Posted for your awareness. Coming to a gladiator's theatre nearby. This is too surreal. Recent posts on this board make me wonder if 'Mad Max' is here already.

STORY LINK

It worked for Spiderman, now WA police seek a net result
By JOHN FLINT
PERTH
Thursday 17 February 2000

Just like Spiderman, Western Australian police could soon be bagging crooks by firing nets at them.

Western Australia is the first state in the country to order the net guns which, like capsicum spray, provide an alternative to shooting people.

A police spokesman said the tactical response group was testing the projectile kevlar nets that travel at almost 100kmh with a range of up to nine metres.

The Victorian-based distributor, Paradyne Corporation, said it had received two orders from the Western Australian Police Service for the net launchers but declined to specify the number.

The managing director, Mr Andrew Roberts, said the nets trapped their targets and were a modern-day equivalent of those used by gladiators in ancient Rome.

The 3.5-metre-wide nets are stored in a cartridge that can be fired from tear gas launchers or hand launchers.

Mr Roberts said the product could be combined with debilitating sprays or marking dyes.

"We can even supply the nets electrically charged but I haven't gone down that path in Australia yet and I hope I don't have to," he said.

"It's a non-lethal product to stop police shooting people dead."

Mr Roberts said just pointing the weapon had a deterrent effect.

"The fact that (an offender) has got this two-inch barrel pointing at them will frighten a lot of people and make them give up," he said.

"If police are dealing with a really violent or drugged person, or mentally ill person, two officers can set up a V and fire two nets.

"The net is made of very strong kevlar. If you try and pull it apart, you will cut your hands. The net gap of five inches is the most efficient because it tangles on buttons and other things.

"If you have a very tight net it becomes like a blanket and is easier to get off."

Mr Roberts said $8 million had been spent on developing the net.

"Saudi Arabia has just bought some, Taiwan has bought a lot of it and it is on trial in about 40 US police forces," he said. "WA is the first Australian police service to purchase the product. I invited (representatives) to a demonstration in Victoria and they have ordered the product."

A Western Australian police spokesman confirmed that the tactical response group was testing the equipment.

"We are testing the apparatus as we would with anything else that comes on the market, as we did with pepper sprays," he said.

"We are also looking at Tazar (electronic stun guns)."

Western Australian police introduced pepper sprays last year.

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Comment:
I was tempted to not post this article, but what the heck, it's Y2K in a different sort of way, a different sort of consumer protection. Whatever will be next? Remember this is a non-lethal product to stop police shooting people dead. Since when......?

Regards from Down Under going down the gurgler...glug gluggity glug

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 16, 2000

Answers

"It's a non-lethal product to stop police shooting people dead."

hehehe....only an ocker copper well schooled in irony could say something like that........hehe.....and actually mean it!

Cheers from OZ sideshow alley

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 16, 2000.

My spider sense is tingling......

-- Jay Urban (Jayho99@aol.com), February 16, 2000.

I surely wouldn't want to be the one to suggest that stuffing a ferret in their pants would have much more stopping power. So I won't.

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), February 16, 2000.