A British police chief has revealed the type of weapon he would most like to see officers carry in the future, it was reported on Saturday — a disabling ”phaser gun” of the sort used in television show Star Trek.
The gun — which Deputy Chief Constable Ian Arundale admitted might not be developed for many years — would be able to turn ”someone’s brain off”, he was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
Arundale said there was a need for a ”less lethal” alternative to conventional guns, which British police rarely carry.
”What we would like in the future is a Star Trek-style phaser that, perfectly safely, temporarily switches someone’s brain off so that officers move in,” Arundale was quoted as saying.
”We know we are not going to get that, probably not in my lifetime anyway, but we will look at anything that takes us in that direction.”
According to the official internet site for Star Trek, the hugely influential United States science fiction series first broadcast in 1966, the phaser is a ”Starfleet handheld energy weapon in use since circa 2266”.
”The Phaser type one is commonly used when a show of force is not appropriate, such as in first contact and other off-ship missions involving diplomacy,” it explains. — Sapa-AFP