republican townhall?

To use on unruly Dems?

[Liberty Belle]

19. The most unruly ones there were Tea Party types;

disrupting talks about healthcare. Now they are afraid this thing would be used against them.

[Hekate]

6. Kick and 5th Rec. Get this news out there.

[DCKit]

8. Next thing you know, they'll put light-bulbs on tazers and call them flashlights.

How about soft, fuzzy jackets for AK-47s? Smiley faces on the bombs we drop on civilians? Flash-Bang grenades all dolled up to look like Elmo? There's just no end how friendly we could make aggression - if we wanted to.

The acoustic weapon was present at those public events for one reason and one reason only - intimidation.

[scubadude]

16. That's not far from the truth.

Police often carry "Tactical" or "special operations" flashlights as can be seen here: https://www.fenix-store.com/index.php?cPath=22_85

These flashlights are designed to temporarily blind you with their glare during nighttime stops, which seem more like altercations to me. I believe that use of flashlights like this is one step towards physical abuse and is a kind of provocation. It isn't surprising that one who is incapacitated in some way might strike out to protect their eyesight. The intent of these tactical flashlights is shown in this small portion of an advertisement, "intensely bright light is used to startle, disorient, and control anyone on the receiving end" which can be seen in hull here:
http://www.surefire.com/SpecialOPSLights

They can also temporarily blind you "bright enough to temporarily blind and disorient a person by impairing his night-adapted vision" as can be seen here: http://www.surefire.com/M6-Guardian

Police use these lights routinely during night-time traffic stops. It's almost like they were poking you in the chest... Not good.

Scuba

[Gman2]

9. San Diego flouts civil rights. We are becoming the fascist vanguard.

Crooked judge cop teams. Cops breaking and entering at midnite. Spraying Dem fundraisers with pepper spray. Most of these, I have experienced personally, and fought to good effect, but for how long? Cops here are VERY heavyhanded. And seem to have the indulgence of the courts, to deny civil rights.

[Suji to Seoul]

11. Step right up: Get your tickets to the police state: You needs your civil privileges anyway

You can always trust the police NEVER to do anything to harm peaceful protestors?

Isn't that right, members of the WTO protest, RNC protests, 1968 DNC protests and anyone who left the "free speech" zone?

[Robb]

14. I'm sorry, but your story is foolish.

It's not a sonic weapon any more than a bullhorn is. It's only bigger.

You do yourself no journalistic favors by quoting examiner.com "reporters" either. :eyes:

[Liberty Belle]

18. My prior story cited Defense Industry sources & pubs that all call this a sonic weapon.

The evidence on it is clear. Why do you persist on insisting this is only a loudspeaker? One can buy a PA system for a whole lot less than the $40K the Sheriff paid for this, and the Sheriff himself has admitted in an interview and a public debate that he purchased the device for crowd control--NOT for its loudspeaker abilities. He was specifically asked about that twice in prior interviews.

[Trillo]

17. Yeah, I bet it's "disabled" until they decide they need to use it. n/t

[savagebeautysound]

20. My question is, why don't you know more about Bill Gore?

Gore became sheriff WITHOUT being elected.
And, he apparently was one of the worst FBI agents of all time.

Read this, it's both funny and disturbing.