CROWD CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES - Omega Research Foundation

285. For example, )using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets, the police forced the 200 ex-combatants out of the building. Sixty four bullets
hit a single demonstrator, fifty year old army veteran Francisco Loza, who remains seriously injured(, El Salvador Watch, January 1996, No. 45.
286. Bullets fired from a normal gun have specific identifying marks cause by the internal imperfections of the barrel - hence bullets can be matched back to the
gun that fired them and potentially the firer. Rubber and plastic ammunition used in Northern Ireland and the Occupied territories cannot be traced in this way.
287. In Northern Ireland despite 17 deaths and hundreds of injuries no single officer has ever been convicted of wrongdoing. In the only case that was heard under
criminal law the officer was acquitted despite him breaking the guidelines on two counts, namely firing at the chest and below 20 yards range.
288. Details of investigation into 49 of the 58 Palestinians killed by )rubber( bullets found that action was only taken against 3 officers, 1 was acquitted, 1 had a
)note on his file( and 1 was sentenced to twenty one months in prison for shooting and killing Ali Abu Awad from a distance of one metre whilst he lay on his
back; see BTselem (1998) Death Foretold, Firing of rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators in the Occupied Territories. December.
289.The system of payments has been criticised because it prevents full examination and public disclosure of the facts of a case. Many cases are settles secretly
out of court, with no admission of liability, see Bell, D. (1999) The use of rubber and plastic bullets in Northern Ireland. M.A. Thesis. University of Ulster,
Magee College.
290. Helen Bamber, Director of the Medical Foundation for the Treatment & Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, London quoted in The Torture Trail,
Channel 4 Dispatches programme, broadcast 11/1/1995.
291. He stated that )electro-shock weapons are promoted as legitimate tools for law enforcement when in fact they are weapons of terror used to
torture men, women and children. If companies knowingly trade electro-shock weapons with governments that torture, they are complicit in the
abuse. Corporations cannot not disguise these weapons as reasonable police equipment for crime control when the design is intended to inflict
severe pain suffering on human beings.( William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA. AIUSA Press Release. March 3, 1997.
Arming the Torturers: Electro-Shock Torture and the Spread of Stun Technology.
292. For example, Armond Start, professor at the National Center for Correctional Health Care Studies has referred to stun weapons as )one of
those toys that enterprising manufacturers have developed that sound real good, but their potential for abuse is so great.( Unfortunately, in the
hands of a torturer, even a "toy" can produce cruel, even fatal, results. Weapons of Torture - A Time investigation turns up evidence of loose
controls and US companies shipping stun guns to countries that practice torture. Time Magazine, 6 April 1998, p52-53.
xciv