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San Francisco Decides Killer Police Robots Aren’t Such a Great Idea
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San Francisco decides killer police robots aren’t such a great idea [arstechnica.com]:
The robot police dystopia will have to wait. Last week the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to authorize the San Francisco Police Department to add lethal robots to its arsenal. The plan wasn't yet "robots with guns" (though some police bomb disposal robots fire shotgun shells already, and some are also used by the military as gun platforms) but to arm the bomb disposal robots with bombs, allowing them to drive up to suspects and detonate. Once the public got wind of this, the protests started, and after an 8–3 vote authorizing the robots last week, now the SF Board of Supervisors has unanimously voted to (at least temporarily) ban lethal robots.
Shortly after the initial news broke, a "No Killer Robots" campaign started with the involvement of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, [eff.org] the ACLU [twitter.com], and other civil rights groups. Forty-four community groups signed a letter [eff.org] in opposition to the policy, saying, "There is no basis to believe that robots toting explosives might be an exception to police overuse of deadly force. Using robots that are designed to disarm bombs to instead deliver them is a perfect example of this pattern of escalation, and of the militarization of the police force that concerns so many across the city.”
On December 5, over 100 protesters showed up to SF City Hall, carrying signs [twitter.com] with phrases like, "We've all seen that movie... No Killer Robots."
Among the protesters was Dean Preston, one of the SF supervisors who originally voted against the policy. Preston claims [twitter.com] that the SFPD may have violated the law by not publicly publishing the robot policy 30 days before it goes up for a vote. In a letter [usrfiles.com] to San Francisco Mayor London Breed and Police Chief William Scott, Preston cites California Gov Code 7071(b), which requires departments seeking approval for military equipment to "make those documents available on the law enforcement agency's Internet website at least 30 days prior to any public hearing concerning the military equipment at issue." Preston later adds: "I want to emphasize that this is not just a technicality. A primary purpose of [this law], written by our City Attorney when he was in the Assembly, is to ensure transparency and give the public an opportunity to weigh in on these policies."
As the San Francisco Chronicle [sfchronicle.com] reports, the use of lethal robots has been banned "for now." The issue will go back to committee for further discussion, and it could vote on the policy again in the future.
In a press release [sfgov.org] after the reversal, Preston says: “The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city.”
The statement ends with: "I am calling on my colleagues to take heed of the powerful backlash and make sure this harmful policy is never approved—not today, not tomorrow, not ever."
← Previous story [arstechnica.com]Next story → [arstechnica.com]
San Francisco cancels plans for 'killer police robots'
San Francisco supervisors have nixed their plan to allow police officers to use robots to kill in emergency situations, a board member confirmed on Tuesday.
“The people of San Francisco have spoken loud and clear: There is no place for killer police robots in our city,” supervisor Dean Preston told ABC News in a statement. “There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people.”
The news comes a day after community groups protested outside San Francisco’s City Hall condemning the ordinance, which the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved in an 8-3 vote on Nov. 29.
San Francisco Reverses Approval of Killer Robot Policy
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San Francisco reverses approval of killer robot policy [engadget.com]:
In late November, San Francisco's Board of Supervisors has approved [engadget.com] a proposal that would allow the city's police force to use remote-controlled robots as a deadly force option when faced with violent or armed suspects. The supervisors voted 8-to-3 in favor of making it a new policy despite opposition by civil rights groups [cbsnews.com], but now they seem to have had a change of heart. During the second of two required votes before a policy can be sent to the mayor's office for final approval, the board voted 8-to-3 to explicitly ban the use [twitter.com] of lethal force by police robots. As San Francisco Chronicle [sfchronicle.com] notes, this about-face is pretty unusual, as the board's second votes are typically just formalities that echo the first ones' results.
The San Francisco Police Department made the proposal after a law came into effect requiring California officials to define the authorized uses of their military-grade equipment. It would have allowed cops to equip robots with explosives "to contact, incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspects." Authorities could only use the robots for lethal force after they've exhausted all other possibilities, and a high-ranking official would have to approve their deployment. However, critics are concerned that the machines could be abused.
Dean Preston, one of the supervisors who oppose the use of robots as a deadly force option, said the policy will "place Black and brown people in disproportionate danger of harm or death." In a newer statement made after the board's second vote, Preston said [sfgov.org]: "There have been more killings at the hands of police than any other year on record nationwide. We should be working on ways to decrease the use of force by local law enforcement, not giving them new tools to kill people."
While the supervisors voted to ban the use of lethal force by police robots — for now, anyway — they also sent the original policy proposing the use of killer robots back for review. The board's Rules Committee could now amend it further to have stricter rules for use of bomb-equipped robots, or it could scrap the old proposal altogether.
Original Submission #1 Original Submission #2 Original Submission #3
