BBQ-smoker-turned-'Robocop' chases off drug dealers

[The Straight Story]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- It's midnight on the streets of Atlanta, and bar owner Rufus Terrill patrols his neighborhood with a rolling crime fighter of his own creation. Meet "Bum-bot," as Terrill describes it; others in his neighborhood call it simply,

This former BBQ smoker is armed with a water gun to chase off bums and drug dealers in downtown Atlanta.

It's a barbecue smoker mounted on a three-wheeled scooter, and armed with an infrared camera, spotlight, loudspeaker and aluminum water cannon that shoots a stream of icy water about 20 feet.

Operated by remote control, the robot spotlights trespassers on property down the street from his bar, O'Terrill's. Using a walkie-talkie, Terrill belts out through the robot's loudspeaker, "That's private property. You guys need to get out of here."

Terrill is chasing out unsavory-looking characters from a street corner that resembles a drug dealer's dream at night. More than 20 suspicious people were seen huddling in the dark in the front driveway and side parking lot on this night. Some were seen openly making drug deals. Video Watch "Bum-bot" in action »

But during the day, it's where young children frolic on a nearby playground at a the Beacon of Light Daycare Center in downtown Atlanta. It has become a nightmare for day care operator Lydia Meredith.

"This whole square is enveloped with homeless people and drug dealers, defecating, urinating, prostituting -- the whole nine yards. And the overflow of that behavior, we get to cleanup every morning," she says.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/03/06/bum.bot/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. "unsavory-looking characters"

Hmm.

[ret5hd]

2. Being homeless is a crime now.

[The Straight Story]

3. Sad but true (nt)

[kestrel91316]

4. Yeah. You know - the ones that look like they haven't had a bath in 5 years -

because they HAVEN'T had a bath in 5 years.......

We've got more than our fair share of them around these parts....

[proud patriot]

5. hmmm

I can see both sides .

I work at a preschool and it's a real bummer when
teenagers etc. leave dangerous things around .

I walk the yard in the morning and have found awful
things . I can't imagine a having that experience
daily . :puke:

I don't like it used on the homeless though. :(

[angrycarpenter]

6. I would bet anything

that the water gun is easily removable and that somewhere there is a sub-machine gun that fits in its place.