SHOCKS FOR CRIMINALS

Taranaki Daily News, 17 November 1926, Page 14

SHOCKS FOR CRIMINALS

A GERMAN INVENTION. Berlin, Oct. 9. A German electrical engineer has invented an ingerious contrivance which he believes will be of great assistance to the police in capturing suspected criminals. The apparatus consists of a small but powerful battery which can be carried in the pocket. The battery is connected with an induction coil capable of generating a high tension current of considerable power. This current is carried by wires which run through the coat sleeve of the person carrying the apparatus, and the vires are attached to a small contact carried in the palm of the right hand, where it is held in place by a wrist-strap and a ring which encircles the second finger. The current is switched on automatically’ by merely opening the hand. A person attacked has merely to touch the face or hand of the assailant in order to bring the full shock of the current to bear upon him. The person brought in contact with the two small electrodes is rendered helpless and collapses, especially if he be seized by the wrist. The current, however, is not sufficiently powerful to endanger either life or health of the persons subjected to it. The intention is simply’ to render him temporarily helpless. The contrivance has already been submitted to a number of practical tests, both with conscious and unconscious victims—that is, with ordinary persons and with actual criminals; the results have been in every case most satisfactory. Arrests have been attended, moreover, by a certain grotesque hilarity, due to the ■ inevitable astonishment of the evildoer, seized by the strong arm of the law, when he discovers that the hand attached to this arm is endowed with electrical energy.