Better the Robot,
I recently wrote about drones’ effectiveness in modern warfare. My friend asked a question. “What is the difference between drones and robots?”
I said, “I don’t know. Why?”
He said, “Now TPD (Tulsa Police Department) uses drones but back in the day we used some robots.”
My friend is a retired Sargent from the Tulsa Police Department. Having spent years as a detective in first robbery and then homicide. He is a skilled, intuitive investigator and a remarkable storyteller.
The difference between drones and robots. Well, I’m not an authority but as far as I’m concerned the difference is minimal. Drones fly. Robots roll around.
The story began with a declarative statement, “I hadn’t been on SWAT long when a murder suspect went to his grandmother’s apartment and took her hostage. Being one of his usual landing places, we quickly had her ground floor apartment surrounded and had snipers strategically placed in a nearby apartment with a direct sight line.”
He continued, “The suspect saw the snipers and started wildly firing his AK-47 in their direction. A paint can was hit. It exploded starting a fire in the building the snipers were in and I was behind.”
The snipers hurriedly gathered their gear and down the stairs at about the time the Tulsa Fire Department arrives.
A Command voice ordered, “Walker, go thru the gate into the backyard and see if you can spot him.” The backyard was enclosed by a 6-foot stockade fence leaving no line of vision into or from the backyard. He said although it was rather early in his career, he knew this didn’t sound like a good idea.
A saving voice called out, “This might be a good time to try out that new robot.”
My friend thought, “YES!”
Personally, I have this vision of a new shiny robot being rolled out from its storage, tested on the concrete parking area. Forgive me but I have this vision of the police robot, polished to a brilliant red, turning wheelies in the parking lot.
The gate is thrown open. The robot methodically moved inside. It moves along side the building providing the operator
with a crisp view. The robot clears the back corner of the apartment building. The robot refocuses and brings a man with a rifle into to view. The monitor goes black as the tense silence is broken by the staccato bark of an AK-47.
The suspect killed the robot. My friend mused, “Better the robot that one of us.”
Over the years I have come to embrace the philosophy espoused by the newspaper editor in the 1962 film, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”. In a virtuoso line the editor states, “This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”
Knowing my friend well, I know this story is all fact.
When the legends die, the dream ends; there will be no more greatness. Tecumseh
