Have we reached that point? Yes.

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

In my last essay, I asked:

Have we reached it? — the point where everything starts becoming “preventative” for our government?

The answer is now; yes.

San Diego Sheriff deployed military crowd control device at Congressional town halls

The increasing frustration with politicians and overflow crowds attending August town halls led San Diego Sheriff Bill Gore to place military-type crowd control devices at two area town hall meetings.

Rep. Susan Davis-D Calif. and Rep. Darrell Issa-R Calif. held town halls that exceeded capacity (10,000+ total attendees) and prompted the Sheriff’s Department to have Long-Range Acoustic Devices(LRADs) standing ready.

Both town halls took place without incident; however the use of the military device concerned San Diegians. The LRAD crowd control is primarily used in Iraq to control insurgents and can cause serious and lasting harm to humans.

This trend, civilian law enforcement employing military weapons, is disturbing…

It is disturbing, but, not unforeseen, as this Daily Kos diary from 2006 shows that military weaponry has been advocated by the military to be used, first and foremost, against American “protesters”.  Then, we have this 2008 Daily Kos diary where the “product video” shows it being used against fake “protesters”.

Here’s the even neater part: Hymes demonstrated the weapon by staging what CBS somewhat oddly called “a scenario soldiers might encounter in Iraq” – a handful of military volunteers, dressed as civilian protesters, who carried signs saying “peace not war” and threw objects at a small group of soldiers. A series of raygun blasts from half a mile away disrupted their chants and finally sent them running. What does the military choose for a demonstration of the weapon? Civilian protesters carrying signs like “PEACE NOT WAR,” “WORLD PEACE,” “LOVE FOR ALL,” and (my favorite) “HUG ME.” I shit you not.

The San Diego Sheriff’s Department has the LRAD — Long Range Acoustic Device — and, deployed it for “crowd control” in the United States, for use against protesters.  But, as Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story is:

Also, behind the scenes Americans are skeptical that Sheriff Gore should be using anything of this magnitude in light of his connection to the Ruby Ridge, Idaho incident.

Gore was part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation team and was believed to have issued the order to kill on sight – any member of the family who showed themselves, according to a source close to the case. This mishandling and loss of life resulted in Gore leaving the FBI. Two civilians were killed, an unarmed woman holding a baby as well as a minor child.

The debacle cost the American taxpayer $3.1 million dollars when a wrongful death litigation was brought against the federal government. In August of 1995 the government paid the Weaver family of Ruby Ridge an out-of-court settlement.

Gee, so the man believed to have totally bungled Ruby Ridge, that is believed to have issued a “kill on sight” order, that was forced out of the FBI, is now leading the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, and, has a military weapon at his disposal that he deployed for use against American citizens.  Doesn’t that give you a warm fuzzy feeling?

As a former law enforcement officer, I know that after the North Hollywood shootout that police departments felt like they were simply out-gunned, and, they were.  But, when it came to crowd control, wooden dowel bullets, tear gas, and bean bag rounds were quite enough to disperse crowds, mostly, in displays of overwhelming brutality.  

So, what is the LRAD?

According to Defense Update reader Michael Frank of Phodio Ltd. an international LRAD distributor from the UK, LRAD has been in use for years, for military purposes and to avoid maritime piracy and to control and give information to big crowds, riots and demonstrations. “You should see the LRAD as a kind of megaphone rather than a non-lethal weapon” says Frank. “It gives normal acoustic messages, however good engineering work have made it possible to narrow the sound beam. It is also a fact it can make an ear-splitting noise that nobody can stand.” Nevertheless, it is mainly used is to communicate and to give information in long distance in high ambient noise environment.”  The system is effective for vocal communications at distances of several hundreds meter distance, a capability which can also be used in disaster area.

Yes, it is simply a large megaphone, forget that it can narrow its beam and make an ear-splitting noise that nobody can stand.  It’s just a communication device and would never be abused like, say, the taser.