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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Legal Experts Raise Alarm over Shocking Use of 'Killer Robot' in Dallas Legal Experts Raise Alarm over Shocking Use of 'Killer Robot' in Dallas 'The fact that the police have a weapon like this...is an example of the militarization of the police and law enforcement—and goes in the wrong direction' by Nadia Prupis, staff writer Dallas police officers respond to the ambush attack on July 7, 2016. (Photo: AP) As news emerges that police officers in Dallas, Texas used an armed robot to kill the suspected shooter in Thursday night's ambush, experts are warning that it represents a sea change in police militarization that only heightens risks to human and constitutional rights. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said Friday morning during a press conference that police "saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate" where the suspect had taken refuge in a parking garage as police tried to negotiate with him, adding that he was "deceased as a result of detonating the bomb." The suspect, identified as Micah Xavier Johnson, was killed around 2:30am Friday morning after an hours-long standoff with police. The shootings killed five officers and left more than a dozen people injured. Johnson reportedly confirmed that he had acted alone and was not affiliated with any group. Many noted that this appears to be the first time that domestic police have used a lethal robot to kill a suspect. According to Marjorie Cohn, Professor Emerita at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and editor and contributor to Drones and Targeted Killings: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues, it's a sign that U.S. law enforcement is continuing to go in "the wrong direction." "Due process is not just enshrined in our constitution, it's also enshrined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights." —Marjorie Cohn, Thomas Jefferson School of Law "The fact that the police have a weapon like this, and other weapons like drones and tanks, is an example of the militarization of the police and law enforcement—and goes in the wrong direction," Cohn told Common Dreams. "We should see the police using humane techniques, interacting on a more humane level with the community, and although certainly the police officers did not deserve to die, this is an indication of something much deeper in the society, and that's the racism that permeates the police departments across the country. It's a real tragedy." Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina, told The Atlantic on Friday, "This is sort of a new horizon for police technology. Robots have been around for a while, but using them to deliver lethal force raises some new issues." As security expert and University of Pennsylvania professor Matt Blaze noted on Twitter on Friday, numerous safety concerns about the robot's protocols—for example, how easily it might be hacked—remain unaddressed. "How was the control link to the Dallas bomb robot secured? Stakes go *way* up when something like this is repurposed as a weapon," he wrote. As Popular Science tech editor David Gershgorn also explained: Repurposing a robot that was created to prevent death by explosion clearly contrasts with the way these machines are normally used. Bomb disposal robots are routinely used to minimize the potential of harm to officers and civilians when disarming or clearing potential explosives from an area. They are often equipped with their own explosive charges and other tools, not to kill, but detonate other potential bombs in the area. Poster Comment: The police have exceeded their authority. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: BTP Holdings (#0)
This same thought came to me, actually. One of the questions that came to mind is whether the police already had this bomb weapon in it's arsenal -- i.e. Did they plan on a contingency where they could use a bomb to kill a suspect, complete with a plan to use a particular type of explosive wired to a particular bomb removal robot with a particular means of detonating it remotely -- or if they had to, on the spot, improvise to put this thing together. Either way it means the police have high explosives at it's disposal which is a notable thing, but if it's the former then it's certainly a legal concern. If it's the latter, then they certainly did improvise in a short amount of time.
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