The liberal enclave of San Francisco held a vote on Tuesday to allow its police department to use robots capable of killing human beings.
Following an intense debate, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors overwhelmingly voted that police could use potentially lethal robots — but only “when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and officers cannot subdue the threat after using alternative force options or de-escalation tactics.”
The vote was a crucial first hurdle for the controversial measure. It needs to pass another vote and then be approved by the mayor before the police have the legal authority to attach explosives to its current arsenal of ground-based robots, which are currently used for bomb disposal. Explosives that could breach heavily fortified barriers and kill exceptionally dangerous suspects.
As TechCrunch reports:
“Robots equipped in this manner would only be used in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,” Allison Maxie, a spokesperson for SFPD said in a statement. Maxie added that robots could be armed with explosives, “to contact, incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed or dangerous suspect.”
Such applications certainly appear to run counter to the purpose for which these robots were both built and acquired. There is precedent for this, however. In July 2016, the Dallas Police Department killed a suspect using a robot armed with a bomb for what's believed to be the first time in U.S. history. “We saw no other option but to use our bomb robot and place a device on its extension for it to detonate where the suspect was,” police chief David Brown told the press after the incident.
As more robots are being developed for military applications, it's easy to see how such language could open the door for the acquisition of systems that are weaponized out of the box. Police use of military equipment has become commonplace in U.S. police departments in the wake of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997. Section 1033 of the bill allows for the military's “transfer of excess personal property to support law enforcement activities” for the sake of drug enforcement. Maxie says the SFPD currently has no plans to stick guns on robots.
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The proposal's approval appears to run counter to San Francisco's image as one America's most liberal cities. The debate around the issue was lively, running more than two hours. It comes at a time when many left-leaning politicians are concerned about appearing antagonistic toward police.
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Test citywide OK suburbs too
Do you think they are only going to shoot criminals? Your submission to stupidity is just sickening. Your city is the homeless, criminals and corrupt government officials. They will turn on the decent people who complain about criminals or the homeless. American people have become the laughing stock of the world. They only people coming here are freeloaders and terrorists and criminals. Congrats you have destroyed the most free nation in the world for laziness and stupidity.
Yup. Expect the leftists to program these robots like they program voting machines. We are all in great danger.
Save time and money and nuke the entire frisco ch!thole……
I don’t see the problem here. If they comply with the killer robot’s orders with alacrity, they should be fine. It might be a problem for those criminals who dance on top of police cars or try to carjack a getaway car when facing arrest, but those people would be no loss to society if the robot has to use necessary force to make them comply. Same as human officers but less danger to the innocent cop just doing his job.
Remember the Daleks in Doctor Who? “Exterminate! Exterminate!’