Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!hoptoad!amdcad!amdahl!ames!hao!noao!rutgers!ukma!psuvm.bitnet!ae4
From: ae4@psuvm.bitnet.UUCP
Newsgroups: alt.cyberpunk,rec.arts.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Future Police Speculations Needed
Message-ID: <23473AE4@PSUVMA>
Date: Tue, 27-Oct-87 00:33:43 EST
Article-I.D.: PSUVMA.23473AE4
Posted: Tue Oct 27 00:33:43 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Oct-87 23:46:32 EST
References: <1463@haddock.ISC.COM> <1824@trex.rutgers.edu>
Organization: The Pennsylvania State University - Computation Center
Lines: 55
Xref: hoptoad alt.cyberpunk:129 rec.arts.sf-lovers:8209

In article: <1824@trex.rutgers.edu> masticol@trex.rutgers.edu
 (Stephen P. Masticola) writes:
>The baddies may have anything up to fission bombs and
>(genetic-engineered) viruses, and the police will realize this and act
>accordingly. There will be a perpetual game of "push-me-shove-you"
>between police and the crime syndicates.
     
     It's a nice thought, but I hardly think so.  For one thing, setting
off a tacnuke in your own city is _stupid_ - fallout and excessive carnage
are bad for business, and you're likely to scare the civilian government
doing something rash, like declaring martial law.  Furthermore, you are
going to have to operate in the neighborhood afterwards, and having to wear
radiation/biowarfare armor wherever you go would be a genuine nuisance.
     What might be more likely would be for the evil slime to develop highly
trained heavily-armed fast-strike squads.  These would be made up of special-
ists, deploying heavy firepower, but able to be highly selective in their
targets (picture a vulcan autocannon blasting out a drug lab from the back of a
passing truck. Or a sniper taking out a limo with a rocket launcher, as in
Gibson's _Count_Zero_.)  In short, the Mafia would go paramilitary, but would
act like a surgeon, only cutting out the portions of the neighborhood which
are bothering them, but trying to leave the rest of the city unharmed.
     
>Smart bullets and lasers will replace "dumb" handguns as weapons.
     
 "Smart Bullets"?  I might accept something the length of, say, a crossbow
bolt having some sort of target-seeking capibility, and yes, I did see the
movie "Runaway", but I canna' change the laws of physics, and I just don't
see fitting all that circuitry, control jets and fuel inside of anything
smaller than that.  The level of weaponry of the cops would, of course,
vary as you go from the doughnut patrol to the state police, but some things
you'd be sure to see include:
     uzi- style assault rifles (already standard in Europe), with laser
sights, would replace riot shotguns (equally effective, more selective)
     Body armor for all officers, possibly reinforced with composite plates
to stop _really_ nasty ammunition
     All ammunition would use caseless cartridges (solid propellant stuck on
the back of the bullet instead of powder in a shell)
     Laser guns only on large vehicles (they use up too much power!)
     S.W.A.T. teams going whole hog, becoming army units for all intents and
 purposes.
     Increased use of helicopters, possibly going over to VTOL aircraft, both
to move units around in emergencies, and maybe replacing the patrol car.
     
     Anti-terrorist techniques would also improve: in a hostage situation,
fast-acting anesthetic gas would be shot into the room: before the thug can
do anything, they are waking up in jail.
     
     
      Hey, good luck with this stuff, whoever.
     
                                     Jon Acheson
     
     
     "Reality is that which hurts when you trip over it"  Thag