Laser pointers and their misuse

mikemac

Have done a search, oh and not looking for legal advice.

Lately the local ne'er do wells in the nearby estate have gotten a laser pointer.
It's green if that's makes a difference.

So you can be driving down the road in the estate at night and get a laser shone at you.
And believe me it's distracting and could cause you to make a mistake.

Also, you might be standing in the shops and you see a laser dancing over the window, well it's annoying if nothing else.

I don't believe they are illegal and they do have uses like college lecturers use them.

Do the good folk of AGS ever get complaints over this sort of messing?
Would you confiscate it if local kids were messing?

Is this something new to Ireland? First time I've come across it

angelfire9

Funnily enough i just posted a link in the news thread about lasers!

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/aircraft-laser-thugs-target-garda-chopper-2335226.html

mikemac

Oh I see, I hadn't seen that

Nobody reads sticky threads

Just looking for opinions, that's all

angelfire9

I'm just a civie so I'm not really entitled to an opinion

Mrmoe

I'm not a member of AGS. About 3-4 weeks ago, cycling home I got targeted with a green laser pointer. As my luck would have it a squad car was just passing, I waved them down and I directed them to where it was coming from. They didn't find anybody. It is fairly easy to avoid detection as the green lasers have a fairly long range so unless you knew for definite where it was coming from it would be next to impossible to pinpoint who was doing it.

feelingstressed

feelingstressed wrote: »

Have done a search, oh and not looking for legal advice.

Lately the local ne'er do wells in the nearby estate have gotten a laser pointer.
It's green if that's makes a difference.

So you can be driving down the road in the estate at night and get a laser shone at you.
And believe me it's distracting and could cause you to make a mistake.

Also, you might be standing in the shops and you see a laser dancing over the window, well it's annoying if nothing else.

I don't believe they are illegal and they do have uses like college lecturers use them.

Do the good folk of AGS ever get complaints over this sort of messing?
Would you confiscate it if local kids were messing?

Is this something new to Ireland? First time I've come across it

Report it. They do not have a valid reason to have it. And if they shine it at a motorist it is endangering traffic.

Thugs target garda copter with lasers

THUGS targeted the crew of the Garda Air Support Unit helicopter with a potentially blinding laser.

The unit had been sent to investigate an earlier incident involving a plane which had just taken off from Dublin Airport when it was targeted.

Air traffic controllers at Dublin contacted gardai after the crew of a Ryanair flight from Dublin to Liverpool reported that a laser was pointed at the cockpit of their aircraft shortly after take-off.

At around 11.15pm, a garda helicopter was dispatched from Baldonnel Aerodrome to investigate reports of a laser being pointed at an aircraft near Malahide. As the chopper made its way to the scene it too was targeted with a laser by an individual in the Darndale area.

The chopper, which is flown by an Air Corps crew but carries garda personnel, tried to locate the suspect while unmarked patrol cars converged on the area. The culprit, however, managed to evade gardai.

A Garda spokesman confirmed: "Gardai received a report from air traffic control of an incident involving an aircraft and a laser in the Swords and Malahide area. The Garda Air Support Unit was sent to investigate the reports while ground units were also sent to the area. No arrests were made but gardai are investigating the matter."

Last Wednesday night, a Ryanair flight on approach to Shannon Airport was targeted by thugs using a laser.

Wing

Flight FR109 was flying at 21,000ft overhead Clonbollogue in Co Offaly when the crew contacted air traffic controllers to inform them that they had observed a laser being aimed at their aircraft the aircraft's left wing.

The pilots were not affected by the lasers in any of the incidents.

Link

Zambia

Air wing here got targeted. All three teenagers where caught and are having the book thrown at them. On the mobile now will post the link at some stage.

Zambia

As Promised

Arrest following laser pointer directed at Air Wing

Sunday, 12 September 2010 12:10

A 16-year-old boy is expected to be charged on summons after directing a laser pointer towards the police helicopter last month.

On Saturday 28 August the Air Wing was patrolling Coburg and while over Huntington Street a laser pointer shone directly into the cockpit of the chopper and struck the co-pilot in the eye just before 9.30pm.

Three suspects were followed by the air wing from Huntington Street to Carlisle Street into Glenora Avenue where it appeared they were hiding under a carport.

Police units on the ground approached the three males before one fled the scene.

A 16-year-old and a 17-year-old from Coburg were spoken to by police and released pending further enquiries.

On 1 September police executed an evidentiary warrant in Coburg and arrested a 16-year-old male in relation to the incident and also seized a laser pointer.

He was interviewed by police and has been released.

It is expected he will be charged on summons with
conduct endangering life,
interfere with crew or aircraft,
possess a prohibited weapon,
use a prohibited weapon
and bring into Victoria a Prohibited Weapon.

http://www.vicpolicenews.com.au/more-news/4947-areest-following-laser-pointer-directed-at-air-wing.html

meathstevie

A laser used in the ways as described above is an offensive weapon. I've had one pointed in my face a while ago while driving and it felt like I'd looked into the light of a welder. I spoke to a GP after and he told me those yokes can actually cause serious eye damage if the exposure to it lasts long enough so definitly an offensive weapon in my books.