UK police could get Ghostbusters-style backpack devices to halt ebike getaways

Police officers in Britain could be armed with Ghostbusters-style devices that fire electromagnetic rays to shut down the engines of ebikes being used in a crime.

Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said the weapon was in development and could be months away from being available, though it is expected to be longer than that.

He said it would be housed in a backpack, reminiscent of the equipment used in the Ghostbusters series of movies. It could tackle crime linked to newer vehicles such as electric bikes and electric scooters.

The device is being developed with the Defence Science and Technology Lab, which is overseen by the Ministry of Defence, alongside other technological innovations that British police are hoping to use. It would fire an electromagnetic pulse at a vehicle that an officer wants to stop because the rider is suspected of involvement in a crime.

The electromagnetic weapon works by tricking the engine into thinking it is overheating, which shuts down the engine and brings the vehicle to a stop. It requires a line of sight to work, Stephens said.

RobotToaster,
@RobotToaster@mander.xyz avatar

This has real “tv detector van” vibes.

I seriously doubt they can create a HERF gun strong enough to disable an e-bike that won’t screw with phones and pacemakers, or cause a lithium battery explosion.

TeddyKila,

Their police state

Our public safety innovations

FatLegTed,
@FatLegTed@feddit.uk avatar

Just don’t cross the streams

Also, I ain’t afraid of no goats.

JASN_DE,

So fry 30 phones to get back the one stolen phone? Nice idea!

Also, good thing an e-bike does not work any longer without a motor…

OrlandoDoom,

“police shocked to find out ebikes also come with pedals”

Cort,

Lol, not all of them do. All least according to the ebikes sub on Reddit.

HumanPenguin, (edited )
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

To be classed as a ebike legally in the UK. Where we are talking about.

It must make a max speed (15mph) i think max power ( 250w for 2 wheel higher for 3 wheeler) and be classed as electrically assisted. IE peddling has to be an option both when powered and not powered.

If any of those rules are not met. It is legally an electric motorbike. And must meet the laws for a motorbike. Including a licence.

As I can’t drive due to vision. Whe it was a little better I was looking into the rules of making a ebike conversion. This was a while ago. So some things may have changed a little. But the ebike vs motorbike requiring a licence principal still applies.

Hence why things like escooter are basically illegal on public roads. (With a few experimental exception s for hire ones. That require a depriving licence.

Cort,

I don’t think you’re wrong about any of the rules or laws, and I don’t generally like to conflate electric motorcycles with ebikes; my point was that persons fleeing the scene of a crime may not be following those rules and laws for ebikes.

HumanPenguin,
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

True. But that means the system would work. As a e scooter or e motorbike would just roll to a stop.

But OP was specifically talking about the ebikes as mentioned in the article. And by UK legal definition an illegal ebike. Is not an ebike. So anything defined as one would still be able to escape and likely faster then the max 15mph electrically assisted is allowed to operate at.

Of course decrepit old facts like me would likely go slower if riding one was still viable safty was.

But yeah its all silly really yes ebikes as mentioned in the article have other options.

But the current e scooter craze where folks often ignore the law and its there actually trying to shut it down makes more sense. I doubt the article written was actually very informed about the differences.

Also I have to wonder about e motorbikes. These things legally(licenced driver) or illegally self built (yep I considered hiden switch ideas that could make it from ebike to an off road e moter bike for fun) but they tend to be pretty darn fast. And have insane acceleration speeds when built to be an emoterbike legally or not.

So I wonder weather a cop would be able to keep a directional microwave antenna pointed at the system long enough to work.

thehatfox,
@thehatfox@lemmy.world avatar

Firing EMPs in urban areas does not sound a great idea at all. That’s a lot of potential collator damage on top of an already potential dangerous police action.

There are already methods police can use to stop moving vehicles, which would work on electric vehicles as well as existing ICE vehicles. These are still bikes, not magic carpets or something. Stopping a moving vehicle is also dangerous in itself, and it doesn’t sound a great idea to add to that the chances of frying everything from police equipment to vital medical devices that happens to be in the blast area.

HumanPenguin,
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

Its not an emp.

Description says it fools the ebike into thinking its over heating.

Sounds more like some form of directional microwave transmitter. Designed to effect the bms

Alexstarfire,

Why would an emp require line of sight? That’s not how emp works, even if directional.

Also, this is dumb as shit. They are going to fuck up so many nearby electronic devices if this is used in any populated area. Might be fine out in the sticks.

Icalasari,

I know the UK doesn't have a big sue culture, but I can not imagine this wouldn't result in lawsuits if somebody unrelated to the crime dies due to their pacemaker stopping

nightwatch_admin,

Well… dead people don’t sue.
/s

HumanPenguin,
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

And t1ds in 2024 often relly on phones to track blood sugar via continuous glucose monitoring devices.

The big thing that will increase lawsuits. Is the fact this is visible when used.

So anyone with a damaged device in range is likely to blame it even if it was safe and some how only effected the ebike.

Duamerthrax, (edited )

I don’t believe that at all. It’s gotta be just a directional microwave gun. It’s gonna fry the semiconductors to shut it off, but it will kill any nearby electronics as well. That includes medical devices. You can find people on YouTube making these things for fun.

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

It doesn’t sound like an EMP device - it needs line-of-sight and “works by tricking the engine into thinking it is overheating”.

Duamerthrax, (edited )

Yeah and I don’t believe the ad read. Either it’s actively hacking the device or it’s just a directional emp(or it’s just junk). The fact that it’s calling an electric motor an “engine” is a clue that the people writing the press release don’t know how any of this works. At best, this is what they’re really selling.

If it wants to trick the motor controller into reading the motor as overheating, it would need to know the communication protocol of every escooter and be able to overwhelm the communication between the motor and motor controller with it’s own signal. That’s assuming it’s wireless and why would it be wireless? Also, these things can go up in smoke on their own. I doubt as many of them as we’d like actually have overheat protections.

If the escooters had lowjack software on them and knew to shutoff remotely, you wouldn’t need a backpack’s worth of tech and it would be easy to bypass by cutting the antenna.

Also,

electromagnetic rays

This doesn’t mean anything. Could be a ham radio, could be an rc car controller, could be a flash light, but it sounds like a microwave gun if you need a backpack to power it and the escooter isn’t going to be recoverable. Neither will any cell phone, car, laptop or any other consumer electronic or medical device near the target.

HumanPenguin,
@HumanPenguin@feddit.uk avatar

Or given the lack of knowledge of the writer.

There are only a few different temp sensors used in the bms systems on all lithium battery management systems.

Developing a frequency that interferes with the signal from the sensor to the bms. Would be a viable way of shutting the bms. So the engine down.

But just a guess.

palordrolap,

In before this comes with a taser attachment.

Emperor,
@Emperor@feddit.uk avatar

Who ya gonna call? 999, that’s who.

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