UK police could get Ghostbusters-style backpack devices to halt ebike getaways
UK police could get Ghostbusters-style backpack devices to halt ebike getaways
Device in development fires electromagnetic pulse that tricks ebikes and scooters into shutting off
Police officers in Britain could be armed with Ghostbusters-style devices that fire electromagnetic rays to shut down the engines of ebikes being used in a crime.
Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the weapon was in development and could be months away from being available, though it is expected to be longer than that.
He said it would be housed in a backpack, reminiscent of the equipment used in the Ghostbusters series of movies. It could tackle crime linked to newer vehicles such as electric bikes and electric scooters.
The device is being developed with the Defence Science and Technology Lab, which is overseen by the Ministry of Defence, alongside other technological innovations that British police are hoping to use. It would fire an electromagnetic pulse at a vehicle that an officer wants to stop because the rider is suspected of involvement in a crime.
The electromagnetic weapon works by tricking the engine into thinking it is overheating, which shuts down the engine and brings the vehicle to a stop. It requires a line of sight to work, Stephens said.
Firing EMPs in urban areas does not sound a great idea at all. That's a lot of potential collator damage on top of an already potential dangerous police action.
There are already methods police can use to stop moving vehicles, which would work on electric vehicles as well as existing ICE vehicles. These are still bikes, not magic carpets or something. Stopping a moving vehicle is also dangerous in itself, and it doesn't sound a great idea to add to that the chances of frying everything from police equipment to vital medical devices that happens to be in the blast area.
Its not an emp.
Description says it fools the ebike into thinking its over heating.
Sounds more like some form of directional microwave transmitter. Designed to effect the bms
I don't believe that at all. It's gotta be just a directional microwave gun. It's gonna fry the semiconductors to shut it off, but it will kill any nearby electronics as well. That includes medical devices. You can find people on YouTube making these things for fun.
It doesn't sound like an EMP device - it needs line-of-sight and "works by tricking the engine into thinking it is overheating".
Yeah and I don't believe the ad read. Either it's actively hacking the device or it's just a directional emp(or it's just junk). The fact that it's calling an electric motor an "engine" is a clue that the people writing the press release don't know how any of this works. At best, this is what they're really selling.
If it wants to trick the motor controller into reading the motor as overheating, it would need to know the communication protocol of every escooter and be able to overwhelm the communication between the motor and motor controller with it's own signal. That's assuming it's wireless and why would it be wireless? Also, these things can go up in smoke on their own. I doubt as many of them as we'd like actually have overheat protections.
If the escooters had lowjack software on them and knew to shutoff remotely, you wouldn't need a backpack's worth of tech and it would be easy to bypass by cutting the antenna.
Also,
electromagnetic rays
This doesn't mean anything. Could be a ham radio, could be an rc car controller, could be a flash light, but it sounds like a microwave gun if you need a backpack to power it and the escooter isn't going to be recoverable. Neither will any cell phone, car, laptop or any other consumer electronic or medical device near the target.
Just don't cross the streams
Also, I ain't afraid of no goats.
Why would an emp require line of sight? That's not how emp works, even if directional.
Also, this is dumb as shit. They are going to fuck up so many nearby electronic devices if this is used in any populated area. Might be fine out in the sticks.
I know the UK doesn't have a big sue culture, but I can not imagine this wouldn't result in lawsuits if somebody unrelated to the crime dies due to their pacemaker stopping
Well… dead people don’t sue.
/sAnd t1ds in 2024 often relly on phones to track blood sugar via continuous glucose monitoring devices.
The big thing that will increase lawsuits. Is the fact this is visible when used.
So anyone with a damaged device in range is likely to blame it even if it was safe and some how only effected the ebike.
Who ya gonna call? 999, that's who.
This has real "tv detector van" vibes.
I seriously doubt they can create a HERF gun strong enough to disable an e-bike that won't screw with phones and pacemakers, or cause a lithium battery explosion.
In before this comes with a taser attachment.
Their police state
Our public safety innovations
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Police officers in Britain could be armed with Ghostbusters-style devices that fire electromagnetic rays to shut down the engines of ebikes being used in a crime.
Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the weapon was in development and could be months away from being available, though it is expected to be longer than that.
It would fire an electromagnetic pulse at a vehicle that an officer wants to stop because the rider is suspected of involvement in a crime.
All these electric motors apparently have an inbuilt safety system that if it thinks it’s overheating, it shuts down.
The equipment was demonstrated to police leaders at the Farnborough technology show earlier this year.
They are fast and nimble, so for instance a rider can nip on to pavements to snatch a mobile phone and then make a quick getaway.
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