February 26, 2008
Clever but illegal
Robo-vigilantes are a unique solution to the problem of "undesirables" congregating near one's property, but regardless of the results or intent, this sort of thing is illegal. I kind of wish it wasn't, but hosing people down to make them go away when you aren't the cops is clearly an assault.
The police power is an aspect of sovereign authority, and as such any attempt by persons who are not agents of the sovereign to exercise any kind of police power will usually be illegal. Security systems are one thing, but this isn't that. The fact that the locals call the thing the "bum-bot" shows what's really going on here: the property owners don't like the homeless. It's hard to blame them for that, but homeless people are allowed to exist, and they have to do that somewhere.
