The recent shooting of police in the US at a ‘Black Lives Matter’ rally has not only marks another dark day for the country, but also an escalation in the use of explosives that might just be enough to convince anyone for the need of bomb blast window film.
To bring the standoff with the armed gunman to an end, the police used a bomb disposal robot equipped with an explosive device to detonate near him, killing him instantly. This is, the Telegraph suggests, the first instance of the police using such a tactic in the field according to security experts.
These robots usually use a small amount of explosive material to detonate suspected bombs in a controlled situation and similar devices are often used in standoffs and in hostage situations, however not, until now, as an offensive weapon.
Michael Kalichman, director of the Center for Ethics in Science and Technology, has concerns over the use of robots as offensive weapons in future: “While it’s premature to judge exactly what happened, it certainly seems likely that this ended a tragedy that could have been far worse. However, we also can’t help but think about where this will go next,” he said, according to USA Today.
The Mayor of Dallas, where the shooting of five policemen occurred by a sniper at a peaceful rally, said that the device could be used again in a difficult situation, as it removes police from the line of fire. However the cost of these robots is what stands in the way of their widespread use by US police forces.
