Taser Wants to Equip Police Drones With Stun Guns
Taser met with law enforcement officials to discuss the concept of designing autonomous drones armed with stun guns for police departments.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Taser Int'l is testing the idea of attaching a stun gun to a drone.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Taser Int’l (NASDAQ: TASR), based here, is reportedly experimenting with deploying its stun guns on drones, allowing law enforcement to zap criminal suspects from the sky.
The company discussed the idea with police officials during the recent International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in San Diego, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The news comes two months after police officers in Dallas ignited a debate about the use of remotely operated weapons. In August, police used a robot fixed with explosives to end a standoff with the suspect in a mass shooting that killed five officers. The suspect was killed in the blast.
Following that incident, Taser has fielded questions about whether it would be feasible to do a similar thing with a stun gun, WSJ reported.
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“One can certainly imagine high-risk scenarios such as terrorist barricades where autonomous Taser deployment could allow public safety officers to more rapidly incapacitate a threat and save many lives,” Taser Spokesman Steve Tuttle told the newspaper.
A Taser-wielding drone could potentially allow police to deescalate a high-risk situation, such as a standoff with a dangerous suspect, without jeopardizing the lives of officers. And a Taser spokesman told the newspaper that the company would address any potential missuses of the technology.
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