K
Kathleen Martin
Guest
In the 1990s, when a Pawtucket homicide suspect was believed to be holed up in a South Attleboro home, a SWAT team responded to the scene.
But the tactical team did not rush into the home.
Instead, they sent a small robot with treaded wheels equipped with a camera capable of allowing police to see inside the residence.
The robot found no one was inside the house, dissolving the neighborhood tension.
“They usually use those robots in a tenuous life-threatening situation,” Attleboro Police Chief Kyle Heagney said.
About five years ago in Mansfield, a robot was sent into the home of a suicidal man who had threatened police with a rifle when he stopped communicating with the SWAT team.
“It spotted him unconscious in the basement and that’s when our guys went in. They got to him just in time,” Mansfield Police Chief Ron Sellon said.
The man had taken pills and was transported to a hospital for treatment, police said at the time.
None of the Attleboro area police departments have their own tactical robots.
They rely on support from state police or regional agencies such as the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council or the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.
“It is commonplace for the bomb squad or METRO-LEC to deploy them in barricade situations. It’s all about officer safety and public safety. It’s just another tool,” Norton Police Chief Brian Clark said.
The robots, which also can carry items such as a cellphone to a person barricaded from police to open lines of communication, can save the lives of police officers, the suspect and the public, law enforcement officials say.
They are not armed.
Continue reading: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/police-use-of-drones-and-robots-in-attleboro-area-help-to-aid-in-safety-of/article_7a92a2b4-172d-5b0d-aa9a-4ead809c570d.html
But the tactical team did not rush into the home.
Instead, they sent a small robot with treaded wheels equipped with a camera capable of allowing police to see inside the residence.
The robot found no one was inside the house, dissolving the neighborhood tension.
“They usually use those robots in a tenuous life-threatening situation,” Attleboro Police Chief Kyle Heagney said.
About five years ago in Mansfield, a robot was sent into the home of a suicidal man who had threatened police with a rifle when he stopped communicating with the SWAT team.
“It spotted him unconscious in the basement and that’s when our guys went in. They got to him just in time,” Mansfield Police Chief Ron Sellon said.
The man had taken pills and was transported to a hospital for treatment, police said at the time.
None of the Attleboro area police departments have their own tactical robots.
They rely on support from state police or regional agencies such as the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council or the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.
“It is commonplace for the bomb squad or METRO-LEC to deploy them in barricade situations. It’s all about officer safety and public safety. It’s just another tool,” Norton Police Chief Brian Clark said.
The robots, which also can carry items such as a cellphone to a person barricaded from police to open lines of communication, can save the lives of police officers, the suspect and the public, law enforcement officials say.
They are not armed.
Continue reading: https://www.thesunchronicle.com/news/local_news/police-use-of-drones-and-robots-in-attleboro-area-help-to-aid-in-safety-of/article_7a92a2b4-172d-5b0d-aa9a-4ead809c570d.html
