Police in San Francisco were given the power to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations after 8-3 of the officials from the city’s board of supervisors voted in the favor of the move on Tuesday. The controversial policy was moved weeks ago and was followed by tight scrutiny and heated debates along with strong objections from civil liberties and other supervisory groups of law enforcement agencies of the city.
San Francisco’s public defender, police oversight groups and the ACLU had urged the 11-member body to reject the police’s use of equipment proposal.
“I’m surprised that we’re here in 2022,” said Hilary Ronen, one of the three opponents of the policy, at the Tuesday meeting. “We have seen a history of these leading to tragedy and destruction all over the world.”
Furthermore, Dean Preston, a supervisor representing San Francisco’s long-troubled Tenderloin neighborhood, said, “I can’t believe what I’m hearing … these kinds of tools will deepen the disparities in inflicting deadly force on communities.”
Supervisor Connie Chan, a member of the committee that forwarded the proposal to the full board, said she understood concerns over use of force but that “according to state law, we are required to approve the use of these equipments. So here we are, and it’s definitely not an easy discussion.”
According to the San Francisco Police Department, they do not hold pre-armed robots and have no plans to arm robots with weapons. But the department could use robots equipped with explosive charges “to contact, incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspect” when lives are in danger, SFPD spokesperson Allison Maxie said in a statement.
“Robots equipped in this manner would only be used in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,” she said.
The policy was approved with an amendment that specifies the circumstances in which robots can be used and clarifying that only high-ranking officers will be allowed to authorize deadly force.