In its 10th year, the warfare expo attracts SWAT teams from several police departments, including the University of California and Mexicos federal police
Amid a startling array of weaponry and defensive gear, several exhibitors at Urban Shield, the annual northern California police exhibition, were displaying robots similar to the model that was used to kill the gunman who fatally shot five Dallas officers in July.
You could do the same thing with our robot, said Dan Murphy of ICOR Technology. Dallas police reportedly placed a pound of C4 explosives and a detonation device on the robot in what is believed to be the first time in history that a US law enforcement agency used a robot to kill a suspect.
Its the ultimate use, Murphy added.
If they had sent tactical guys in, the first two or three would have died, Matt McAlister of Tactical Electronics said about the Dallas incident. Its the robot or the guys. Either way, the bad guys are going down.
Both ICOR and Tactical Electronics sell robots to the military and to law enforcement. Both Murphy and McAlister said they had received an increase in inquiries about robots from law enforcement agencies since the Dallas shootings.
Urban Shield is the ultimate intersection of law enforcement, the military industrial complex and the tech industry. Now in its 10th year, the Department of Homeland Security-funded event attracts SWAT teams from 40 local and international police departments, including the University of California, Berkeley, and Mexicos federal police.
After checking out the latest gear at the expo, the teams try out gadgets during 36 hours of training scenarios. Each scenario is based on a real-life disaster, which this year included the San Bernardino terrorist attack and Malheur wildlife refuge occupation.
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