Dallas – A robotics expert says Dallas police appear to be the first law enforcement agency to use a robot to kill.
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Peter W. Singer, of the New America Foundation, says the killing of a suspect in Thursday night’s fatal shooting of five police officers is the first instance of which he’s aware of a robot being used lethally by police.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown told reporters that after hours of failed negotiations and in order to not put any officers in harm’s way, his department used a robot to deliver a bomb that killed the suspect. Brown said they saw no other option.
Singer said in an email Friday that when he was researching his 2009 book “Wired for War” a U.S. soldier told him troops in Iraq sometimes used MARCbot surveillance robots against insurgents.
Good for them, why put human life in harms way when a robot can do the job.
Absolutely, good for them!
I guess noone can complain that a cop shot him.
When police departments start using military tactics and equipment we’re in trouble.
The suspect was inside and refusing to surrender. The police were not in danger, as there was no active shooting.
What’s the legal basis for their action?
To #3- You are a misguided fool. The suspect still had plenty of ammo, and could have started shooting. If canines were let into his area, he would have killed them, and he certainly could have killed more cops, if they rushed him..
Incidentally, this is not the first time that cops have used bombs to kill criminals. Although it was not done with a robot, the Philadelphia Police Dept., in 1983, dropped a bomb on a building from a helicopter, to neutralize a Black terrorist group, which had fired from a building, and where there was a standoff.
Also, in 1973, there was a Black sniper (who also hated white society, and was a navy veteran), who opened fire from the roof of a downtown New Orleans hotel. He killed a number of civilians, before being killed by cops.