"For the military, they're used in combat against an enemy and the purpose of that is to kill the enemy. For one, robots used by law enforcement are not autonomous, meaning they are still controlled by a human. Scharre notes there is an important distinction between how robots are used in the military versus law enforcement. policy for autonomous weapons used in war. Paul Scharre is author of the book Army Of None: Autonomous Weapons And The Future Of War. The SFPD must be prepared, and have the ability, to respond proportionally." The statement continued, "No policy can anticipate every conceivable situation or exceptional circumstance which officers may face. In an email statement to NPR, SFPD public information officer Allison Maxie wrote, "the SFPD does not own or operate robots outfitted with lethal force options and the Department has no plans to outfit robots with any type of firearm." Though robots can potentially be equipped with explosive charges to breach certain structures, they would only be used in extreme circumstances. The first time a robot was reported being used by law enforcement as a deadly force in the United States was in 2016 when the Dallas Police Department used a bomb-disposal robot armed with an explosive device to kill a suspect who had shot and killed five police officers. But he notes, "you send robots into a situation and there just isn't any reason to use lethal force because no one is actually endangered." When officers use lethal force at their own discretion, often the justification is that the officer felt unsafe and perceived a threat. Robots could also keep suspects safe too, Calo points out. 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." Ryan Calo is a law and information science professor at the University of Washington and also studies robotics. 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. The idea of robots being legally allowed to kill has garnered some controversy. Meanwhile, we are doing our best to get up to speed." "It would be lovely if the federal government had instructions or guidance. Peskin says much of the military-grade equipment sold to cities for police departments to use was issued by the federal government, but there's not a lot of regulation surrounding how robots are to be used. They are also used to investigate and defuse potential bombs, or aid in hostage negotiations. They are remote controlled and typically used to gain situational awareness and survey specific areas officers may not be able to reach. The SFPD currently has 12 functioning robots. Their altered proposal outlines that "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 the SFPD." The SFPD crossed out that sentence with a red line and returned the draft. The original draft of SFPD's policy was silent on the matter of robots.Īaron Peskin, a member of the city's Board of Supervisors, added a line to SFPD's original draft policy that stated, "Robots shall not be used as a Use of Force against any person." The San Francisco Board of Supervisors is weighing that question this week as they consider a policy proposal that would allow the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to use robots as a deadly force against a suspect.Ī new California law became effective this year that requires every municipality in the state to list and define the authorized uses of all military-grade equipment in their local law enforcement agencies. Should robots working alongside law enforcement be used to deploy deadly force? Now, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is considering a policy proposal that would allow SFPD's robots to use deadly force against a suspect. Law enforcement has used robots to investigate suspicious packages.
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