Ollie McSweeney, Treasurer of The State Times
The United States immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend up to $2 million dollars on “Spot” robot dogs made by Boston Dynamics to support law enforcement and border control operations. These units are able to open doors, have 360-degree cameras, and can detect gasses and chemicals. They also have an extendable arm. A DHS (Department of Homeland Security) Agent informed NBC News that the robots will allegedly not be used to make any arrests.
Similar technology is already being used in several police departments across the United States and Canada. They were also famously seen at Trump’s 17-acre Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida in November of 2024. They are currently being used to search premises for bombs and survey dangerous, high-risk locations. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office already has a SPOT unit. The robot is controlled manually and remotely by an officer using a tablet pad that shows camera footage. The officer can speak through the unit, use it to retrieve objects with the aforementioned extendable arm, and identify hazardous materials.
The announcement to purchase SPOT units comes shortly after ICE’s decision to use electric shock G.L.O.V.E. ‘s (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter). There has already been one death linked to the usage of these gloves. In 2024, a 43-year-old man was killed in custody after being shocked 27 times by an officer using G.L.O.V.E.’s, and around 13 times with a taser. The G.L.O.V.E. ‘s have a 15-second shock limit, but this man was shocked between 45 and 99 seconds. The G.L.O.V.E’s have a maximum voltage of up to 380 volts.
Leave a Reply