This didn’t sound real to me but sure enough, liberal hotspot San Francisco California is planning to use lethal-force capable robots to help fight crime in their morally sinking city.
ABC reported that Supervisors in San Francisco voted Tuesday to give city police the ability to use potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations — following an emotionally charged debate that reflected divisions on the politically liberal board over support for law enforcement.
The vote was 8-3, with the majority agreeing to grant police the option despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization of a police force already too aggressive with poor and minority communities.
Supervisor Connie Chan, a member of the committee that forwarded the proposal to the full board, said she understood concerns over use of force but that “according to state law, we are required to approve the use of these equipments. So here we are, and it’s definitely not a easy discussion.”
According to NPR, the idea of robots being legally allowed to kill has garnered some controversy. In October, a number of robotics companies — including Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics — signed an open letter, saying that general-purpose robots should not be weaponized.
Ryan Calo is a law and information science professor at the University of Washington and also studies robotics. He says he’s long been concerned about the increasing militarization of police forces, but that police units across the country might be attracted to utilizing robots because “it permits officers to incapacitate a dangerous individual without putting themselves in harm’s way.”
Call me crazy but I find it hard to believe that the idea behind using robo-cops is to protect the police. San Fransico was on the frontlines of the defund the police movement. Something tells me that they’re not worried about the safety of officers.
The Law & Crime network weighed in on this new concept and agree that it’s potentially a terrifying scenario but they did bring up one positive point, the bots could serve to stop an active mass shooter. Given what happened with officers in Uvalde, I get their point but it’s still pretty strange and scary to me.
What do you guys think?