POLICE TRAINING
VOLUNTEERS
(200 words)
Harry asked "Do you recognise one of these?” as he revealed the other item he’d taken from the hold-all. It was a neat black plastic device with two small prongs protruding from it. I knew, immediately, it was a Stun-gun.
Illegal in Britain , I’d seen the effect of these during anti-riot training courses. I’d even witnessed the effect of this tiny device on a big and determined attacker. On these courses, volunteers had been zapped by them, and I’d watched them drop in their tracks and writhe in agony, their nervous system totally shot, temporarily. Officers on the Executive had discussed with us, clinically and dispassionately, the potential value of such a weapon and the ethics of using it as a defensive rather than offensive device. I had speculated on what it might feel like; and wondered at the men who agreed to be human guinea pigs in all such equipment trials. I’d watched CS gas used, volunteer rioters beaten in practice baton charge exercises, heat and cold survival experiments. They were all a certain breed of men, and there was never any shortage of volunteers when it came to such tests. I’d often been tempted, myself …
|
|