The city’s Board of Supervisors will vote next week on an SFPD proposal to deploy robots that could kill suspects.
San Francisco’s Police Department (SFPD) has sought permission from the city’s Board of Supervisors to deploy robots that would kill suspects.
According to a policy draft, the SFPD proposes using its remote-controlled robots for “training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessments.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to vote on the policy proposal next week.
If permitted, the SFPD would use the robots to kill people “when the risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available.”
The police department currently has 17 remotely controlled robots, but only 12 are functioning. The Verge notes that the robots are mainly used for defusing bombs or dealing with hazardous materials.
