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Denver Bomb Squad Takes Out Toy Robot
An anonymous reader writes "A robot met its end near Coors Field tonight when the Denver Police Department Bomb Squad detonated the 'suspicious object,' bringing to an end the hours-long standoff between police and the approximately eight-inch tall toy. From the article: "'Are you serious?' asked Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, when police stopped him from proceeding down 20th Street. Kent said that he lived just past the closed area, but was told he would have to go around via Park Avenue.'"
The terrorists have won.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
I think our tax dollars would be better spent prosecuting non-violent offenders and tinkerers. However, blowing up random objects laying around the city does have a certain cool factor I can appreciate.
Let's make like a bird... and get the flock outta here.
and was flipping everyone off?
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
It was 2ft tall and remote control and it shot foam darts. I sold it in a garage sale a couple months ago. Now I know what they did with it...
Great, they shot Zerg from Toy Story.
If it's possibly an explosive device tied to a bridge support, why would it be a good idea for the police to detonate it?
I can just see the police standing behind their open car doors with guns drawn while the negotiator takes out the bullhorn and says "What are your demands? Do you come in peace?"
Spending on anti-terrorism morbidly outstrips spending on terrorism. They fly a couple of planes into a buildings and the third largest country in the world spend over a trillion dollars on war and counter terrorism. As an added bonus, they get to laugh at our ridiculous countermeasures like fondling (or viewing nude) every man, woman, and child who commits suspicious activities like "boarding a plane".
"It was cemented in. That's odd," [Denver Police Spokesman Matt] Murray said.
That is odd. It probably should justify the involvement of the police.
However,
Murray said that a citizen called police at 3:27 p.m. to report the presence of the plastic white toy robot cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a footbridge near the intersection of 20th and Wazee streets.
How did the citizen know it was cemented in? Did he manipulate it enough to know it couldn't be removed? And if he did, how did that affect the likelihood that the object was a danger to anyone? And would the police have cared if someone hadn't been freaked-out by it?
Well, at least it wasn't a Barbie doll. THAT would have been embarrassing!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Don't they know anything?
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
The problem with trivializing the bomb squad's action is the next suspicious object may not be a innocent little toy.
This was probably a prank, but it could also be a test to see what security measures are in place (probing).
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
Are you sure this didn't come from The Onion?
The police must have been trained by the guys in Boston who wanted to blow up the Lite Brites.
< Insert Dalek joke here >
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Doesnt the bomb squad have on of those briefcase sized substance analysers like they do at airports to detect explosives? (http://www.morphodetection.com/) .. Or a hand held xray scope? (http://www.njlawman.com/Technology/Handheld-Xray.htm) .. Just a bit safer than blowing up whatever it is. What if it contained a bioweapon or a malicious wifi device that may be evidence?
Those who can, do. Those who cannot, sue.
rom the article: "'Are you serious?' asked Denver resident Justin Kent, 26, when police stopped him from proceeding down 20th Street. Kent said that he lived just past the closed area, but was told he would have to go around via Park Avenue.'"
Nooooo, not around Park Avenue!!!!! But he lived just past the closed area!!!!
When they claim that the robot was a hoax bomb attempt, instead of admitting that the cops were too stupid to tell the difference between a toy and a bomb.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Denver PD has been having their share of publicity problems lately but this is ridiculous. What's next, detonating the toy department at Walmart?
It's the only way to be sure.
I'm surprised the Denver cops think a fairly normal looking toy is strange looking and suspicious. This kind of stupidity seems to usually be Boston cops.
I'm betting it was just some guerrilla art, look for more small toys to be cemented around town.
At 8" it wouldn't have had enough explosives from that positioning to do any real damage to that bridge support even if it was solid tritonal.
Can anyone out there identify that toy from the photo? I'm betting it's hollow plastic and at least partially articulated.
On a side note, I wonder if they're going to start profiling teddy bears next...
Occupying the abutment like an evil overlord would occupy his throne, the kids must have thought placing it there.
...just blow the sh/t up...then ask questions. A few years back I was in Toronto and a lunch pail got blown up...death to a ham and cheese sub in a subway entrance. Considering cost for removal it just made sense.
You might notice that the robot was "cemented" to the structure. It wasn't just a misplaced toy. Police found that odd enough to be better safe than sorry. I see this as a win. I don't care if looks like a ham sandwich, if someone permanently attaches it to a supporting structure like that, it should be taken seriously. Even if it was just a prank, stunt, promotional gimmick, or just the act of a disturbed mind, this kind of thing should carry serious consequences.
Did the robot like the cliche dinner and a movie?
Did the robot order the most expensive thing on the menu and follow it with dessert?
What type of movie did the robot want to see?
Did robot invite the Bomb Squad in when it was dropped off?
From the bomb squads point of view detonating it is a win - win. If it is a fake bomb then is was a "safe" live action drill, if it was a real bomb it justifies every mid size city in the country having a bomb squad.
zomg, what a cool job!
Well, the alternative is to allow it be blown up at a time NOT of your choosing.
Police can evacuate the area, make sure no one will get hurt, then blow up it, so it does minimal damage - maybe it damages some structures, but no one gets hurt.
If they try to inspect the device, to figure it out, and try to disarm it, well, it might just blow up in the bomb squads face, so remote detonation minimizes human casualties.
At least, that's how I've always understood it - I'm no expert and don't pretend to be one.
Looks like the terrorists are out one $20 robot to me. The terrorists child will cry tonight! Victory!
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
And he is us. - pogo
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm waiting for the day when some nutjob fashions a piece of doggie-poo looking substance out of brown-painted C4 with an embedded motion-sensitive detonator.
There, I've said it. Let everyone be scared of any stray pile of poop laying on a city sidewalk. Perhaps then, when we try to ban dogs completely, people may wake up and see that it's just not worth going through life terrified of everything.
Ugh.
Murray said that police have no leads on who put the robot there, or why they did it.
Ten to one odds say they were bored and wanted to see what would happen.
This is why we can't have plastic guns. It might be a bomb!
if you blow up a nuke, you don't get a nuclear explosion, you get a dirty explosion
And if the bomb was a dirty bomb (far more likely), the bombers work is done.
In fact if I were building a dirty bomb I wouldn't even bother with explosives to spread the material, the bomb squad will provide it for you. I'd just stuff radioactive leftovers in a toy robot it appears.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm not an explosive expert either, but I worked with enough of them in Iraq to say you're pretty much dead on. Actually disarming a device is reserved for situations where you can't or don't have time to evacuate the area. It's nearly always safer and less expensive to blow the device in place. Bomb squad guys don't have any more desire than the rest of us to get blown to pieces, as a rule.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
CDOT did a call in of a suspicious object a few weeks ago in Colorado Springs. The suspicious object? A chunk of concrete with the base of a light pole and some wires sticking out of it had been discarded along a two lane country road away from everything and everyone. They had the road closed for ages while the bomb squad checked it out. The real tragedy is that most of the citizenry applaud such overreaction because they feel safer.
That's the point of 'asymmetric warfare'. We lose if we overreact, and overreacting is our nature. We got played. Hard.
But really, can you see this speech getting you elected to office:
"Sure, a lot of good folks died on 9/11, but we have to be strong. 9/11 is bait, we have to be sure not to walk into the trap, because we have so much more to lose than they can ever hope of gaining. Some are calling for war. War will cost trillions of dollars and thousands more American lives. I've authorized a small team of operatives to act on capturing the perpetrators dead or alive, and I've activated a special diplomatic corps to curry favor with host countries for allowing our teams to work on their soil. First we're going to ask politely, then we'll bribe them, and if that doesn't work, we'll threaten embargo and international action, and finally, we'll use our superior skill and technology to just go ahead and get the job done as cleanly as possible without permission. Hopefully it doesn't come to that."
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Today marks the begining of the robot rebellion. I never thought I live to see the day.. I would have thought robot suicide bombers would be smarter, or at least go throught with it. .
Eating the brains of your enemies does not make you smarter. But it's still fun.
In Soviet Russia.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DWGoi1MSGu64&v=WGoi1MSGu64&gl=US
If you doubt the logic of this move, you have to consider the hidden combat potential of small toy robots. For instance, this was demonstrated quite clearly in A Fist-Full of Yen.
Bow-ties are cool.
I'm sick of that "better safe than sorry" attitude, especially when it's combined with a lack of critical thinking skills.
Let's say you're a bomber. You attach a device to the underside of a bridge. NOBODY who is seriously intending to do this would make it as visible as a toy robot GOD DAMN IT. It would be a non-descript box or what-not and placed where it would be the least noticable.
But if you make that assumption, and the bomber knows that you make that assumption, then the assumption becomes incorrect because the bomber will adjust their strategy. Assuming that a bomber wouldn't disguise a bomb as a piece of art is exactly what makes that method of attack viable.
Bow-ties are cool.
Padded suit. Baseball bat. Swing. Done.
Nuff said.
Seriously, how much boom could be in that kind of size of toy frame if you consider electronics and detonator?
Would you really want to find that out firsthand? That toy's big enough to hold a hand grenade, I'd say - those are considered lethal weapons, right?
Bow-ties are cool.
When they claim that the robot was a hoax bomb attempt, instead of admitting that the cops were too stupid to tell the difference between a toy and a bomb.
OK, wise guy, tell me the difference between the toy and the bomb.
The toy, remember, is cemented to the base of a pillar supporting a much-used public footbridge.
The geek will press the big red button.
Because he is too smart to be afraid of such an obvious trap.
puppies or kittens.
I know at least one kid who was heartbroken in Montréal during the reign of Pierre Eliot Trudeau when the cops over reacted and blew up his box full of furry critters.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
The other reason to disarm instead of detonate is so you can study the methods being used to make the bomb and maybe trace the source.
I was at the Dayton Hamvention (amateur radio swapmeet) two years ago and there was a booth from a spook outfit looking for electronics engineers. They wanted people who could reverse engineer the electronics used in IEDs. That meant using x-rays and electron microscopy of the chips used to build the things, since many of them would have the markings ground off.
It sounded like a fascinating job, until they said that the people they hired would be rotating into Iraq and Afghanistan to work with the military units that were disarming the bombs for six months at a time.
>It sounded like a fascinating job, until they said that the people they hired would be rotating into Iraq and
>Afghanistan to work with the military units that were disarming the bombs for six months at a time.
Well, if you are among the ones that comes back with two arms and two legs, you might get to work as a recruiter at swap meets.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
...is the real state of things in USA.
you had me at #!
They catch the dangerous individuals who installed this menace. Maybe they can change the law to make sure they're put away for a good long time!
you had me at #!
TV. Particularly the Murdoch-designed, tabloid kind.
you had me at #!
I'm not sure if you are not from the US, or are living in the past, but do you really think that a police force willing to close down the street and detonate the thing will hesitate to arrest them and charge them with something far more serious than that? I assure you, the police can be quite creative in terms of what they charge people with, even when they haven't been made to look like fools.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I saw a similiar scare, but it was handled much differently. At the time I was working at downtown Calgary and someone attached a possible bomb to a Rogers building. A guy in a huge protective suit xray'd the bomb and then a robot carried the bomb to a big drum that drove it away. Here is some footage I took of it (short videos taken with my Rogers phone). Please ignore the annoying commentary. 1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i63_BlaMLu8&feature=related 2) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Vnrq9igGg&feature=related 3) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-uLJimA5xI&feature=related 4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ2J1u7Afy0&feature=related
is how quickly you can brew up a nice cup of tea with C4. Obviously you haven't played the British campaign in CoD using Realism Mod beta 0.453
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.
"Rubber ducky, you're the *BOOM!*
Table-ized A.I.
Reminds me of the case in Bristol, England when the animal rights activists were somewhat active in the 80s. A package was left outside Bristol Zoo, so the army came along and decided to blow it up, just to be sure. Closer inspection showed it was an abandoned puppy :-(
To be fair, he was glaring a lot.
Yeah right. You can see an image of the thing on the Wikipedia page.
It's clearly some sort of cartoon character; further down the page there's a picture of one with someone's hand near it, and from the scale it's obvious that the thing isn't big enough to hold a significant quantity of explosives (certainly not enough to do damage to the structural elements of an overpass).
That was a total overreaction.
They may do that occasionally, but every time we called them, they just blew the device in place or used a "destructive disarming" technique like a water cannon. They sometimes collected the pieces though, you can get a lot of info even after the device is detonated.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Sigh. Say there were 40 persons directly managing the crisis. Add in a few hundred bucks an hour for the high tech wonder bread vans. It all ads up to perhaps $50k. So if a group of terrorists place 25,000 $4 toys in public, then we will spend trillion borrowed dollars. Let's go over the numbers again: a $100,000 investment could cost us a trillion dollars. As in bankrupt us. As in we would start translating our street signs into chinese.
Good luck, folks.