20 AMERICAN POLICE BEAT: SEPTEMBER 2017 particularly like the dem- onstrations from SWAT teams and K-9 units. “There’s no better way to connect with youngsters than to show them what you do,” Lt. Ron Ritter, who leads Evesham’s Ju- nior Police Academy, told the Burlington County Times. “They come in looking a little sheepish and scared, but by lunchtime the first day, they’re all buds,” he said. Kids get to spend a whole week learning about poly- graph tests, active shooters, and investigating car ac- cidents. Each junior officer wears a uniform made up of a shirt, shorts and hat. Some kids refuse to take the stuff off after the course wraps up. “Even after they leave here, they still want to be a part of us,” Ritter said. Part of the plan is to mini- mize negative feelings or perceptions that kids might have about police. “We don’t get calls say- ing, ‘My kid got straight A’s,’ ” he said. “We’re there for the bad things, but it’s to help you through the bad things.” Burlington County Sher- iff Jean Stanfield, whose office oversees a county youth academy offered two to three times per year, says these kinds of camps are useful as far as reinforcing positive attitudes toward police. “They’re getting to see law enforcement officers as people that they can go to if they have a problem,” Stanfield said. The image above is a different kid’s cop camp than the one in the article. Continued from page one Kids loving cop camp! “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” I f you read American Police Beat, you heard it here first, or maybe second or 89th but the point is you saw the thing about the security robot being “assaulted.” Actually it was just tipped over and exposed as a gim- mick and a way to lay off humans. But now it appears we have the first confirmed case of security robot sui- cide. A Knightscope security robot that was “on patrol,” near the Georgetown Wa- terfront, a ritzy shopping and office complex along the Washington Harbour in D.C. Maybe the egg-shaped gadget was upset about his robot buddy from the “assault” story. Maybe it felt like it was getting hammered by all those “Robots are going to put you out of work” headlines in the drive-by media/fake news facto- ries. But for whatever rea- son (read: technical error 8553: right-turn program not found) the bot rolled itself into a fountain and drowned itself. But just because a small child can tip one of these goofy robots over with one hand and some of the mod- els appear to be suicidal, Maybe these security robots just need their own counselors don’t expect those things to slow down sales. Not only are they a big hit with tourists and the elderly, these things are cheap – at least if you rent them. The security robot can be rented for $7 per hour, which is 25 cents less than the federal minimum wage. Uber, always looking to make a buck, uses it to patrol some parking lots. Oh yeah, one of these thingies also knocked down and ran over a 16- month-old boy once. It’s unclear if the predic- tive policing software that may or may not come with the fully loaded option determined that the infant was a threat. But again, these things don’t take meal or bath- room breaks and there’s no union for robots so they’re likely to be increasingly popular to those looking to cut costs. – Frederick Douglass t
)PTUBHF
/FHPUJBUJPOT t
.PCJMF
$PNNBOE t
.PCJMF
1SFDJODUT t
5SBJOJOH
$FOUFST t
%6*
5FTUJOH