Robots keep officers out of harm's way

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Police and fire officials in the metropolitan region are taking uniformed officers out of danger by using federally funded robots to find bombs and criminals, and perform other high-risk duties.

"Why put an officer in harm's way?" asked Sgt. Jim Craige of the Alexandria Police Department. "Why put an officer in the threat of gunfire or an unknown chemical substance when we can send [a robot] in?"

Earlier this month, police officers in King and Queen, Va., used a robot equipped with a camera and a listening device to end a standoff with a murder suspect without having to enter the house.

When the 2-foot-tall robot found James O'Neal Kelly, 23, of Oldhams, hiding in an attic, police lobbed tear gas into the windows and forced him outside to surrender.

The Alexandria police routinely deploys a Remotec Mini-Andros II robot, which is equipped with a surveillance camera, microphone and articulating arm. The robot also features a shotgun attachment that operators can use to remotely fire rounds of ammunition or tear gas.

Sgt. Craige said a grant from the Department of Homeland Security paid for the $93,000 robot, which is worth every penny.

"Our primary mission with the robot is tactical surveillance and to remotely check out a place that might be too dangerous to send an officer," he said. "We're limited only by our creativity in how we can deploy this."

Marc Short, spokesman for the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said states are allowed to spend agency grants on robotics, though such purchases must be approved.

"There is generally a significant amount of latitude for [states] to purchase a product that will best protect their citizens," he said.

Sgt. Craige said Alexandria police last used the robot in September 2003, when officers sent it into a home to find exactly where a man was reportedlythreatening his family with a gun. The robot showed the man lying on the floor with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and officers were able to enter and secure the home.

W. Faron Taylor, a public education and media officer for the Maryland Fire Marshal's Office, said the agency owns one robot and has three more on order. Mr. Taylor would not give the specific make and model of the robots for security reasons, but said the state's bomb squad has been using them since 1990.

"The operational procedure of the bomb squad takes full advantage of [the robots] equipment," he said. "They are used regularly and routinely."

The bomb squad robots each cost about $130,000 and were bought with money from the state budget and DHS grants, Mr. Taylor said.

John Scholz, division chief of the Anne Arundel County fire department, said the agency does not own or employ its own robots but can use the state's if needed. Mr. Scholz said county firefighters used a robot just five weeks ago to identify and assist in disarming a small pipe bomb.

"We call for their bomb techs and use them as appropriate," he said. "We use [robots] as a type of rendering-safe procedure."

Most officials said the technology has improved the safety of police and emergency workers.

"We don't send an officer up there now, we send the robot," Sgt. Craige said. "It's just one more tool that we have."