San Francisco officials have voted against allowing the police to kill suspects with robots. The reversal comes just a week after the supervisors gave law enforcement that right in extreme circumstances such as when there is a mass shooter or a terrorist.
San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors originally approved the policy authorizing the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to deploy remote-controlled, ground-based robots to use deadly force when there is an “imminent” risk to life and alternative measures to subdue the threat are not available.
Reversal after outcry: The board’s initial 8-3 approval of the deadly robot policy on November 29 triggered a wave of public outcry from community members and progressive supervisors.
District Supervisor Dean Preston, who had voted against the measure last week, supported the reversal. He told his colleagues that the public hadn’t been given enough time to voice their concerns. “The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city,” he said in a statement. “There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide,” Preston said. “We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”
Criticism: The initial approval was strongly criticized as critics feared that the policy could be abused and would allow police to kill people far too easily.
The civil rights groups said it demonstrated the increasing militarization of US law enforcement. “There is no basis to believe that robots toting explosives might be an exception to police overuse of deadly force. Using robots that are designed to disarm bombs to instead deliver them is a perfect example of this pattern of escalation, and of the militarization of the police force.” One protest letter signed by 44 community groups, said the policy would “endanger lives needlessly”.
Police reaction: SFPD Chief William Scott was critical of the board’s decision, saying the police “want to use our robots to save lives – not take them”. In a statement, Scott said “No policy can anticipate every conceivable situation or exceptional circumstance which officers may face,” which is why the police “must be prepared, and have the ability, to respond appropriately” to the worst-case scenario.
Militaries have long used unmanned devices to kill but the decision whether police can deploy killer robots came six years after Dallas police outfitted a robot with explosives to end a standoff with a sniper who had killed five officers. The Dallas incident is believed to be the first time U.S. police officers have used a robot to kill. Dallas police used a Remotec F5A bomb disposal robot, manufactured by Northrop Grumman. The robot was fitted with a “claw and arm extension” and carried a common plastic explosive known as C4.
