San Francisco police to deploy killer robots in emergency situations

News, US December 1, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Law enforcement authorities in the U.S. city of San Francisco got approval for a policy that would explicitly authorize San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) to kill suspects using robots.

The new policy, which defines how the SFPD is allowed to use its military-style weapons, was put together by the police department. Over the past several weeks, the policy has been scrutinized by the Board of Supervisors Rules Committee at the SFPD. The draft policy outlines how the police would use its 17 remote-controlled, unmanned robots, which are often used to defuse bombs and deal with hazardous materials.

“The robots listed in this section shall not be utilized outside of training and simulations, criminal apprehensions, critical incidents, exigent circumstances, executing a warrant or during suspicious device assessment,” the draft states.

According to the draft, “Robots will only be used as a deadly force option when risk of loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available to SFPD.”

Soon after the reports of robot deployment were published in the local media outlets in San Francisco, the critics strongly objected to the draft policy over concerns of abuse and allowing police to kill people easily. The SFPD has 17 robots in its arsenal, 12 of which it describes as fully functional.

According to SFPD Spokesperson Officer Robert Rueca, the robots have never been used to attack anyone. The robots are remote-controlled and are typically used to investigate and defuse potential bombs or to surveil areas too awkward or dangerous for officers to access.

Rueca said that the SFPD “does not have any sort of specific plan in place” for how lethal force would be applied with robots as “the unusually dangerous or spontaneous operations where SFPD’s need to deliver deadly force via robot would be a rare and exceptional circumstance.”

City Supervisor Rafael Mandelman wrote on Twitter that “Under this policy, SFPD is authorized to use these robots to carry out deadly force in extremely limited situations when risk to loss of life to members of the public or officers is imminent and outweighs any other force option available.”

Mandelman clarified, “None of the robots have firearms attached, and SFPD has no plans to attach firearms. However, in extreme circumstances it is conceivable that use of a robot might be the best and only way of dealing with a terrorist or mass shooter.”

*^{A police technician demonstrates an explosive ordnance device robot in Cleveland, Ohio, on July 14, 2016. (Image Credit: Rick Wilking/Reuters)}*

This is not the first time that such a policy has been proposed and also not the first time that robots could be used to deal with violent circumstances. In 2016, the Dallas police force strapped plastic explosives to a robot and used it to blow up a sharpshooter who had killed five police officers. This was the first time in the U.S. that law enforcement agencies used a robot to kill a suspect. SFPD also possesses the Remotec F5A robot, it is the same model as the one used by Dallas police in 2016.

More recently, a similar policy on using lethal robots was also considered by the Oakland Police Department. Police plan to use a device called PAN disruptor, which can be attached to a remote-controlled robot and uses a blank shotgun shell to disable a bomb by blasting it with pressurized water. Oakland police plan that in emergencies the robots could be armed with live rounds. The SFPD also has multiple PAN disruptors devices that can be attached to robots and fire shotgun shells.