Australian police authorities buying up sound weapons - Law Report - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
▻http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lawreport/australian-police-buy-up-on-sound-weapons/7419408
They can break up protests with loud, piercing sound, but Long Range Acoustic Devices (LRADs) can also cause permanent hearing damage. Australian law enforcement agencies are now investing in the technology, but sound and law experts say their potential use is extremely concerning.
Australia’s police forces are buying up devices capable of causing long-term hearing damage from a distance.
The controversial Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, has been used to disperse crowds in protest situations in the US.
Its use at a Pittsburgh G20 protest in 2009 left University of Missouri English professor Karen Piper with permanent hearing damage.
’We had seen these machines there [that] looked like an armoured vehicle with a satellite dish on top,’ says Piper, who had been observing the protest from a distance.