Stun-gun plan for speedsters

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

New Zealand police may look at arming themselves with an electronic zapper being developed overseas to halt fleeing vehicles - if it comes with foolproof safety guarantees.

The gadget, heralded as a virtual stun-gun for cars, is being tested by British Home Office scientists after trials by its American inventor found it could stop vehicles up to 50m away by blasting them with radio waves.

Former Californian university physics professor David Giri, who is developing the system for the United States Marine Corps and Los Angeles Police Department, says it works on most cars made in the past 10 years by knocking out vital electronics controlling their engines.

He says it turns the technology that has revolutionised motoring in recent years - computer chips used to control fuel injection and engine-firing systems - against the driver.

A battery and bank of capacitors are fitted into the boot of a police car, storing electrical charges that are turned into radio waves through a roof-top antenna at the flick of a switch on the dashboard.

Although the system generates a narrow beam of waves, and reputedly brings a suspect vehicle to a slow halt after stalling it, British scientists and police want to be sure it does not zap other traffic.

Police in New Zealand are aware of another electronic device that was tested in the US but has not made it to active service, apparently because it could interfere with heart patients' pacemakers.

National road policing operations manager Inspector John Kelly said yesterday he understood the earlier device sent out a jolt of electricity once a suspect vehicle was on top of it, "making it uncomfortable for people with pacemakers in the car".

The new system appeared to be more like a "ray gun", not requiring physical contact.

He said police would watch the overseas tests to find out whether the zapper could be useful.

Police national road safety manager Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald said there would have to be guarantees that the device did not override power-steering systems.

Even then, there could be a risk of pushing fleeing drivers into irrational decisions, such as veering into oncoming traffic.

Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the zapper could be useful if it reduced hazards in an area of law enforcement fraught with difficulties internationally.

Ten people were killed in New Zealand road crashes last year - and another on New Year's Day - either during or soon after police chases, prompting a tightening of the service's pursuit policy in March to ensure greater control from communications centres.

There has been only one death since then, of an Auckland man who sped from police in April in a boy-racer curfew zone in Pakuranga and hit a tree.

But this week two Te Puke police officers intending to lay down road spikes for a speeding vehicle being pursued by other patrols suffered minor injuries when the suspect crashed into the back of their car.

Mr O'Connor said the risk of officers facing charges from pursuits that ended badly had reached the point in Queensland where the police union was advising its members not to chase any vehicle.

But Mr O'Connor fears a reluctance by police to give chase, reinforced by New Zealand's tighter pursuits policy, is tempting more suspects to race away from an arrest and could lead to more deaths.