During protests last week in midtown Manhattan, an LRAD siren sent people running. Image: Moth Dust
I'm worried about what damage it has caused and it could cause if I went out there again.
What It Feels Like
Elena Cohen, a co-author of the letter to the NYPD and the president of the New York chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, expressed concerned about the distance issue, in an email. "We're still determining at what distance the police were from the protesters when the LRAD was used. As you can see from the videos below, it seems as though they are relatively close." In addition to the video above, she attached these videos:The LRAD first appeared in the streets of New York during the protests surrounding the Republican National Convention, after the NYPD purchased two of them for $35,000 each. (I was reporting on the convention, and saw it—a black circular thing the size and shape of a giant birthday cake—mounted on a police truck.) LRAD devices would also make appearances during the Occupy Wall Street protests. But until last week, there was no known use of the LRAD's deterrent siren in New York.The first high-profile use of an LRAD in the U.S. took place in the streets of Pittsburgh in 2009, during the G20 Summit. Karen Piper, an English professor at the University of Missouri, who was researching protests around the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, was 100 feet away when police used the LRAD siren, "without warning, causing a continuous piercing sound to be emitted for a number of minutes." She sued the city of Pittsburgh, claiming the LRAD gave her nausea and headaches, and made fluid leak out of her ear.LRAD loop. Should the NYPD have military weapons designed to permanently destroy hearing? — Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC)December 6, 2014
The "Potential Danger Area"
In 2010, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association wrote in a letter to government officials in advance of potential LRAD use around the G8 and G20 summits: "The introduction of any new weapon into police arsenals requires a process of objective scientific research into the short-term and long-term physical effects of the weapon's use, consultation with the public who are the potential targets of such weapons, and policy debates. Reliance on research by the manufacturer is insufficient. . . . Simply put, new weapons such as the LRAD should not be employed without prior independent assessment and study."There are less tangible concerns too. A very loud loudspeaker or a "sound cannon" may prevent violence and obviate the use of more dangerous weapons like batons or guns. But, critics point out, it can easily fudge the line between keeping the peace and deterring public assembly. In the hands of a disorder control unit, an LRAD, with its cone of sound blasting a crowd of people, instantly, easily casts the idea of citizens gathering in public for political reasons as some kind of threat to security.LRAD outside the O2 Arena, I guess it's in case the tennis fans get over excited. — Scumbly Blythe (@piombo)November 11, 2012
The 2010 test was conducted in an empty parking lot on a frigid day in January, 2010, because it was surmised that the extreme cold would keep people inside. The tests measured decibels within the LRAD's sound cone from various distances. At 800 feet away, the device was 68 decibels loud, quieter than a telephone dial tone (80 dB), according to the report. At 320 feet, it was 102 dB, about as loud as a motorcycle. The officers did not apparently test for decibels closer than that, in a zone the report calls the "potential danger area."In its 2012 study, the NYPD did not test for decibels closer than 320 feet, in a zone the report calls the 'potential danger area.'
