Friday 25 November 2022 03:32 AM San Francisco Police Department propose using robots to KILL suspects trends now
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is proposing to use robots to kill suspects in 'rare' circumstances - with the force's 12 bots set to assist officers with deadly force and 'ground support'.
The new policy proposal is to be debated next week by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee and will define how the SFPD is allowed to use its military-style weapons.
The draft policy has been scrutinized over the past several weeks by supervisor's Aaron Peskin, Rafael Mandelman and Connie Chan, who make up the committee.
Peskin, the chair of the committee, initially attempted to limit the SFPD's authority over the robot's.
'Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person,' Peskin wrote.
This was struck out by the police department who replaced it with language that codifies the department's authority to use lethal force using robots.
'Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers are imminent and outweigh any other force option available to SFPD.'
The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is proposing to use robots to kill suspects in 'rare' circumstances. They currently have 12 robots in their artillery including bomb detecting robots like this one from Long Beach California
The new policy proposal is to be debated next week by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors Rules Committee and will define how the SFPD is allowed to use its military-style weapons
Robot use-of-force has never been approved in San Francisco, nor has it been prohibited.
A version of the draft policy was unanimously accepted by the rules committee last week and will come before the full board on November 29.
'The original policy they submitted was actually silent on whether robots could deploy lethal force,' said Peskin to mission local.
He added that he decided to approve the SFPD's caveated guidelines because the department had made the case that 'there could be scenarios where deployment of lethal force was the only option.'
Advocates and lawyers who opposed the militarization of police said that they are less convinced that the policy should be green lit.
'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 Tifanei Moyer, senior staff attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Moyer leads the organization's work on police misconduct and militarization.
'This is not normal, no legal professional or ordinary resident should carry on as if it is normal,' she added.
The draft policy has been scrutinized over the past several weeks by supervisor's Aaron Peskin, Rafael Mandelman and Connie Chan, who make up the committee
A bomb squad robot can be seen investigating a suspicious bag. If the policy goes ahead it will mean they may be used when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweigh any other force option
The SFPD has 17 robots, 12 of which are fully functional but have never been used to attack people.
The robots are remote-controlled and are typically used to investigate and defuse potential bombs or to survey areas too difficult or dangerous for officers to access.
The uses of the technology as described in the new draft policy include 'training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessments.'
In 2016, the Dallas police force
