RoboCop joins Dubai police to fight real life crime

This story is not about the 1987 American cyberpunk action film, no this is the real thing and it is happening, if not on the streets near you, unless of course you live in Dubai. As the many avid aficionados’ of the film with recall, the plot is set in crime ridden Detroit in the future, and RoboCop centres on police officer Alex Murphy who is murdered by a gang of criminals and subsequently revived by the megacorporation Omni Consumer Products (OCP) as a superhuman cyborg law enforcer known as RoboCop. The film received rave reviews and was cited as one of the best films of 1987, it was followed by two sequels, a television series, a remake, two animated TV series, a television mini-series, video games, and a number of comic book adaptations and crossovers.

The real thing in Dubai can help identify wanted criminals and collect evidence and is the latest recruit to the Dubai police service. The robot policeman will patrol busy areas in the city, as part of a government programme aimed at replacing some human crime-fighters with machines. Now although the Dubai “RoboCop” is clad in colours of the Dubai Police uniform, there is no mistaking that it still looks like a robot. But, do not be taken in by that, it can shake hands, salute in military style, can read vehicle licence plates, is equipped with cameras and facial recognition software and its video feed can help police watch for risks such as unattended bags in popular areas of Dubai, which is of course a financial and tourism hub.