Killer Robots Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood?

Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 movie “RoboCop” was set in a futuristic, violence-torn Detroit. Little did we know at the time it wasn’t just a sci-fi hit Verhoeven was filming, but a “how-to” documentary for politicians in present-day San Francisco.

City leaders approved a measure allowing the SFPD to use remote-controlled robots in dangerous situations.

Situations in which the robots would be armed and deadly:

The San Francisco police department said that it had owned and used robots for tasks such as serving warrants for 11 years and that the department did not have pre-armed robots and had no plans to arm robots with guns. But the department could deploy robots equipped with explosive charges in specific situations such as active shooter incidents and suicide bombers, said David Lazar, San Francisco’s assistant police chief.

“We have it as a tool [we can use] if we have time, have secured the scene and we weigh out if we want to risk lives or if can we send a robot,” said Lazar during the board of supervisors meeting.

But San Francisco is not the first locality to deploy armed and deadly robots. That “honor” goes to Dallas, Texas:

In 2016, the Dallas police force strapped plastic explosives to a robot and used it to blow up a sharpshooter who had killed five officers, in the first U.S. instance of a police robot killing a suspect. One of the SFPD’s robots, the Remotec F5A, is the same model as the one used by Dallas police.

Regardless of who went first, we are left to ponder the reaction of San Francisco supervisor Rafael Mandelman, who took to Twitter to say that “Despite the hyperbole expressed by many who oppose this policy, I believe it lays out reasonable restrictions on the use of robots…”

Supervisor Mandelman must not be aware of how the steady militarization of policing in the United States has undermined public safety and individual rights. And yes, the robots are just the latest chapter in this story.  Police use of surveillance drones – without warrants – has long been an issue for civil libertarians and privacy advocates.

And those aerial robots started out as a sensible, safe way to monitor crowds or high crime areas (no officers put at risk).

Now, they are increasingly part of everyday police activities. San Francisco may not be on the verge of making “RoboCop” into reality. But the blithe assertions that armed robots will only be sued in extreme circumstances, under careful supervision and stringent guidelines, are patent nonsense.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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