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Wireless chip helps police track their weapons

• Egon Kilin
• November 14th, 2014

There has been concern about criminals stealing or getting their hands on police weapons for quite some time now, but there hasn’t been a solution found so far. Now, it seems that police officers in California and Texas might be rid of the issue of stolen weapons. These police departments are beginning to put a wireless chip in each of the firearms issued to police officers so that the weapons can be traced.

This is good news not only for police officers, but for jurors, judges, lawyers and the average Joe as well. With a wireless chip in a gun allowing police departments to check on the whereabouts of the gun and usually of the police officer carrying it may prevent hate crimes and unlawful use of a firearm by police. There have been many cases of police officers abusing their weapons against innocent citizens, especially at various protests. Police violence has been the subject of controversy in the past five years and the wireless chip planted in guns may put an end to that.

The wireless chip police departments will be outfitting their weapons with will send a signal to headquarters each time the gun is fired, alerting fellow police officers to respond to emergency situations like “shots fired”. The wireless chip in question is made by YardArm, and the company designed the chip so that it would fit into the handle of the firearm and can transmit data over a mobile network connection. Supposedly, the wireless chip can tell the difference between a fired and an unholstered weapon, so that it can send the appropriate alert to police headquarters. YardArm is also working on making the wireless chip perceive the direction the gun is pointing at. All this data can be viewed on a special application.

YardArm will be marketing and selling the new wireless chip starting next year, and it won’t be available to police departments exclusively. While American gun owners usually reject monitoring technology, it would be nice if these wireless chips would become mandatory for firearms. It might be just something I believe, but I don’t agree with firearms of any kind. Nonetheless, outfitting police gear with a wireless chip so that their actions can be monitored is a good step forward. It will prevent abuse, but it will also help police officers avoid dangerous situations and get the backup they need to fight off criminals.