Prisoners at a West Virginia state penitentiary have rioted and taken several guards hostage. Local, state and federal police forces mobilize, with military reinforcement, to retake the prison. A squad swoops in aboard an Army Huey helicopter. Battalions of cops advance behind bulletproof shields, scouting ahead with robots, firing pepper spray and sticky foam to subdue the rioters. The recaptured inmates are cuffed and led off … and in the heady aftermath of the assault, the police squads sit among scores of spectators in bleachers, swapping tips on tactics.
For this isn’t a real riot, but an annual simulation orchestrated by the Organization of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization based in West Virginia. The point, according to OLETC, is to “showcase new and emerging corrections, law enforcement and public safety technologies.”
Besides equipping police and corrections departments across the country, techs that got early trial-runs in the hands of prison guards are increasingly embraced by civilian and military markets. Examples include sophisticated sound “guns” that can shoot voice messages to individuals thousands of feet away, various super-tough materials used in armor and shields, and scanners for spotting all kinds of weapons and contraband. But the most potentially far-reaching are for “biometric” surveillance, such as smart cameras that recognize faces and read facial expressions, and security systems that identify people by way of their unique physical characteristics and analyze their behavior: your basic Big Brother gear that’s useful not just in law enforcement, but in conflict zones like Iraq and East Timor.
Which is why this year’s mock riot includes military police teams and observers from several foreign countries. As the lines between modern warfare and law enforcement get blurrier, we’ll see even more police-military co-experimentation like this.
I’m at the mock riot for the next three days. Check back for regular updates.
Related posts:
[...] This continues my series on the annual Mock Riot in Moundsville, West Virginia, where police forces, the military and arms makers get together to test out nonlethal weapons and tactics. Part one here. Two here. [...]
[...] Of all the police and corrections teams practicing their skills at the 2007 Mock Riot in Moundsville, West Virginia, the Kansas-based 705th Military Police Battalion was perhaps the most impressive. In their first scenario they were faced with hostage-takers in a crowded, multi-floor split cell block that forced the cops’ traditional phalanx to divide. But like water they streamed around the obstacles and quickly reformed while a sniper kept watch from the second floor and soldiers on the edges of the formation peeled off to tackle bad guys popping out of darkened cells. It was brutal: but I suppose that was the point. You can’t give the rioters an inch. [...]