Military Robotics Makers See a Future for Armed Police Robots
Posted: July 11, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Guns and Gadgets, Law & Justice, Robotics, Self Defense | Tags: Dallas Police Department, National Defense Industrial Association, RE2 robotics, Sean Bielat Leave a comment
As military-grade robotics get cheaper and more capable, someone will arm them and put them on American streets.
Patrick Tucker reports: Robot-maker Sean Bielat says he’s fine with the Dallas Police Department’s apparently unprecedented use of a police bomb-disposal robot to kill a gunman on Thursday. “A robot was used to keep people out of harm’s way in an extreme situation,” said Bielat, the CEO of Endeavor Robotics, a spinoff of iRobot’s military division. “That’s how robots are intended to be used.”
“The chief had two options and he went with this one. I supported him completely because it was the safest way to approach it”
Joergen Pedersen, the CEO of RE2 robotics and the chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association’s robotics division concurred. “If these robots are used in manners for which they were unintended, we would expect that the officers who are there to keep citizens and themselves safe would use good judgment where the application of lethal force is a last resort,” he said.
On Sunday, speaking to Face the Nation, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings blessed the operation. “The chief had two options and he went with this one. I supported him completely because it was the safest way to approach it,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
[VIDEO] Dallas Police Chief Invites Protesters to Become Part of the Solution and Serve the Community: ‘We’re Hiring’
Posted: July 11, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: Dallas Police Department, David Brown, Grand jury, Police, Police officer, Protesters 1 Comment
Dallas police chief, David Brown told reporters that too many of society’s problems are left to police officers to deal with alone. He called for those protesting against police misconduct to become cops themselves…
“We’ll put you in your neighborhood and we’ll help you resolve some of the problems you are protesting about.”
At the Conservative Review, Phil Shiver writes:
When asked what advice he had for young black men, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said, “we’re hiring.”
He then called on young men to “get off the protest line and put in an application.” Adding that they should “become a part of the solution, and serve their communities.”
“We’ll put you in your neighborhood and we’ll help you resolve some of the problems you are protesting about,” concluded Brown….(read more)
Profiles in Courage: A Look at the Lives of the Dallas Ambush Victims
Posted: July 8, 2016 Filed under: Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice | Tags: Ambush, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas Massacre, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Police Department, Law Enforcement Leave a comment
On Friday morning, the kids woke up to the news that their father was dead.
Medical staff couldn’t save Ahrens from the bullets that tore into his liver, said Karen Buckingham, his mother-in-law.
“It’s just beyond belief,” Buckingham said.
Ahrens had been with the Dallas Police Department since January 2002, according to department records.
“He was always one of the happy ones, with a smile on his face,” said one of his fellow officers who saw him around the department’s Central station often.
[Read the full story here, at dallasnews.com]
Steve Stribley, a state Fraternal Order of Police vice president and Dallas patrol officer, said Ahrens was “an incredible loving and devoted husband and father. Greatly respected veteran of the department.”
The 48-year-old officer was married to Detective Katrina Ahrens from the Crimes Against Persons division. The couple lived in Burleson with their two children together: 10-year-old Sorcha and 8-year-old Magnus. Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Fifth Officer Dies in Dallas Shootout, Sniper Suspect Dead
Posted: July 8, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, U.S. News | Tags: AK-47, CBS, Dallas Police Chief David Brown, Dallas Police Department, Police, Police officer, Twitter 1 Comment
The police chief said that shootings appeared to be coordinated and planned, as the moves displayed a knowledge of the rally’s intended path through the city and an attempt to ‘triangulate’ police.
One of the suspected Dallas shooters has been “neutralized, NBC affiliate KXAS reports, after the suspect threatened the “end is coming” for police officers.
Meanwhile, a fifth police officer has died of their injuries, the Dallas Police Department said.
“The suspect we’re negotiating with … has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he’s going to hurt and kill more of us, meaning law enforcement, and that there are bombs all over the place and downtown, so we’re being very careful with our tactics, so we don’t put our officers in harm’s way, or the citizens.”
— Dallas Police Chief David Brown
Eleven officers were shot by two snipers, who opened fire from elevated positions in a coordinated attack after a rally in Dallas, Texas. The rally was being held to protest the deaths of two black men this week at the hands of police.
At the press conference held close to 2 a.m. ET, Dallas Police Chief David Brown said a suspect, who was holed up in a second-floor garage in the city’s downtown area, was exchanging gunfire with police and “not being very cooperative.”
“The suspect we’re negotiating with … has told our negotiators that the end is coming and he’s going to hurt and kill more of us, meaning law enforcement, and that there are bombs all over the place and downtown, so we’re being very careful with our tactics, so we don’t put our officers in harm’s way, or the citizens,” Brown said. KXAS reported later that the threat had been “neutralized”.
[Read the full story here, at cnbc.com]
He said a woman had been taken into custody after she was observed by police carrying a camouflaged bag, which she put into a car that then sped off. The vehicle was stopped by police and they were currently questioning two occupants, Brown said.
KXAS | NBC News – A view of the downtown Dallas area from the KXAS/NBC news helicopter, as police swarm the area.
Earlier, police said that a suspect had been taken into custody after a shootout, and the bomb
squad was examining a suspicious package found near the location of that suspect.
[Order Heather Mac Donald’s book “The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe“
Brown told the press conference, however that he did not have a “complete comfort level that we have all the suspects,” and that a rigorous search of the downtown area was continuing.
The police chief said that shootings appeared to be coordinated and planned, as the moves displayed a knowledge of the rally’s intended path through the city and an attempt to “triangulate” police. Read the rest of this entry »
2 Snipers Ambush, Kill 4 Officers, Injure 11 in Dallas Following Peaceful Protest
Posted: July 8, 2016 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Health and Social Issues, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: CBS, Dallas Police Department, Downtown Dallas, The Dallas Morning News 1 Comment
Police continue to exchange gunfire with a cornered gunman hours after four officers were fatally shot at the conclusion of a peaceful protest in downtown Dallas, officials said early Friday morning.
“We still don’t have a complete comfort level that we have all the suspects. So we will continue a very, very rigorous investigation and search of downtown.”
Three other suspects were in custody in connection with the shooting that killed three Dallas police officers and one DART transit officer and wounded seven other officers, according to Dallas Police Chief David Brown.
“We will likely be working throughout the early morning hours of Friday until we are satisfied that all suspects have been captured and have an opportunity to be interviewed.”
— Dallas Police Chief David Brown
The cornered suspect is not cooperating and has told negotiators “he’s going to hurt and kill more of us,” alluding to bombs planted in the area, Brown said. A bomb squad investigated at least one suspicious package in the night as part of the massive police response.
Dallas Police Chief David Brown and Mayor Mike Rawlings provide a 12:30 a.m. update on the shootings in downtown Dallas.
Eleven officers in all were shot by gunmen in what police believe to be a coordinated ambush attack that began at 8:58 p.m., at the close of a rally in solidarity with two men killed in officer-involved shootings, one in Louisiana, one in Minnesota.
“We believe that these suspects were positioning themselves to triangulate on our officers and planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could.”
— Dallas Police Chief David Brown
Video from the scene showed officers taking cover and people in the rally scattering after gunshots were heard.
Dallas police officers take cover after shots were fired during a protest of nationwide officer-involved shootings, July 8, 2016.
Officers Take Cover After Shots Fired Downtown
“We believe that these suspects were positioning themselves to triangulate on our officers and planned to injure and kill as many law enforcement officers as they could,” Brown said at a news conference Thursday evening.
At least one civilian was injured. She was identified by family as Shetamia Taylor, and she was shot while shielding her children from the gunfire, her sister told NBC 5. Taylor’s condition is not known.
One person was taken into custody at about 11:30 p.m., Dallas police said, following an exchange of gunfire with Dallas SWAT officers. A suspicious package was located near that person, and the package was being investigated by bomb squad personnel.
Witnesses tell NBC 5 what they saw after Dallas police officers were shot after a rally in Downtown Dallas Thursday night.
Two other people were taken into custody in connection with a vehicle, Brown said. But he and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings stressed that the shooting scene was still active — Brown said that after the Friday morning news conference, he would receive plans for how to end the standoff with the suspect, in a garage at El Centro College.
Read the full story here, at NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth]
“We still don’t have a complete comfort level that we have all the suspects. So we will continue a very, very rigorous investigation and search of downtown,” Brown said. “We will likely be working throughout the early morning hours of Friday until we are satisfied that all suspects have been captured and have an opportunity to be interviewed.”
Shots Fired at Dallas Rally: The Dallas Morning News Photos
Rawlings called the shooting Dallas’ “worst nightmare,” Thursday night, and asked that all residents “come together and support our police officers.” Read the rest of this entry »
BREAKING: Suspect in Dallas Police Headquarters Shooting is Confirmed Dead
Posted: June 13, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption, Law & Justice, Mediasphere | Tags: Dallas Police Department, Dallas SWAT, Interstate 20, Interstate 45, Jack Evans, Police car, Police Headquarters, Television station, WFAA 1 Comment
DALLAS (AP) — Police: Suspect in Dallas police headquarters shooting is confirmed dead.
Suspect in Dallas Police Shooting Struck by Sniper After Attack on Police Headquarters
Posted: June 13, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Associated Press, Chief of police, Dallas, Dallas Police Department, Dallas SWAT, David Brown (police officer), Interstate 45, Pipe bomb, Police car, SWAT 1 Comment
Gunman opened fire on Dallas Police Department and rammed a police car before fleeing
Police couldn’t confirm whether the suspect, who was in an armored van that he claimed had explosives inside, was alive. Police hadn’t yet confirmed the man’s identity.
Snipers shot at the van’s front window and struck the suspect, Mr. Brown said. Police were using a robot to determine whether explosives remain near the vehicle.
#dallaspdshooting I hate white people and I am white
— kys joy (@lrhgroupies) June 13, 2015
Pathetic tweet of the day
Police had chased the suspect to a parking lot at a Jack in the Box restaurant south of Dallas after he fired on officers at the Dallas police headquarters early Saturday. No officers were injured in the shootings. Read the rest of this entry »
Dallas Police HQ Attacked; Suspect Cornered
Posted: June 13, 2015 Filed under: Breaking News, Crime & Corruption | Tags: Chief of police, Dallas, Dallas City Hall, Dallas Police Department, David Brown (police officer), Hutchins, Police car, Police station, Saturday morning cartoon, SWAT, Texas 2 Comments
DALLAS (AP) — Nomann Merchant reports: At least one gunman opened fire on officers outside of police headquarters in Dallas early Saturday, spraying squad cars with bullets before fleeing in a van, which officers followed to a suburban parking lot and surrounded, beginning a standoff, the police chief said.
Witnesses described seeing as many as three other suspects taking part in the attack, but police Chief David Brown said at a news conference that conflicting accounts made it difficult to determine how many people may have been involved. Despite a hail of gunshots, including some that hit police vehicles, nobody was wounded, he said.
According to Brown, the shootout began at around 12:30 a.m., when the suspect or suspects parked in front of the department’s headquarters south of downtown and began firing. At least one assailant later drove off in a dark-colored van, which witnesses described as armored, but not before ramming a police cruiser. The moment was caught on cellphone video shot from a nearby balcony in which several shots can be heard.
Officers trailed the van to a Jack in the Box parking lot in Hutchins, a Dallas suburb, where a SWAT team had it surrounded, Brown said. They had been speaking to a man inside who identified himself as James Boulware and who said he blames police for losing custody of his son and “accusing him of being a terrorist.”
The gunman also said he had explosives in the van, which appeared to be outfitted with gun ports in the sides. Read the rest of this entry »
