San Francisco Will Allow Police To Deploy Robots That Kill

From now on, San Francisco supervisors will allow the city police to use robots that can be used in emergency situations. In recent times, lawlessness around the US may have prompted such a rash decision from the US law enforcement directorate.

San Francisco Allows Police To Use Killer Robots

The voting results were 8-3 as on Tuesday. This is supposedly a very extraordinary decision, that the supervisors had to take due to a recent spate of events. When there is a risk of losing lives to unceremonious perpetrators, police personnel will use this legality to launch lethal robots. For more on this, read on.

Robots To Be Launched When Other Measures Fail

There was a very rough debate among the legal officials and the police on the subject of civil safety. And as an aftermath of such a debate, the authorities granted permission to deploy trained and AI-based robots to kill perpetrators. However, this is not final yet. Another voting is due next week, apart from the Mayor’s approval. Aaron Peskin, the Supervisor said that the same could be done only when there is a huge threat to life.

For the unversed, lawlessness prevailed in the past few weeks due to hate crimes against several non-traditional communities in the US. Moreover, a lot of lives were lost, and many remained injured. Some of whom are still recuperating at various city hospitals. However, his colleagues have voted against this possibility.

According to other supervisors, the police can potentially misuse this power. At the end of the meeting, the board sat on the issue and for the time being delegated the authority to the high ranks of the police hierarchy, who may authorize the use of robots or any other kind of lethal weapon to control certain situations.

Police Department Ready With The Robots

According to sources, police departmental official Robert Rueca has told the reporters that a fleet is already there in the warehouse. However, she has also added that the department does not want to enable the forearm capabilities in the said fleet. However, she also added that an explosive mechanism can be added to the in-built structure of the robots, to act in extraordinary circumstances. Moreover, it is believed that the department can enable AI-based combat features to take action when things really get out of control.

In a recent interview, the San Francisco Police Chief also said that the robots would only be used, when all measures fail. According to him, when he feels that innocent lives are at the brink of loss, or something or someone has crossed all the limits, can these be deployed? According to the official, the robots are being controlled by trained staff from the department itself. Only the officers, who have been bestowed with ranks, such as deputy, chief, or assistant chief, can deploy the robots. As of now, nobody has felt the need to use robots. Moreover, the Chief also added that he did not feel it was necessary to deploy them as on date. However, if things go out of hand in the future, he will not step back while taking the harshest decision of his career.

According to the officials, robots may be deployed in shootings related to the masses, like the ones which happen due to racialism or hatred crimes. He also said that, if the officers’ lives seemed to be in danger, he would be forced to deploy the robots, without a second thought.

This is not the first time that law enforcers are relying on robots to assist them in their duties. Way back in 2016, the police had to do a similar thing when armed suspects were mercilessly killing their counterparts in a mass shooting incident in Dallas.