Police use robot to kill Dallas sniper suspect

High tech has played a grim role in triggering, and ending, events over a horrific 48 hours in the US.

Dallas police sent a bomb-disposal robot carrying an explosive towards a holed-up gunman and detonated it and killed him, local police chief David Brown says.

Security researchers told the Wall Street Journal it was the first time US law enforcement had intentionally made lethal use of a robot.

The gunman – Micah Johnson — reportedly a US military veteran who had served in Afghanistan – had been cornered in a parking garage for five hours, and was reportedly making threats to police negotiators, and saying he was targeting white police officers.

He was pursued after five Dallas police offers were shot, and seven injured, in a sniper attack as they stood by a peaceful protest (reports are sketchy and authorities are releasing little information but it seems two other suspects could still be at large).

The protest was sparked by videos of two fatal shootings, both involving black men and white police.

One incident happened in Louisiana on Wednesday NZT. Two separate videos, widely shared on social media, show graphic images of Alton Sterling (37) pinned to the ground and shot five times in the chest by two white police officers outside a convenience store.

Lavish Reynolds streamed video of her boyfriend lying bleeding and dying live to Facebook. The social network has left an archived version of the clip online, albeit now with a warning.

A second emerged early Friday NZT: a 10-minute Facebook Live video taken by Lavish Reynolds after her boyfriend, cafeteria worker Philando Castile (32), was pulled over for having a broken taillight in the city of Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Ms Reynolds’ young daughter was also in the car.

The video begins after Mr Castile has been shot, and it includes images of him slumped in the driver’s seat and groaning as blood spreads through his shirt.

Mr Castile had a legal licence to carry a firearm and was reaching for his licence and vehicle registration when police shot at him five times, Ms Reynolds says during the clip.

A distraught man – presumably the police officer – can be heard screaming "I told him not to reach for it."

Mr Castle later died in hospital.

So many elements of the video are disturbing, from images of a man dying being so easily accessible on Facebook to Ms Reynolds' weirdly calm narration – even when a police officer sticks a pistol in through the window – to her choosing to jump on social media rather than help Mr Castile with his injuries or cover her child. The clip is also hugely prejudicial to any court case that results from the incident.

Amplifying events
Technology did not cause the deep-seated problems and racial tension that were so horribly on display in America this week.

But it certainly influences and amplified events.

In the Louisiana case, the videos and social media sharing were hailed as a positive in that they likely played a role in accelerating an independent inquiry.

In the case of the Minnesota video, Facebook’s decision to leave it online is questionable (it was briefly taken offline before being put back on with a warning). It’s close to being a snuff clip but can be accessed by any internet user of any age. And it’s inflammatory without actually offering any insight into the violence that occurred immediately before it was taken.

Debate needed
I’m of the more-information-is-almost-always-better school. When things are withheld, it’s usually for reasons of self-interest rather than the greater good. But in this instance, the Facebook video has served as tabloid media fodder and helped to stoke a situation already spiralling out of control.

Facebook (and Twitter, with Periscope) might need to re-address whether it allows video from smartphones to stream live to its site, and which stays on its site. If not, there will likely be many political, legal, police, school bullying and piracy arguments ahead.

The Dallas police’s use of a robot as a killing machine will reignite the Terminator-style debate over the dangers of autonomous weapons (as described in an open letter last year signed by Stephen Hawking, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak and others). Police officers and their families would certainly rather see a robot put on the line rather than a human life but do we risk losing control of events?

Deeper discussion is needed across the board. The likes of Facebook, Google and Twitter will always favour minimum censorship – in part because they believe in free speech, and in part because minimum filtering is commercially expedient. Once it's in place, censorship is so often abused by politicians. So this has to be a very careful discussion. But as things stand, things feel a little too Wild West.

Alvin Toffler, who died on June 27 aged 87, was best known for his book Future Shock, and his thesis that technology is moving too fast for us to cope with psychologically.

A killing on Facebook Live a robot being used to kill a human will certainly leave many feeling Toffler’s “stress and disorientation."

POSTSCRIPT: Presidential candidates react

Either because he was genuinely stunned, or because he was chastened by reaction to his awful and embarrassing post-Orlando shooting tweet ("Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism"), Donald Trump posted the subdued:

Prayers and condolences to all of the families who are so thoroughly devastated by the horrors we are all watching take place in our country

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 8, 2016

Hillary Clinton tweeted:

I mourn for the officers shot while doing their sacred duty to protect peaceful protesters, for their families & all who serve with them. -H

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 8, 2016