Police in Ariz. Seek Monkey for SWAT Team

[Martrae]

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.

[Diekan]

Now THAT is a stupid idea.... isn't that same place the "Univeristy of Phoenix" is from? lol

[labbats]

I will only support this if it looks like a peanut.

[Guntaag Gorefeast]

Dressed in a Kevlar vest

heh.

3-8 pounds vs a bullet. Poor monkey

[Treehorn]

They should wire the monkey's brain for remote control, like in The Fifth Element.. except that was a cockroach... Obviously, we'll need to pour more federal funding into this project. If we don't, the terrorists will win!

[Tikker]

heh, I think it's actually an awesome idea


I mean, it's not like law enforcement agencies don't use dogs already, so why not a monkey?

they should totally teach the monkey how to use a knife, or a small gun tho

cause that would be cool~

[kaharthemad]

ime telling..it is the first step towards the planet of the apes.

[Captain Insano]

hahahahaha.... i've been laughing out loud for the last 30 seconds picturing a little monkey in a swat get-up with a little mini shotgun running around.

[Mop]

I think you peoples are missing what they mean, it is not persay a monkey like in the jungle, but a monkey like a korean is a monkey.

it's asically a really short asian guy

[kaharthemad]

If it is bad they will spank it