 use of Tasers.
Mr Atkinson, a former Aston Villa striker, died 90 minutes after officers used the weapon on him following a disturbance at his father’s house.
While the full circumstances of the case are now being investigated, the incident led to calls for an urgent review of Taser use.
No one should be under any illusions about the threat Tasers carry.
They are often described as a “less lethal option” to firearms by UK police forces.
That is why the British Transport Police’s apparently unilateral decision to issue the weapons to a number of its officers in Scotland is a concern.
Yesterday the force said a number of specially trained officers would be given the weapon in light of the raised terror threat.
It also cited an incident at Leytonstone station in east London in December where police used a Taser on a man who slashed a stranger, stopping him from harming other passengers.
The BTP, which has around 200 officers in Scotland, would not confirm the number of those being given a Taser, saying only that the figure was “proportionate”.
But it is a decision that puts the force at odds with Police Scotland, which currently only issues Tasers to firearms specialists, despite pressure from its own officers.
In contrast to England and Wales, where Tasers were fired 1,730 times by police officers in 2015, the figure for Scotland was just two.
While they are sometimes portrayed as a safe option, studies have pointed to risks associated with the weapons, particularly for those with underlying health conditions.
The Scottish Police Federation has called for Tasers to be put in every patrol car, but the current Police Scotland position seems entirely sensible.
Issuing Tasers only to firearms officers – who are already all too aware of the responsibility they carry – is the correct policy.
The BTP’s decision will now put pressure on Police Scotland to issue Tasers to its unarmed officers. If Tasers are necessary on the railway, then why not on the streets of our largest cities?
The situation is further complicated by the Scottish Government’s controversial proposal to integrate the BTP into Police Scotland following the decision of the Smith Commission to devolve railway policing.
It’s fair to say that had Police Scotland announced a decision to arm a number of its officers with Tasers by issuing a press release, there would have been considerable disquiet.
Yet that is exactly what the BTP did.
There is no doubt we live in an uncertain world where the spectre of terrorism looms large. Recent attacks on public transport in mainland Europe by so-called “lone wolves” have highlighted the need for an on-going debate about how we arm our police.
But the debate should be the starting point, not a reaction to a decision already made.
If Alexander Stoddart was looking for maximum publicity for his comments about Edinburgh’s architecture then he could not have chosen his words any better.
By comparing modernism to the work of the group known as Islamic State (IS) or Isis, Mr Stoddart, one of the Queen’s official artists, undermined his own arguments and made himself look rather silly into the bargain.
A sculptor whose works include a statue of Adam Smith on the Royal Mile and one of William Henry Playfair outside the National Museum of Scotland, Mr Stoddart said the capital’s classical architecture was under threat from modernism’s “Isis” tendency.
And he claimed modernist architects were devoted to “consistent and wilful desecration” of places of peace and harmony.
The sculptor believes modern buildings are destroying Edinburgh’s heritage in the same way Isis destroyed the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra.
Aesthetes have no doubt raged against modern building works since the beginning of time.
And undoubtedly modern buildings have been allowed to leave a scar on Edinburgh, notably the redevelopment of George Square by Edinburgh University in the 1960s and the brutalism of the St James Centre, now thankfully being demolished.
But Mr Stoddart’s comparison of city planners and architects to the death cult of Isis is ridiculous.
personally, they are also likely to fail to engender any serious debate about the sort of architecture Edinburgh needs to represent a city both proud of its past and looking to the future.
1.1 This practice addresses the durability of a fire-retardant treatment of wood products by exposure to accelerated cycles of wetting, drying, or ultraviolet (UV) exposure, or combination thereof, prior to evaluation by a fire response test. Four conditioning methods are described.
1.2 This practice is applicable to wood products that have been treated with fire-retardant chemicals by pressure impregnation.
1.3 The test specimens are to be in the form of, or suitable for fabrication into, test specimens, such as those described in Test Methods E84, E108, and E1354 and other standard test methods for evaluating the fire performance of fire-retardant-treated wood products.
1.4 The text of these methods references notes and footnotes that provide explanatory material. These notes and footnotes (excluding those in tables and figures) shall not be considered as requirements of these test methods.I think your plan is fine, but I would use a Victron 24 to 12 volt converter. Remember your autopilot is only as good as your weakest link.
I have had to replace my Old Raymarine ST7000 + autopiliot computer. I have gone with a NAC-3 B&G- as many of my new instraments are B&G and I want the integration. As such, I have run into a hickup with setting this up with my existing Raymarine Type 2 Long Linear Drive 24v- a solid and well working device I do not want to spend 2K replacing. I did some research and the NAC-3 will handle this drive unit. HOWEVER, it appeas that the CLUTCH on this unit is 12v. In fact, Ray always uses 12v on their clutches irrepective of the drive voltage (24 or 12) and the Ray autopilot units have a 12v /24v selector for the clutch wires. This is where i got stuck. The NAC-3 only sends nominal (24v or 12v) voltage to both the drive and the clutch with no way to selecting a differing voltage for the clutch. The voltage the drive gets, is what the clutch gets. So to keep my Raymarine drive unit I need to send the cluch 12v.
My proposed solution. Being the cluch is 12v and draws a maximum of 3A and I know that the NAC3 can provide that amporage, I plan on involving in-lining a simple 24v to 12 step down converter/regulator in the clutch curcuit a as like this one... https://www.amazon.com/Kohree-Converter-Regulator-Waterproof-Transformer/dp/B0756W6V4F/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Kohree%2BDC%2FDC&qid=1615838251&sr=8-2&th=1 I do believe this will work.. So my quest to you is this- any major flaws in this or consideration / solutions that I am overlooking? Thanks!
If you have already replaced your defective Onan PCB, I would like to have the defective one. One of our members has the contact information for a guy in Colombia who may be the same guy I met in Colombia. That guy is willing to look at a defective PCB to see if he can repair it.
I contacted GeneratorPanels.com by phone. Unfortunately, they do not repair the "Intelligent PCBs" most of us have. They referred me to FlightSystems.com. I contacted them. They do offer board-level repair, but if the memory chip is damaged they cannot repair the board because the software is proprietary. Therefore, they have deemed the boards we have in most SMs and later models as unrepairable.
I only had the Onan part 327-1533 which was from a late model SM. I would like to ask them about an Onan PCB prior to about 2000. I think this one may not have software controlling the board. It did not have a diagnostic circuit, but simply a "Fault Light" and reset button. If someone could give me that Onan part number, I will pursue the possibility of repair with Flight Systems.
If all else fails I too could help out with pcb repair to component level.
I'm an electronics enthusiast, not sure how familiar you are with reddit but you could post in https://www.reddit.com/r/electronics/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/PCB/ asking for help. I'm sure a member of those subreddits will know someone.
Wanted for all Amel Owners: Board-level PCB electronics technician to diagnose and repair Onan Printed Circuit Board, Control (PCB). As some of you know, the company that designed and manufactured Onan Electronic Control Boards has closed permanently due to COVID. There are many different models of this PCB, sometimes different PCBs within the same model numbers. These PCBs do not last forever. Do you know someone and can share contact information?
Lightning: I believe anyone who tells you that there is protection from lightning is probably an ex-snake oil salesman. Lightning is never the same, always different. If you believe there is protection from lightning strikes, I suggest that you ask one of the several people that are selling this stuff.
Bill, thank you for your valuable and very welcome input. Just a couple of further questions: what