Dazzler gaining wider interest as nonlethal weapon for pilots, police

JAY CAPERS Michael Flanigan, president of LE Technologies, demonstrates the use of his company's handheld Laser Dazzler, designed to envelop the target in a disabling beam of green light.

By Michael Wentzel
Democrat and Chronicle

(Wednesday, October 10, 2001) -- It's called the Laser Dazzler, but it's no toy. It looks like a large flashlight, but it can do more than illuminate a dark room.

The Laser Dazzler can confuse, disorient and nearly immobilize a violent inmate in a cell, a suspect threatening a police officer -- or a hijacker rushing into a pilot's cabin, the laser's makers say.

"It envelops you in a wall of green light so that you can't see," said Michael Flanigan of Rochester, president of LE Technologies LLC, the developer of the Dazzler.

"You have not shot anyone, but you have the advantage," he said. "So what if people see green spots. No harm, no foul."

In the past five months, LE Technologies has demonstrated the Dazzler to the U.S. Department of Defense, the Army and Navy, members of Congress and several law enforcement agencies.

"The different applications of the technology were known," Flanigan said. "The federal government is not just grabbing at solutions. Things have just accelerated."

The Dazzler is now being considered for use in airline pilots' cabins, at airport security checkpoints and by police in large facilities such as government buildings, Flanigan said.

"It's the best nonlethal weapon I've seen because of the dazzling effects on the eyes and brain," said Paul Vallely, a retired Army major general and a consultant to LE Technologies. "Flight attendants could carry the laser on their side. If I was a pilot, I'd like it."

Even though the company is only 15 months old, Flanigan said he expects a federal contract to build a larger and far more powerful version of the laser for use on Navy ships.

LE Technologies, which conducts its research and development in Hartford, Conn., has worked with scientists at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics in testing and improving the laser.

UR could become part of a joint venture with the company to develop the more powerful green laser that would blind sensors on missiles and attack optical elements that direct battle helicopters.

"My intuition says this is a tool for the future," said Robert McCrory, director of UR's laser lab.

LE Technologies did not discover a green laser, but it has found a way to make a more compact, efficient laser that is lighter in weight, company and laser lab officials said.

The current Laser Dazzler is a handheld baton about 13 inches long that resembles a large flashlight.

The human eye is especially sensitive to the frequency level of the Dazzler's laser. But while the green laser light significantly disrupts the ability to see, it does not cause any permanent damage, Flanigan said.

The green laser is six times brighter in daylight than a red laser, which often is used to target a suspect. At night, the green laser is 3,000 times brighter than the red, company officials said.

The Dazzler can shoot a cone of light three feet wide at a distance of 20 feet. With the use of lenses, the width of the cone can be adjusted to a point where it would nearly fill a room in an average-size house.

The only way to escape the laser light is to hide the eyes or turn away.

"The laser allows the user to engage a subject and not escalate the violence," Flanigan said. "It gives you stand-off distance. It gives time to see how conversation will work. And it takes away the sight of the subject and their ability to counteract the user."

The Dazzler is a "nonverbal tool that overcomes language barriers or an inability to hear," he said.

"It does not injure a subject, and in crowds, such as in the cabin of an airplane, you don't have to worry about collateral damage," Flanigan said.

Capt. Sid Heal of the Los Angeles County sheriff's department, a weapon's technology expert who has seen the Dazzler in action, agreed with Flanigan's assessment. "It has real potential for use in law enforcement and in jails without increasing the danger," Heal said.

LE Technologies needs more investment capital, Flanigan said, but the company plans to begin selling the first handheld Dazzlers by December. The cost of several thousand dollars for a single Dazzler could be reduced with volume orders, he added.

The company also is investigating another nonlethal weapon that would combine green and red laser light in a strobe. The combination would not only cause a temporary loss of sight, it would induce vomiting, company officials said.

"We can make this do a lot of things," Flanigan said.