Dallas police defend use of robot to kill gunman

[F4UCorsair]

3,500 Police could not handle one lone gunman without the use of explosives?

Hopefully the citizens of Dallas don't put too much faith in their Police force to protect them.

All sounds really incompetent and a total lack of training and or courage.

Killed by police gunfire, possibly with further losses, or killed by an explosive laden robot, with NO further losses????

EASY CHOICE !!! The only issue I have is why negotiate for more than 10 minutes??

What insane commander would risk his men's lives so they can show how courageous they are?

Edited July 10, 2016 by F4UCorsair

[Basil B]

A gun is a machine a robot is a more advanced machine. The human operator of the robot has less chance of being killed than someone using a gun. Next.

So Drone Strikes on US citizens would be okay?

Yes... if he was trying to kill other people.

I think this was debated in the UK parliament when the UK government sanctioned the use of a drone to take out a terrorist known to be a British subject.

[sirineou]

The robot did not kill the suspect, the police did. The robot was only the delivery method.

would using a catapult had being better?

[soalbundy]

was the robot white ? Paint it black for Afro Americans and white for caucasians, no more riots.

[mankondang]

Said by one TV News channel: Police are now trying to "Piece together" a profile of the shooter. Insensitive choice of words IMO.

[ggt]

This is a no brainer...the gunman admitted targeting while police officers and wanted to kill more...why would you risk another officer's life...just to let this scumbag surrender...and spend the next 5 years going thru the court system...playing the black victim card?

Experts have said the tactic raises serious ethical questions.

Next time there is an active shooter situation...bring in these experts...these paragon of ethics...to disarm the shooter...

My guess is they will be glad to deploy the robot...it is easy to play Monday Morning Critic...when sitting behind a comfortable and secure desk hundreds of miles away...

Most of these so called experts are nothing more than effeminate pin-heads...

[Credo]

I don't quite understand why people think it is some sort of a sport's event where the playing field needs to be even and there are referees. It's a life and death situation and this guy was specifically targeting police officers and more specifically white police officers. The officers he was targeting had nothing to do with the killings that were being peacefully protested.

He has military training.

It was never going to end well, but at least it ended.

[Skeptic7]

Did we really want to start down this road? As soon as the homicidal maniacs start realizing how easy it is to build or buy a drone and strap some explosives to it, we'll have a much bigger problem to deal with than assault rifles.

I think what the "experts" are referring to in this case is the genesis of "killer robots"... Another slippery slope.

Too late!

[F4UCorsair]

These losers in siege situations remind me of the idiots in a stolen car, exceeding the limit by huge margins, driving on the wrong side of the road, endangering others, etc.

If I was in power, I'd have a helicopter with marksmen in the air asap, and at the first opportunity of a killer shot, where others wouldn't be hurt by the car running out of control, the marksmen would have the authority to take it. We're a bunch of soft <deleted> tolerating this crap from so called 'disenfranchised' losers.

As soon as this jerk's location was determined, the immediate area should have been cleared, and a purpose built mini rocket put through the window.

We all have our grievances, but most don't resort to killing multiple other people in an attempt to resolve the issues.

[up2u2]

These losers in siege situations remind me of the idiots in a stolen car, exceeding the limit by huge margins, driving on the wrong side of the road, endangering others, etc.

If I was in power, I'd have a helicopter with marksmen in the air asap, and at the first opportunity of a killer shot, where others wouldn't be hurt by the car running out of control, the marksmen would have the authority to take it. We're a bunch of soft <deleted> tolerating this crap from so called 'disenfranchised' losers.

As soon as this jerk's location was determined, the immediate area should have been cleared, and a purpose built mini rocket put through the window.

We all have our grievances, but most don't resort to killing multiple other people in an attempt to resolve the issues.

Yes escalate the violence and killing that always resolves any issue. What could possibly go wrong.

[Emster23]

The perp was surrounded, wasn't going anywhere. Tear gas (or other non-lethal methods) could be used to bring him into custody and then let judicial system do it's job. Police response should not be about revenge for killing fellow cops. Police should be held to a higher standard. Load the area with tear gas and go in with APC to take him down and in. Dead men tell no tales.

[up2u2]

The perp was surrounded, wasn't going anywhere. Tear gas (or other non-lethal methods) could be used to bring him into custody and then let judicial system do it's job. Police response should not be about revenge for killing fellow cops. Police should be held to a higher standard. Load the area with tear gas and go in with APC to take him down and in. Dead men tell no tales.

Thank you Emster23 you give me hope that the world hasn't gone totally insane.

Seems to me American's set the bar VERY low with respect to professionally trained Police Officers.

[rijb]

Why don't you two take it up with this man?

"You have to trust the people whose lives are at stake. I appreciate critics, but they're not on the ground, and their lives are not at risk," he said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/10/politics/dallas-shooting-police-chief-david-brown/

[eldragon]

A big part of the problem is educated and other prosocial blacks grouping themselves with the ghetto idiots that conduct themselves in a manner that gets em shot, thus making it a race issue when it's in fact more of a status one. If some white trash moron gets himself shot and killed by police- and believe me they do; blacks only make up 30%- I care less bc he's a thug and I have nothing in common with him. I feel bad that he didn't have enough intellect to behave in a manner that would've kept him out of trouble, and I encourage more spending on education for the poor. But it's never an issue of race. I mean, are there no black cops? Or are there no black people that are afraid of other black people they deem suspicious? I know there are white people that scare me. Some of em to the point that I'd shoot em if I thought they were going to try to hurt me.

[F4UCorsair]

These losers in siege situations remind me of the idiots in a stolen car, exceeding the limit by huge margins, driving on the wrong side of the road, endangering others, etc.

If I was in power, I'd have a helicopter with marksmen in the air asap, and at the first opportunity of a killer shot, where others wouldn't be hurt by the car running out of control, the marksmen would have the authority to take it. We're a bunch of soft <deleted> tolerating this crap from so called 'disenfranchised' losers.

As soon as this jerk's location was determined, the immediate area should have been cleared, and a purpose built mini rocket put through the window.

We all have our grievances, but most don't resort to killing multiple other people in an attempt to resolve the issues.

Yes escalate the violence and killing that always resolves any issue. What could possibly go wrong.

How does that escalate the violence? He is killed BEFORE he can kill more innocents, and the way I see it, that reduces the number of deaths.

It's been revealed that he had plans for even greater massacres, so to get him off the planet was well worth doing. How unfortunate that he killed police doing their jobs, protecting the participants in a PEACEFUL rally/march.

[rijb]

A big part of the problem is educated and other prosocial blacks grouping themselves with the ghetto idiots that conduct themselves in a manner that gets em shot, thus making it a race issue when it's in fact more of a status one. If some white trash moron gets himself shot and killed by police- and believe me they do; blacks only make up 30%- I care less bc he's a thug and I have nothing in common with him. I feel bad that he didn't have enough intellect to behave in a manner that would've kept him out of trouble, and I encourage more spending on education for the poor. But it's never an issue of race. I mean, are there no black cops? Or are there no black people that are afraid of other black people they deem suspicious? I know there are white people that scare me. Some of em to the point that I'd shoot em if I thought they were going to try to hurt me.

This outspoken critic learned how 'shoot or no shoot' issues can outweigh race issues...

[thaibeachlovers]

You don't have a chat with a virus, you kill it if possible by any means.

Bad guy, kill him and save the country expense of a trial, jail etc.

Job well done.

[Credo]

Over the past few years, it would appear that the police are getting a little too trigger happy. I think more and better training, and more officers would go a long way to help ease tensions. Officers need to feel that they are in control, otherwise it gets way too easy to shoot.

With this guy, though, he was specifically targeting police officers, so a bunch of police trying to talk him out was not going to work. He was going to take as many out as he could. I am not sure they knew how well armed he was either.

Not everybody warrants risking an expensive robot to take him out.

[rijb]

Over the past few years, it would appear that the police are getting a little too trigger happy. I think more and better training, and more officers would go a long way to help ease tensions. Officers need to feel that they are in control, otherwise it gets way too easy to shoot.

With this guy, though, he was specifically targeting police officers, so a bunch of police trying to talk him out was not going to work. He was going to take as many out as he could. I am not sure they knew how well armed he was either.

Not everybody warrants risking an expensive robot to take him out.

Good points. However, the bad guys are much quicker on the trigger. And they're better armed.

[Credo]

Over the past few years, it would appear that the police are getting a little too trigger happy. I think more and better training, and more officers would go a long way to help ease tensions. Officers need to feel that they are in control, otherwise it gets way too easy to shoot.

With this guy, though, he was specifically targeting police officers, so a bunch of police trying to talk him out was not going to work. He was going to take as many out as he could. I am not sure they knew how well armed he was either.

Not everybody warrants risking an expensive robot to take him out.

Good points. However, the bad guys are much quicker on the trigger. And they're better armed.

Agreed. I think that is why this guy warranted the risk of an expensive robot to take him out. He wasn't going to go out alone.

[Usernames]

You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

[rijb]

I'll take one. Does it come with ammunition?

[thaibeachlovers]

What exactly are people concerned about? That a dangerous homicidal nutter was killed, or that he didn't kill enough cops before being consigned to hell?

[Shot]

A big part of the problem is educated and other prosocial blacks grouping themselves with the ghetto idiots that conduct themselves in a manner that gets em shot, thus making it a race issue when it's in fact more of a status one. If some white trash moron gets himself shot and killed by police- and believe me they do; blacks only make up 30%- I care less bc he's a thug and I have nothing in common with him. I feel bad that he didn't have enough intellect to behave in a manner that would've kept him out of trouble, and I encourage more spending on education for the poor. But it's never an issue of race. I mean, are there no black cops? Or are there no black people that are afraid of other black people they deem suspicious? I know there are white people that scare me. Some of em to the point that I'd shoot em if I thought they were going to try to hurt me.

This outspoken critic learned how 'shoot or no shoot' issues can outweigh race issues...

Thanks for sharing. Good stuff.

[watgate]

I love how the liberals want to disarm the American citizenry and laugh when I see how they throw out the rule of law when it applies to them. A very recent example is the pitiful resolution to Hillary Clinton and her blatant misuse and illegal usage of a private email server when she was Sec'y of State. Any common citizen would have been arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law but she was virtually given a free pass to continue her assault on the US citizenry and their inherent rights under the constituition. The liberals have made a mockery of the judicial system and then you wonder why millions of law abiding citizens are disgusted with the US Government and all its cronies. With continued cry for more gun control and gun confiscation by the left, who is going to enforce these new laws, if passed, the same demagogues who find it perfectly alright to give Hillary Clinton a free pass?

[arjunadawn]

A gun is a machine a robot is a more advanced machine. The human operator of the robot has less chance of being killed than someone using a gun. Next.

Either the stupid or the ignorant are intentionally conflating two things. Using a robot as an extension of the senses- a tool, is not the same as an autonomous device acting on its own accord and killing. One is the AI concern we read so much about, and should be very concerned with.

The other is a screw driver, or even the evolution of a gun of sorts- whereby we take this piece of death over here by us, and send it over there to that guy.

[F4UCorsair]

A gun is a machine a robot is a more advanced machine. The human operator of the robot has less chance of being killed than someone using a gun. Next.

Either the stupid or the ignorant are intentionally conflating two things. Using a robot as an extension of the senses- a tool, is not the same as an autonomous device acting on its own accord and killing. One is the AI concern we read so much about, and should be very concerned with.

The other is a screw driver, or even the evolution of a gun of sorts- whereby we take this piece of death over here by us, and send it over there to that guy.

You've lost me........I just don't follow what you're saying/trying to say. Does that make me stupid or ignorant?

[Freakin Musashi]

The "uncanny valley" is bad enough, and we have to deal with the thought of robots being sent to terminate us, without due process. I may have to retreat to the jungle at this rate.

[arjunadawn]

A gun is a machine a robot is a more advanced machine. The human operator of the robot has less chance of being killed than someone using a gun. Next.

Either the stupid or the ignorant are intentionally conflating two things. Using a robot as an extension of the senses- a tool, is not the same as an autonomous device acting on its own accord and killing. One is the AI concern we read so much about, and should be very concerned with.

The other is a screw driver, or even the evolution of a gun of sorts- whereby we take this piece of death over here by us, and send it over there to that guy.

You've lost me........I just don't follow what you're saying/trying to say. Does that make me stupid or ignorant?

No brother, neither. I also could hv skipped that choice of words. It just wasn't polite.

I think this 'tool' is not unlike a drone. Just an extension of eyes and tools forward in the battle space. Like a robot with a shotgun used for detonating bombs. i see no ethical quandary about using such tools- properly.

* while the same its my position drones are used improperly. But essentially same category.

[thaibeachlovers]

A gun is a machine a robot is a more advanced machine. The human operator of the robot has less chance of being killed than someone using a gun. Next.

Either the stupid or the ignorant are intentionally conflating two things. Using a robot as an extension of the senses- a tool, is not the same as an autonomous device acting on its own accord and killing. One is the AI concern we read so much about, and should be very concerned with.

The other is a screw driver, or even the evolution of a gun of sorts- whereby we take this piece of death over here by us, and send it over there to that guy.

One is the AI concern we read so much about, and should be very concerned with.

Too late. That ship has sailed and the uneducatable with be consigned to the rubbish tip of humanity in the not too distant future ( but I doubt they will go quietly into the darkness ). That conversation should have been held 20 years ago, but we are sleep walking to disaster.