The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is working on a new policy that would allow the police to kill suspects using robots..This is a new milestone for law enforcement and its use of robots and machines.. Golden Gate Bridge .On Tuesday, the new robot policy will go before the San Francisco Board of Supervisors as part of a broader set of rules around the use of law enforcement equipment..The robots would “only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available.”.Other uses for the robots being considered include “training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessments.”.Currently, the SFPD has 17 robots, but only 12 are “functional.”.The robots are already used for disarming explosives, lifting heavy objects, hazardous materials detection, and reconnaissance..Until now, the robots policy does not specifically say whether they are permitted or prohibited for the SFPD..“SFPD does not have any sort of specific plan in place as the unusually dangerous or spontaneous operations where SFPDs need to deliver deadly force via robot would be a rare and exceptional circumstance,” said SFPD Officer Eve Laokwansathitaya..Oakland Police Department attempted to implement armed robots, but local officials prohibited armed robots after a public outcry.. Riot Police .Law enforcement agencies want to use robots to keep officers out of harm’s way and eliminate “bias” in policing..Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area attorney Tifanei Moyer said the robot policy is not standard practice and should be rejected..“We are living in a dystopian future, where we debate whether the police may use robots to execute citizens without a trial, jury, or judge,” said Moyer..American Civil Liberties Union analyst Jay Stanley said the “biggest concern” with using armed robots is the potential they “will be over-used.”.“As robots allow deadly force to be applied more easily and with less risk to police officers, and as they get cheaper and more commonplace, there is a risk that they will turn into yet another avenue for abusive behaviour by some in law enforcement,” wrote Stanley..Boston Dynamics, who makes robots for police forces, signed a pledge in October refusing to allow their robots to be “weaponized.”.“We believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated … raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues,” said Boston Dynamics in a statement..American police have only once used a robot to kill a person..In 2016, the Dallas Police Department killed a sniper with a robot mounted with a bomb after he shot five police officers in a protest and the DPD was unsuccessful in negotiating a peaceful solution in an hours-long standoff, according to Reuters.
