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http://mashable.com/2016/09/16/gun-robot-standoff
Robots have been used for everything from greeting bank customers to grabbing a slice of pizza — and now they seem to be venturing further into law enforcement.
A six-hour police standoff in a Southern California desert ended on Sept. 8 when a robot was used by police to take away the rifle of an attempted murder suspect.
The special weapons team from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department made the call after the suspect, 52-year-old Ray B. Bunge, refused to surrender. He has since been charged with attempted murder, criminal threats, assault with a deadly weapon / firearm, robbery and felony vandalism.
During the standoff, Bunge was lying in a "dark open field" in the desert of Antelope Valley, California, when the robot stealthily, quietly snatched the gun sitting next to his feet, according to a Facebook post from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
Police had lost track of Bunge before using a helicopter and special weapons team to find him in a dirt area surrounded by shrubs and fence wiring. That's when they tried distracting Bunge and sending in the robot.
"He looked up and realized his gun was gone and he was exposed."
"While his attention was focused on the vehicles in front of him, the team deployed a robot from behind the suspect's position," the Facebook post explains.
The robot picked up the gun without Bunge noticing before pulling away the fence wiring that had been covering him. At that moment, Bunge finally gave up.
Well, that's a big improvement over sending in a robot with a suicide vest like they did in Dallas.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday September 19 2016, @03:54PM
Fleeing from the police is not necessarily evidence of an underlying crime. For example, if somebody is from a demographic that is not-infrequently murdered by police, even when not fighting those cops, then fleeing from the police is not a completely irrational response.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 19 2016, @10:35PM
Running is a good way to get yourself shot. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. People like you run from cops and get shot. You expect to get shot, so you run and thus get shot.
BTW, some of these are murder, but not most. The rest are certainly not all perfectly fine, though some are. There are cases of manslaughter, and there are cases that are just barely legally justified and thus probably a firing offence or at least worthy of demotion or demerit. It's a mix, and calling it all "murder" just shows your bias and tosses your credibility.