Would you want to try out the pain ray?

Image by Daniel Johnson

American prisoners are being used in an experimental run with an invisible pain ray? And it’s happening against their will? Seems like a sci-fi movie plot, right? Only, it isn’t.

True story: The Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal weapon first developed as an innovation in crowd control by the U.S. military. It works by projecting a high energy beam of electromagnetic radiation at a given human target, causing an intense, and sudden, burning sensation that forces the target to move out of its path. Once out of that direction, the pain is instantly gone.

Although the technology has been tested more than 11,000 times on some 700 volunteers and the military states that the chance of injury is 0.1 %, some question just how safe it really is, especially after an incident in which a volunteer was treated for burns due to a poorly-trained operator’s mistake.

The pain ray was mounted on a Humvee and sent to Afghanistan, but was never implemented by the military. So what happens when the military sends back home a weapon that was supposed to be its fresh new addition, its brag-and-boast-about baby?

Maybe we should just… use it here?

In 2004, Raytheon was granted an FCC license to demonstrate the technology to “law enforcement, military, and security organizations.” Because of this backing, smaller versions of the original ADS have been in the works, including a version that is almost camera-like in appearance, compared to the larger, vehicle-mounted version.

Back to the pain ray making a full-circle trip to Afghanistan. Nobody wanted the big guy after all, but little guys were still being created. And how do you tell citizens their hard-earned tax dollars went to waste on rejected weapon technology? You don’t. You find others to use the weapon on, even if they don’t expect it.

Introducing the Silent Guardian! Raytheon’s mini ADS was recently put up in an L.A. County jail. Why the trial was done in this jail, on these these prisoners, remains unknown. But it’s there, nonetheless, and law enforcement looks forward to putting it to good use.

Sure, it’s a great crowd control alternative to tear gas and tazer guns, but what happens in the event of a “test subject” being unable to escape the ray at the hands of a trigger-happy corrections officer? We’ve heard of prisoner abuse time and time again, but will this technology bring it to a new level – reducing people to pitifully fearful targets – if used in an unruly manner?

Only time will tell, and only the pioneering batch of imprisoned test subjects will get the first taste.

But that’s not where it ends – far from it. Raytheon’s currently working on some hand-held Active Denial Systems so that all law enforcement officials may one day be equipped with their own. Will this be a good thing, or can a chaotic situation (such as a large protest turning into a large stampede) spin the pain ray’s use out of control?

The technology has no doubt been tested, but exactly how is it determined that a testosterone-oozing cop won’t abuse the fact that the pain ray can hurt, but can’t kill? How many times in a minute will the ray be redirected at that damn gangbanger that all the boys in blue seem to hate? Will there be cover-ups? Will there be praise? Should I be so worried about this thing? After all, I don’t foresee any problems with the law in my future, but what if one day this defense technology is fairly easily obtainable, like pepper spray?

Will people one day bedazzle their pocket-sized pain rays or has my mind gone into sci-fi mode in all of the ADS hoopla?

Only time will tell.