# Remote Controlled (RC) bombs for domestic law enforcement use **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385 "2016-07-08T13:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/21 "2016-07-08T19:12:13Z")
We’re sending in a pizza…BOOM! ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/22 "2016-07-08T19:20:22Z")
Thanks **Whack-a-Mole**! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/23 "2016-07-08T19:23:43Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > We’re sending in a pizza…BOOM! That’s not a bad idea. Send “food” in while negotiating with the guy. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/24 "2016-07-08T19:35:49Z")
The device may have been a booby-trapped cell phone > [@](#): > > Dwaine Caraway (former interim mayor of Dallas) said on the radio this morning that the perp asked for a cell phone, and that the cell phone was used to “expire” him. > > [Reddit - Dive into anything](https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/4ruikl/the_suspect_in_the_mass_shooting_of_dallas_police/d54cgo1) Shades of how the Israelis got rid of the Engineer? > **[Yahya Ayyash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahya_Ayyash#Assassination)** > > Yahya Abd-al-Latif Ayyash (Arabic: يحيى عياش; 6 March 1966 – 5 January 1996) was the chief bombmaker of Hamas and the leader of the West Bank battalion of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. In that capacity, he earned the nickname "the Engineer" (Arabic: المهندس, transliterated al-Muhandis). Ayyash is credited with advancing the technique of suicide bombing in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The bombings he orchestrated killed approximately 90 Israelis, many of them civilians. He was assassi... ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/25 "2016-07-08T19:57:28Z")
I’m not sure making the analogy of a police action to a political assassination is a great place to go from here. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/26 "2016-07-08T19:58:49Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > Perhaps the robot delivered the bomb and retreated to a safe distance before the detonation. From [here:](http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/08/us/philando-castile-alton-sterling-protests/index.html) > [@](#): > > “We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,” Brown said. “Other options would have exposed our officers to grave danger. The suspect is deceased as a result of detonating the bomb.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/27 "2016-07-08T20:44:10Z")
This is how it starts: the killer robots are developed by the police, and then [turn on the people they are supposed to serve](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZY9Z6WvSY). (I can’t believe I’m the first to reference this. Are none of you old enough to remember when they were trying to push Tom Selleck as a movie star?) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/28 "2016-07-08T21:02:20Z")
As to the robot being destroyed by the bomb it delivered, the military has used directional mines such as the Vietnam-era Claymore. > **[Claymore mine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M18_Claymore_mine)** > > The Claymore mine is a directional anti-personnel mine developed for the United States Armed Forces. Its inventor, Norman MacLeod, named the mine after a large medieval Scottish sword. Unlike a conventional land mine, the Claymore is command-detonated and directional, meaning it is fired by remote-control and shoots a wide pattern of metal balls into the kill zone. The Claymore can also be victim-activated by booby-trapping it with a tripwire firing system for use in area denial operations. > The ... ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/29 "2016-07-08T21:06:12Z")
[Verge article](http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/8/12129348/dallas-shooting-bomb-robot) on the use of the robot as a killing device by law enforcement, which is believed to be a first in the US. They have been used in similar ways in Iraq by US forces. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/30 "2016-07-08T21:52:37Z")
The Dallas PD has cell phones with plastic explosives in them _on hand_? That is damn frightening. It doesn’t seem as though they would admit it; they could never use it again. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/31 "2016-07-08T22:16:00Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Where did they get a bomb on short notice? Really? Go to a local fireworks store. Purchase large fireworks. They’re full of gunpowder. Wire them up together and you have a quick-made bomb. Could probably cobble together something with gasoline (also widely available everywhere) and a remote detonator. The bomb squad guys know a lot about bombs to do their jobs, I’m sure that if they don’t have one lying around they could put one together in fairly short order if needed. Also, explosives do have some industrial uses, it’s possible they contacted a demolition company for some supplies. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/32 "2016-07-09T00:08:08Z")
I don’t think you can kill someone with firecracker gunpowder. Piss them off, annoy them, surely. What is this story about the robot taking a cell phone filled with explosives to the guy? ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/33 "2016-07-09T00:42:25Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Really? > > Go to a local fireworks store. Purchase large fireworks. They’re full of gunpowder. Wire them up together and you have a quick-made bomb. Could probably cobble together something with gasoline (also widely available everywhere) and a remote detonator. The bomb squad guys know a lot about bombs to do their jobs, I’m sure that if they don’t have one lying around they could put one together in fairly short order if needed. > > Also, explosives do have some industrial uses, it’s possible they contacted a demolition company for some supplies. Instead of fireworks, you could just buy reloading powder, but I bet a large city bomb squad has explosives. The way they neutralize suspicious packages is to put them in a bomb containment barrel and set a charge off on top of it. That said, looks like they could have hit him with a huge shot of tear gas and effectively disabled him. I guess they might have thought he’d still come out shooting. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/34 "2016-07-09T00:47:02Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t think you can kill someone with firecracker gunpowder. Piss them off, annoy them, surely. Missed edit. Firecracker gunpowder is what the Tsarnaevs used in Boston, IIRC. Even then, seems like somebody gets killed nearly yearly by fireworks. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/35 "2016-07-09T01:12:46Z")
As has been said, the bomb squad will have bombs available to blow up other bombs. It may have been on page 467 in the manual, or quick thinking on the bomb squad. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/36 "2016-07-09T02:55:10Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > We’re sending in a pizza…BOOM! You jest, but in a serious application of Pizza delivered by a robot, the results were amazing: > **[Bomb Squad Robot Delivers Pizza, Saves A Man's Life](https://www.popsci.com/police-robot-delivers-pizza-saves-man/)** > > Disarming the situation > [@](#): > > April 17, 2015 > > Sometimes, a kind hand holding out a pizza is enough, even if that hand is attached to the mechanical arm of a bomb squad robot. On Monday, California Highway Patrol responded to a man standing with a knife on a San Jose highway overpass. > [@](#): > > Once it became clear to police that the man was armed and at risk, rather than confront him with officers they sent out a robot with a phone and a pizza. > > … > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > [Because] delivering food is a way of encouraging someone to do something we want them to do, we sent pizza with phone. We [instructed the subject] that if he wanted the pizza released, to pick up the phone. The robot was holding the pizza, it released the pizza once the subject picked up phone to talk to negotiators. > > > > ``` > > It took several hours for the robot to get there, but about an hour after the robot (and the pizza) arrived, the man dropped his knife and calmly walked away from the overpass. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/37 "2016-07-09T06:27:09Z")
The first thing I thought of was the [1985 MOVE bombing](http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2015/05/13/406243272/im-from-philly-30-years-later-im-still-trying-to-make-sense-of-the-move-bombing) in Philadelphia, which I learned about here on the Dope some years ago. That involved a bomb dropped from a (presumably non-robotic) state police helicopter in a residential area, killing 11 people and starting a fire that destroyed 61 houses. At least the Dallas explosion took place in a parking garage, with a much lower chance of collateral damage. There might not have been any better options if the suspect was in a highly defensible spot and threatening to kill other people with his own bombs, but the whole thing is incredibly surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2016, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/38 "2016-07-09T12:09:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t think you can kill someone with firecracker gunpowder. Piss them off, annoy them, surely. Sure you can - people have even done it accidently. The bigger the firecracker the more dangerous it is. But, as noted, bomb squads typically have small charges for controlled detonations so it might have been one of those. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2016, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/39 "2016-07-10T07:50:51Z")
If Dallas PD did NOT have a remote-controlled bomb (such as the US Army uses) when the shooting started, I’m guessing it took less than an hour from “Hey Army! Dallas PD Here -we have a situation - could you loan us…” to delivery of the device to the shooter’s location. Maybe another 30 minutes to get it into position. PD’s now have tanks, sniper rifles (real ones) and gawd knows what other military gear. Remote anti-personnel mines are well within the Arming of Your Town’s PD scope. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385/40 "2016-07-10T11:58:01Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > If Dallas PD did NOT have a remote-controlled bomb (such as the US Army uses) when the shooting started, I’m guessing it took less than an hour from “Hey Army! Dallas PD Here -we have a situation - could you loan us…” to delivery of the device to the shooter’s location. Like Clint Eastwood and his USAF jet in _Tarantula._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remote-controlled-rc-bombs-for-domestic-law-enforcement-use/759385.md?page=3)