Most criminals would be deterred from robbing a liquor store that has cameras that feature a drop down gun that's manned at the other end by a trained police officer.
But if they weren't, that 9-11 call or hitting of an alarm button would result in an armed police presence within seconds.
In addition to a firearm, less than deadly escalation of force devices such as mace or stun guns could be deployed.
I think the cop's aim would be better since he wouldn't be having to worry about getting shot. He could just aim and fire without having to take cover.
Again, guns would have to be hidden away deploying on command since aiming a loaded gun at all your customers is bad for business.
Here's another thought. This system lends itself to constant training and drills via virtual simulations. The remote marksmen on the other end would be specialists in remote weapon firing not having to do anything else like patrolling, breaking up bar fights, arresting people etc. I would think this would be a lot safer than having an armed guard on the premises who would spend most of their time trying to stay awake. These remote sentries could protect thousands of locations while being constantly run through drills and training to prepare for actual armed robbery situations.-- doctorremulac3, May 06 2014 Gorgon stare reverse engineered http://www.goldengr...tross-Concrete.htmlStross [not_morrison_rm, May 06 2014] Jump forward to 4:13 https://www.youtube...watch?v=vaTe8PW9PVwWhat happens when you allow humans to "monitor" other humans. [doctorremulac3, May 11 2014] Killer robots http://www.bbc.com/...technology-27343076No need to worry, the UN is on the case. [doctorremulac3, May 12 2014] You want to live in a world where this things are ubiquitous?
I think I like more permissive carry laws better.
Would you want to be one of these coin operated snipers for a living?-- normzone, May 06 2014 Not really.
Agreed.
Probably not.
Like the term "coin-op-sniper" though.-- doctorremulac3, May 06 2014 Sort of done in fiction - Charles Stross "The Concrete Jungle which is a subsection of the The Atrocity Archives...they reverse engineer the gorgon transmutation onto chips that are placed in all of the cctv cameras...which is great until hacks the network. Linky.-- not_morrison_rm, May 06 2014 //I think I like more permissive carry laws better.//
Depending on the implementation, these cameras would be safer. I mean, I only want guns because many crazy people want guns.
With sufficiently good software, the unreliable human element could be removed from this system.-- sninctown, May 11 2014 How about security cameras that feature an electric cattle prod to prevent police from looking at them except when absolutely necessary thus minimizing the constant surveillance of innocent people.-- terryo, May 11 2014 There's a great episode of one of my favorite shows: "Penn & Tellers's Bullshit" where they set up a fake government surveillance van, hire some people to watch monitors aimed at a house where supposedly terrorists live and secretly film what they do. Their job is to call in when the "terrorist" drives the car away from the house, presumably with a bomb that he's going to blow up someplace.
Then they hire a buxom actress to go to the house next door and tell the guy (another actor) that she needs to have sex with him right now. (the camera was also fitted with directional microphones so the subject can hear this) So the test subjects can either do their job and watch the terrorist's car, or pan the camera over to peep in on the hot sexy action next door.
I won't insult your intelligence by telling you what most of the test subjects did. (see link)
Anyway, the idea is these cameras would only be activated when you call 911. Also, like any law enforcement tool, there should be strict regulations as to their use and harsh penalties for their misuse.
But hey, I'm not sure I'm sold on this idea myself yet, but the upside, an immediate armed police presence on the premises seconds after dialing 911 is intriguing.
The first step towards having remote controlled enforcement drones like ED 209, which is a great idea as long as they're not autonomous.
I support Asimov's (I think it's Asimov's) rules of robotics, that robots should never be allowed to autonomously kill people. Not sure you can do anything about it, but it's a really bad idea.-- doctorremulac3, May 11 2014 This idea is so bad I won't even-- normzone, May 11 2014 //I think I like more permissive carry laws better.//
Hmm, we combine the two, everyone who wants a gun gets one of these "Armed Security Camera" and they have to carry them around....limiting factors would be the length of tv cable and only being available in 1980's incredibly heavy video camera format....
Next problem please.-- not_morrison_rm, May 12 2014 //Next problem please.//
Legalized graft in America.-- Voice, May 12 2014 Baked. Next?-- normzone, May 12 2014 //coin operated sniper// [marked-for-posting]-- FlyingToaster, May 12 2014 //I support Asimov's (I think it's Asimov's) rules of robotics, that robots should never be allowed to autonomously kill people.//
I love how people who quote Asimov's Laws of Robotics have obviously never read Asimov, since virtually every story in which the Laws were brought up was about robots finding creative ways to circumvent them.-- ytk, May 12 2014 ^ which of course led to the 4th Law of Robotics:
"Don't be a smartass about Laws 1 through 3"-- FlyingToaster, May 12 2014 If this were a good idea, a better idea would be to fly a fleet armed police drones around the city, meaning you could direct fire at an incident within seconds of it being called in. Of course, there would be the occasional false-positive, but that's the nature of policing, and it'd certainly make people think twice before acting in ways identified in the Prohibited Behaviours Catalogue - just imagine the friendly leaflets "Your area has been chosen to be included in armed drone trials. For your safety, please read and take note of the following information.".-- Zeuxis, May 12 2014 //I love how people who quote Asimov's Laws of Robotics have obviously never read Asimov, since virtually every story in which the Laws were brought up was about robots finding creative ways to circumvent them.//
Asimov's three laws are:
"A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law." Isaac Asimov
So anybody who accurately quotes Asimov has obviously never read Asimov?
Anyway, timely. The UN is hosting a discussion of just this topic. See link.-- doctorremulac3, May 12 2014 Copies of those Laws are going to be pretty inconvenient to have laying about when robots become sentient.-- the porpoise, May 12 2014 I respectfully disagree with the bone-storm. I think this could be a force multiplier for a stretched thin police force. Especially if it were paid for by the places using it.
Although, on second thought, the biggest problem just occurred to me that nobody's mentioned yet.
Terrorist hackers could hack in and kill everybody in the store from miles, even continents away.
I'll leave the idea up to preserve the discussion, but that's the deal breaker for me.-- doctorremulac3, May 12 2014 [doctorremulac3], I'm going to go out on a limb here and venture that you play video games, but do not target practice with firearms or train as regards shoot/don't shoot situations.
Because I see no evidence here that you're concerned about the path the bullet takes after it passes through your target. Or that path it takes if the shooter misses the target.
I see no evidence of concern for bystanders.
I see no mechanism for the coin-op sniper to decide whether shooting is necessary and justified, or whether the store owner is grumpy and just wants to scare off a customer who's making trouble.
Sounds like a video game to me.-- normzone, May 12 2014 //I'm going to go out on a limb here and venture that you play video games, but do not target practice with firearms or train as regards shoot/don't shoot situations.//
Got that one backwards.
While I see a problem with hackers getting into the system and causing havoc, a bullet shot remotely has the same penetration and associated risk to people behind the target as a bullet shot by a person holding a gun. Less maybe since the bullet is being fired from a high angle downwards where a cop with a gun is firing on the same plane as the innocent bystanders.
But the thing would have to be hack proof and that isn't an easy thing to do. Other than that, I don't see any real problem as this is just a simple, remote controlled law enforcement droid.-- doctorremulac3, May 12 2014 Hmm, about about a drone that drops guided anvils? No danger of bullets whizzing around in horizontal plane.
Anyway, my point was that citizens would be allowed to bear arms, just extremely bulky and heavy to carry ones that are linked into the Police network.
You are locked out of firing the gun yourself, someone in the Police office does the firing. You press the red button, the cop looks through the camera, assesses the situation, and fires, or not.-- not_morrison_rm, May 13 2014 // about about a drone that drops guided anvils //
Acme brand anvils, obviously.-- AbsintheWithoutLeave, May 13 2014 //You are locked out of firing the gun yourself, someone in the Police office does the firing. You press the red button, the cop looks through the camera, assesses the situation, and fires, or not.//
Despite this bonestorm, I think this line of thinking should be explored. We have remote cameras going to police stations, some thought should be given to giving the officers some remote control tools to do something besides just gathering evidence of the crime for use after it's happened.
Maybe not this, but the general idea isn't without possibilities. We do need to ease into robotic law enforcement at some point. I suggest small, careful steps to avoid any ED 209 scenarios.-- doctorremulac3, May 13 2014 What if the weapon was loaded with tranquilizer darts?-- Vernon, May 13 2014 You mean so you can sedate the person being robbed to lessen the stress of the experience? Not a bad idea.
Which reminds me of the standard joke I make when I'm getting a checkup and have both a doctor and a nurse in the room. (using my "doctor voice") "Nurse, bring me 10ccs of fentanyl, STAT! And get something for the patient too!"
It's a classic, but it still gets forced polite smiles from the medical staff.-- doctorremulac3, May 13 2014 [marked-for-tagline]
" Despite this bonestorm, I think this line of thinking should be explored "-- normzone, May 13 2014 "If you don't think powerful tools won't be abused 90% of the time, just look down at your crotch area."-- sophocles, May 13 2014 This is a great scifi premise. Really awesome. Two bored guys in a room supervise many of these things, which are stationed in various places around a large metro area. Then when the crisis hits (gas bomb attack? chaos!) the two of them have their sentinels trundle out of the bars and bodegas and into the streets to help. I imagine the guys having a hard time coordinating the actions of many of these things at once, and using them in unorthodox ways.
"You're not supposed to take it out of the store." "But he grabbed that kid! We've got to do something!" "How are you going to open the door? Its got no hands."
The streetside display window exploded outward in a shower of plate glass, starphone adverts and small pieces of candy. There was a pause, and then the sentinel lurched through the hole, landing facedown on the sidewalk.
I envision a big barrel chested sentinel covered with promotional stickers with a naked mannikin on one arm. It steps out of the saloon and into the path of an armored vehicle.
The sentinels are clunky and poorly maintained. They have a severely limited range of possible actions. They are almost jokes. They become heroes.-- bungston, May 13 2014 //"If you don't think powerful tools won't be abused 90% of the time, just look down at your crotch area."//
Now right there. THAT'S the kind of low brow, knuckle dragging humor that permeates the internet these days.
Which is why I surf the internet.-- doctorremulac3, May 13 2014 [bungston], you should go over the the movie idea category and follow up on that anno. Link back to this one in acknowledgement.
You start it and we'll help you flesh out the story. I'll get started thinking about casting.
Yeah, in the neighborhoods where these things would be marketable you know they'd be abused with energy drink stickers.
I picture something like those low budget ATMs you see in liquor stores and restaurants that have turned avoiding transaction fees into a revenue stream by passing them on to the customer.
With some kind of ubiquitous logo (SMARTGUN, LONGARM,SAFESECURE) that everybody knows really means "Freeze, essuckah!".-- normzone, May 13 2014 random, halfbakery