Putting Tasers to the Test – 2008 OLETC Mock Prison Riot

Today was day one of the 2008 OLETC Mock Prison Riot in Moundsville, West Virginia. OLETC stands for “The Office of Law Enforcement Technology Commercialization.” This riot is held to demonstrate up and coming corrections and law enforcement technologies and give field-related personnel the opportunity to use these technologies in simulated scenarios. The technologies are then evaluated for effectiveness, and suggestions for areas of improvement are welcomed.

Taser International will be attending the event as an exhibitor. The four day event includes speakers, workshops, and demonstrations, and even skill competitions. Guests will include corrections officials from all parts of the world, including the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It’s not open to the general public, but open to law enforcement and corrections officers and personnel and exhibitors with related technologies.

How interesting- four days of real-live demonstrations and training on Tasers and related products. Role-playing. As close as you can get to the real thing, all to prepare our law enforcement agents for new technologies. New technologies that will probably will face as many questions as Tasers have. These are the people who we should be listening to; the people who experience them, test them, use them, live with them. Not the people who file a lawsuit against the cop who Tasered them for not surrendering their illegal drugs.

I’ll be scouring the internet for press coverage over the next few days. Video footage from past riots can be found here: http://www.oletc.org/riot/riot_video.html, and photo archives here: http://www.oletc.org/riot/2007riot/2007riot.html.