http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/11/10/bc-long-range-accoustic-device-vancouver-police.html
Vancouver police have a new crowd control device capable of emitting painfully loud blasts of sound, just in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics, CBC News has learned.
The medium-range acoustic device (MRAD) can use sound as a weapon, emitting piercing sounds at frequency levels that cross the human threshold of pain and are potentially damaging to hearing, say audio experts.
But it is primarily designed as a communications device that's clearly audible up to a kilometre away, say police.
Const. Lindsay Houghton said the device was first tested this summer as a public address system during the Celebration of Light fireworks events in Vancouver.
'Backing into things like this without proper public discussion ... is simply not good policy."
—Robert Holmes, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties AssociationHoughton said police don't plan to use the device for anything more than communication.
