One of those thing that makes you go "duhh, what took so long..."? A bolo is damn near stone age tech, probably predating the David sling, atlatl and surely the bow and arrow. In essence it's simply a strong cord of maybe 40 or so inches with a weight attached to both ends. It is slung sidearm on a horizontal plane, towards the legs of a moving animal (or man) But of course the police dont throw it caveman style, they a small device to fire it. As the cord hits, the weights wrap it around the legs. This could save lives. I dont care how jacked up your are, it WILL immobilize you if you are charging at or running from. LAPD takes page from Batman, using tethers that wrap ... www.latimes.com › story › lapd-new-restraint-device Dec 3, 2019 - LAPD takes a page from Batman, testing device that uses tethers that wrap suspects' bodies ... “This is a restraint device,” Rothans said. “This is meant to put ... The Fresno Police Department started training officers in January. Missing: experimenting | Must include: experimenting
OK, these have hooks instead of the traditional weights. Makes sense. The weights can hurt you like a sling bullet *2 to 4 ounces* (can shatter bone) These appear to be fired at a relatively high velocity, with no weight (so to speak of) I can see it as useful in certain scenarios.
Hey Fatback, I care (smile). When you first posted, I looked up what it is. From a layperson's perspective, it seems like it would cause some injuries leading to more "accidents" as cops try to restrain suspects. Of course, that is better than someone ending up dead because a cop overreacts, but still. I guess we'll find out how well they work as more departments implement it.
As Kazenatsu pointed out, hopefully they wont be used on fleeing suspects, if you get hit at a full run, you are going down hard. But if you are charging the police it will drop you. I doubt it would be easy to be at a full run and deploy this on someone running away.
We used to play with these as kids, we would put some weight in two socks on a few ft of twine and try to trip each other running by in the grass, they do work. Bird bolos have been used for ages, they have multiple cords and weights, they were slung into flocks of birds on the wing.
Fair enough but everybody is not going to go willingly. A taser is only good if the person is close enough. What happens when the suspect is running toward a concrete structure or a large glass window? They are going to fall and crash face first into an inanimate object and it's going to hurt. Don't get me wrong. I would LOVE to know the police have another option to catch and restrain suspects. I'm just not sure this is the right solution to achieve that goal.
