I’m all for police receiving the tools they need to make their jobs safer and more effective. I also think they should be made to look formidable, menacing even, when necessary. These Street Smart Police Units, however, or modified Segways, kind of make them look like geeks on wheels. Were I a hardened criminal, I’d likely get caught as I was rolling on the ground, laughing myself to tears. Of course, that could be the idea, but I sort of doubt it.

Vortex’s VRAM Mobile Robot Platform (VMRP) machine can scale walls and look into your window. Aimed at law enforcement tasks, military missions, and perhaps a few sickos, this remote controlled gizmo can suction itself to vertical surfaces. Check the video at Ohgizmo.

Tasers emit sparks, at least some of them do. Remember that fact as you read this.

Juan Flores Lopez, 47, had poured gasoline all over himself after threatening to burn himself and his house down. His wife naturally wanted him out of there.

Police used pepper spray to try and subdue the man, but it did not work. Then they tried a taser and the man got what he wanted – fire. He died at a hospital in Texas.

Two of his sons who live nearby said their father had been threatening for months to burn himself and his house. His wife was seeking a divorce and he did not want to have to leave the house, the sons said.