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Potato-VS- Registered User
Joined: 16 Jul 2002 Location: Ontario Canada Posts: 1562
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:16 pm Post subject: The Next Generation of Counter-Terrorism Personnel |
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Quote: | Police in Ariz. Seek Monkey for SWAT Team
Apr 18, 10:12 PM (ET)
MESA, Ariz. (AP) - The Mesa Police Department is looking to add some primal instinct to its SWAT team. And to do that, it's looking to a monkey.
"Everybody laughs about it until they really start thinking about it," said Mesa Officer Sean Truelove, who builds and operates tactical robots for the suburban Phoenix SWAT team. "It would change the way we do business."
Truelove is spearheading the department's request to purchase and train a capuchin monkey, considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee. The department is seeking about $100,000 in federal grant money to put the idea to use in Mesa SWAT operations.
The monkey, which costs $15,000, is what Truelove envisions as the ultimate SWAT reconnaissance tool.
Since 1979, capuchin monkeys have been trained to be companions for people who are quadriplegics by performing daily tasks, such as serving food, opening and closing doors, turning lights on and off, retrieving objects and brushing hair.
Truelove hopes the same training could prepare a monkey for special-ops intelligence.
Weighing only 3 to 8 pounds with tiny humanlike hands and puzzle-solving skills, Truelove said it could unlock doors, search buildings and find suicide victims on command. Dressed in a Kevlar vest, video camera and two-way radio, the small monkey would be able to get into places no officer or robot could go.
It has been a little over a year since Truelove filed a grant proposal with the U.S. Department of Defense under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and he is still waiting for word.
If the grant goes through, Truelove plans on learning how to train the monkey himself and keeping the sociable monkey at home, just like a K-9 officer would. He projects that $85,000 in grant money would outfit the monkey with gear and pay for veterinarian care, food and habitat for three years |
Wow, this is amazing! The only real reason why I could see it as working is because the bad guys might fall over laughing when they see a monkey walking towards them in tactical gear... |
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Easy Target Registered User
Joined: 29 Aug 2004 Location: 3-R, Qc, CA Guild:TVR Posts: 741
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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After the "potato masher", the "bananade"? _________________
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shovelnose Ville Supporter
Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Location: Pittsburgh Guild:{SS}U$-V Posts: 1225
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Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 5:45 pm Post subject: |
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i think thats an awesome idea.
GOOOOOOOO MONKEY! _________________
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Mike Registered User
Joined: 23 Nov 2003 Location: New Jersey Posts: 1759
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:42 pm Post subject: |
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they could have a net ladder with a wieght on the end for the monkey to climb up to high places with. it could also move thru vents fast. they just need a remote controlled, shoulder mounted gun on the monkey _________________ R.I.P. Blue |
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EvilGenius Ville Supporter
Joined: 09 Mar 2004
Posts: 394
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Posted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 3:59 pm Post subject: |
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I need to write a grant to get me a Trunk Monkey. To protect and serve... ME! _________________ -EvilGenius V$^PK
John Doe wrote: | Normally I lock spam threads...but this one is still one page....I may check on it later...... |
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Stevo Ville Supporter
Joined: 08 Dec 2002 Location: Orange County Guild: TVR Posts: 9514
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